tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40696053925708386272024-02-19T16:08:42.701-08:00CONSERVE SAUGERTIESThis blog is a place where I can share my conservative views with the people of Saugerties, NY.Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-1455588394440677852015-08-25T21:03:00.000-07:002015-08-25T21:03:01.044-07:00I want a Lamborghini<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
Is this just another ordinary plea made on the altar of crass consumerism? Actually no, for this desire to be realized the person making it is prepared to do things that are shocking. So shocking that the difference between them and what was once considered normal represents a moral chasm deeper than the Grand Canyon. The recent undercover videos exposing the Planned Parenthood baby parts harvesting operation are an unfiltered and candid look not only at an organization that is one of the central pillars of the modern Democrat Party but also the Progressive ideology that animates it. These videos concern the abortion issue, but the Progressive movement has, on issue after issue shown itself to be morally, spiritually and intellectually bankrupt. </div>
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One of the more arresting features of the videos is the casual nature in which the subject matter is discussed. The individuals in the videos project an air of almost supreme indifference, sipping wine or eating salad while haggling over the price or the best method of crunching up live babies. A famous writer, Hannah Arendt, who at one time lived right across the river from us in Annandale, in describing another horror coined the phrase, “the banality of evil”. In this instance it is an apt description of a mindset seemingly devoid of conscience. </div>
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One of President Obama’s biggest healthcare supporters, Ezekiel Emanuel, brother to the president’s former chief of staff, has recently written that 75 years is an appropriate length of time for humans to live. All of the quality living can be done prior to that time he argues, the implication being that the physical and mental decline of those over 75 and the resources needed to sustain them isn’t proportionate to what they can add. Given the ease and facility with which the technicians of Planned Parenthood can crunch defenseless babies apart, why it’s just a mere hop, skip and a jump to what lies ahead for defenseless senior citizens who have made it past their expiration date.</div>
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If the coarsening and deadening of the human spirit exemplified in these videos doesn’t grab your attention then perhaps an all out assault on the freedom of conscience might. Today, the fundamental liberties that our constitution protects and that are the birthright of every American are under assault as they have never been before. It is truly a measure of how far the Progressive movement has hijacked the ideals of the Democrat Party. Not that long ago one of the proudest boasts that a liberal Democrat could make was the expression attributed to Voltaire to the effect, “while I do not agree with what you say I will defend to the death your right to say it.” The modern Progressive has now updated this noble thought to “I not only disagree with what you have to say but will put you to death for saying it.” It is not hyperbole to say this is both literally and figuratively true. It is no small irony that a political party that has made hay preaching tolerance to others has itself become the grand wizard of intolerance.</div>
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No other issue exemplifies this intolerance better than the response to the recent Supreme Court decision finding a constitutional right to gay marriage. There are many Americans who believe (this writer among them) that the dignity and rights of Americans who identify as being gay can be protected short of bastardizing the meaning of the word marriage. In fact, every American has a stake in seeing the institution of marriage sustained and protected. But no, five judges decided to subvert the democratic process and take it upon themselves to decide for a nation of some 320 million what is in their interest. Even more importantly, the governments chief lawyer admitted that the tax exempt status of churches is now at risk. In the wake of this decision, a multitude of voices on the left called for religious institutions to lose their tax exempt status. A recent article in the Washington Post detailed the plans of many gay rights organizations to bring lawsuits against church affiliated Boy Scout troops. Not content with getting a favorable decision in the Supreme Court, the left in this country will now force those who don’t agree with them to get their minds right. Right now, in many nordic countries, ministers can be arrested for hate speech for preaching certain parts of the gospel. Anyone who thinks this wont happen here has not been paying attention.</div>
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Progressives in this country are not merely content with exerting power and control over the lives of Americans, they also want to be able to control what they think. Call this whatever you will - fascism or totalitarianism, it is deeply un American. At bottom it is a will for power, the old story of might makes right. Not even the fertile imagination of Rod Serling could conceive of an America where people would indulge their vanity for a sports car by marketing in baby parts or better yet, controlling what people think, as is happening on college campuses across the land. America is descending into a Progressive Twilight Zone where our values have been turned upside down and words no longer have meaning. No one should think that this nation can endure by turning its back on our heritage and the heritage of western civilization. At a time when all the world’s economies are faltering it is important to recognize that ours is a crisis not of economics but one of the spirit. </div>
Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-14811458315295501462013-10-01T15:11:00.000-07:002013-10-01T15:11:34.729-07:00Albany's Bad Bet<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"></span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">“I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> Vito Corleone “The Godfather”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Often times the truth is indeed stranger than fiction. Not even Hollywood could come up with a script that tops what New York’s politicians are capable of, on what seems a daily basis. According to the New York Times in the last seven years more than 30 NY politicians have either been indicted, convicted of a crime, censured or otherwise accused of misconduct. It's no wonder that our state vies annually for the title of most corrupt and dysfunctional in the nation. One can now add the sordid chapter of trying to legalize gambling to the mix.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Albany’s latest move merits it’s own prize for chutzpah. Instead of using neutral and proper wording for the casino ballot initiative they've changed it into an advertisement for all the supposed benefits of gambling. And speaking of rigged games and stacked decks, in a move positively reeking of cynicism, the Albany brain trust has come up with what it regards as a fool proof plan to bring even more gambling to the state. Their plan, simply stated is this, if the hayseeds dont vote to change the state constitution and allow casino gambling, we’ll plaster upstate with barn’s chock full of video lottery terminals. Forget all the drivel about “economic development” and aid to education for “the children,” the only thing that matters is getting their paws on the money. Oh, and that promise not to accept campaign contributions from casino interests? Like the morning mist that one disappeared. Does anyone really think their taxes will go down if gambling is legalized? And just whose pockets is this money supposed to come from?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">When viewed in the proper context the answer to the last question reveals not only the depth of cynicism but the total moral bankruptcy of Albany’s elites. For it is to come from those of us who can least afford it, the weakest and most vulnerable. While the special interests can lobby politicians with money for favors, who speaks for the poor sap who thinks his only chance at success in life is purchasing lottery tickets? Who speaks for the grandmother spending her social security check on slot machines? According to Albany they and others like them are expendable.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">And talk about irony why are our elected “leaders” promoting gambling - a frivolous activity now? Whole regions of the world are in an economic depression, the American economy is posting it’s worst performance in the modern era with record breaking bankruptcies and Albany thinks now is the time to gamble? Never has a more discordant note been struck with the reality that faces millions of New Yorkers. And perhaps the supreme irony is Albany’s passage of the “Safe Act” . Passed in warp speed, the act is ostensibly supposed to “protect” New Yorkers. The <b><i>only</i></b> thing it does is to trample the constitutional rights of law abiding citizens. Some protection that.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">New Yorkers can and must say no to the corrupt class that rules Albany. We cannot be a party to or enable their conduct. We cannot allow the spectacle of another shady multi billion dollar deal being cut in Albany’s back rooms. Saying no to the casino referendum will send a loud and clear message that New Yorkers want real economic development - the kind that doesn’t profit from human misery. </span></div>
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Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-68786129143359009142011-11-07T05:35:00.001-08:002011-11-07T05:35:53.045-08:00Polacco for Kingston<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">There is one candidate in the race for mayor in the City of Kingston who has risen above the petty name calling and personal criticism that has taken place. With determination and grit this person has managed to defy both political establishments in Kingston. This candidate is where he is because of his own effort and resolve. He owes nothing to any special interest group or political machine, and his only allegiance is to the taxpayer. I refer of course to Ron Polacco, Republican candidate for mayor. Ron has displayed no small amount of political savvy, and is by far the most fair and open minded candidate in the field. The city’s next chief executive will have to confront a host of tough issues. The character traits that Ron possesses will be of great value in bringing together Kingston’s many diverse communities. Unlike many, I am cautiously optimistic about Kingston’s future and believe the City can again get the wind in it’s sails. In order for that to happen, Kingston must go in a new direction and I believe Ron Polacco is the best candidate to chart that course. </span></p>Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-37115532259119630362010-09-26T17:59:00.000-07:002010-09-27T06:59:09.004-07:00MAURICE OBAMA OR BARACK HINCHEY<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The great Yogi Berra once wryly observed “When you come to a fork in the road take it.” That thought comes to mind as we approach perhaps the most important election in a generation. It is a rare American that does not admit to at least some foreboding about the nations future. The past two plus years have been a whir of government intervention and expansion involving mind boggling amounts of money. There remains however, a great unease at the governments continuing record levels of spending and debt. There is an intuitive understanding that it simply cannot last. The question many people have is what is there to show for this immense debt? In the midst of the worst economic recovery of the post WW ll era the Democrats have given us the kafkaesque “recovery summer” tour of Joe Biden. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Elected under the banner of hope and change and admittedly trying circumstances, the president and his party had an unique opportunity to move the country forward. What did they do? Instead of playing the role of a surgeon on the battlefield performing triage on the nations wounded economy, the Democrats had other ideas. Giddy at holding all the levers of power in the American government, the Democrats decided to take the nation on an idealogical, power mad bender. In a fit of historic political tone deafness, they rammed through congress, bills, thousands of pages long, they didn’t even read, and whose effects have been to paralyze the nation. </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <ul> <li style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">A stimulus bill, that was great if you worked for a public union or a liberal special interest group, but a dud for everybody else. And in an even bigger joke on all of us, the administration now tells us the recession ended in June of ’09. That’s before a nickel of stimulus was even spent. So much for the claim that the stimulus averted a depression.</span></li></ul><ul><li style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The healthcare law - where does one begin? This epic clusterfark is the biggest government power grab ever enacted. Already it is having the opposite effect of all it’s stated claims as insurance premiums are going up. Forget about it’s additional sixteen thousand new IRS agents, the most insidious aspect of this bill is the threat it poses to our nations preeminent position in medical research and innovation.</span></li></ul> <ul> <li style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Financial regulation anyone? The government did such a bang up job with fannie and freddie that we need more of it.</span></li></ul><ul><li style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">In childlike, almost romper room fashion they employed a “reset” button to our nations foreign policy. From sucking up to our enemies, to running down our friends, they seem to do the opposite of what every situation calls for.</li> </ul> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The president didn’t achieve this all on his own. He had the help of congress and one member in particular. This members views are in total accord and sympathy with the president, so much so that their names are interchangeable. I refer of course to our erstwhile assemblyman now congressman Maurice Hinchey. What we have witnessed these past two years is the distilled essence of modern liberalism coming into contact with reality. It is not a pretty sight and it’s little wonder that the nation is in a funk. There was a time when Mr. Hinchey had his finger on the pulse of his constituency. Now, if you go to his government website, you can read his rants against the Bush administration! This is not just out of touch but dangerously so. The nation is in peril and the same old same old is not good enough. We need a change in thinking and leadership and that’s why I’m casting my vote for George Phillips for congress. </span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><br /></p>Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-80123298822646212402010-06-07T13:50:00.000-07:002010-06-07T13:55:04.973-07:00Maurice Hinchey and the Sugar Plum Ferry<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; ">Recent news stories surrounding Rep. Maurice Hinchey’s (D NY) involvement in a local real estate venture highlighted the congressman’s penchant for pork. While the articles in the May 18th, 21st and 30th, 2010 <i>Daily Freeman </i>of Kingston, New York, detail Hinchey’s acknowledged mastery in securing federal dollars, they also call into question the whole federal pork barrel process. However, these stories did not go far enough. If one were to dig a little deeper, one could see how corrosive this pork barrel process has become and how unconstrained spending on the federal level plays out on Main Street, or in this case, Partition Street. Today, for a number of reasons, I urge voters to help retire Congressman Hinchey from office. The country is in desperate need of new thinking <i>and </i>politicians that understand the gravity of the burden of debt that Washington is creating.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; ">News releases detailing Rep. Hinchey’s involvement in a hotel and conference center development (The Partition Street Project), while welcome, are somewhat belated. It is odd that up to now, relatively few local media outlets have even questioned Hinchey’s role and participation in a real estate venture in his hometown. This is a testament to the power Hinchey wields and the fear that his power instills. This limited scrutiny, coming now after approvals for his project have been secured, reveal what can only be regarded as conflicts of interest of a sitting United States Congressman benefiting either directly or indirectly from taxpayer funds. While he stresses his limited role in this project, and lack of knowledge about other items of local interest, the congressman is involved more than he lets on.<span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; ">The focus of the recent articles concern an $800,000 federal grant for certain sewer line improvements. Both Rep. Hinchey and local officials now strenuously deny that the grant is to improve the sewer lines around Hinchey’s proposed Partition Street project. At the time the grant was awarded, however, the impression in the community was that it was to improve the sewer lines in the vicinity of the project. Neither the congressman nor local officials did anything to dispel that impression. That is why this minor controversy now exists. Apparently, we have to take the word of the congressman that this grant was secured because of the deep concern he has over certain obscure and antiquated sewer lines in another part of his old hometown. <span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">Alright, that is fair enough, but call me cynical when I try to square that with this news item that appeared in the <i>Saugerties Times </i>on May 9, 2009:</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">Saugerties-Tivoli ferry approved. Councilwoman Leanne Thornton announced that federal funding for a ferry service between Saugerties and Tivoli has been approved. The new service could increase tourism to the village and town she said. The funding, part of the recently approved stimulus package, provides 4 million dollars for the project. “The federal stimulus package provides 4 million for passenger ferry projects. “ Believe it or not no one applied except the village of Saugerties and the Village of Tivoli. The majority of the funding will go to the village of Tivoli because they have to go over the railroad tracts because they have to access to the river.” Saugerties will receive a ferry dock just below the <b>Partition Street Project</b> site and it will enable passengers to access the village and probably the town beyond it. The project will take about two years, Thornton estimated.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">Apparently, old obscure sewer lines are not the only thing weighing on the congressman’s mind. Reanimating a ferry service that has not been in operation for over seventy years must constitute part of the necessary “public infrastructure” that Rep. Hinchey recently wrote about in the <i>Daily Freeman</i> (May 29, 2010). It is interesting that Hinchey makes no mention of the ferry boat service but defends his pork barrel spending. The ferry boat must have slipped down the memory hole because it has now become inconvenient to talk about. There has been no mention of it in the local media for months and the recent articles about the Partition Street project, referenced above, made no mention of the ferry service. Could this be another example of the power Rep. Hinchey wields?</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">In this instance we have the fact of a U.S. Congressman steering four million dollars of stimulus funds to a project that would directly or indirectly benefit a development he has a vested interest in. Though he now denies it, he steered an $800,000 grant for sewer line work that may have benefited his project. In addition, the Partition Street project has received another $800,000 in state funds. There is also the involvement in the Partition Street project of a prominent, if not notorious, local law firm with a long history with the congressman. This firm is well known in local circles to be Democrat ‘fixers’. There is far more than meets the eye with this firms involvement in the real estate project. Then, there is the separate case of one of Rep. Hinchey’s business partners selling his land to the federal government for a new Army Reserve Center. Hinchey claims to have no knowledge of this. Hinchey cannot, however, claim to have no knowledge of the ferry boat service as he was the sponsor of the grant. That is probably why the local media dropped the subject like a hot potato. The trail ends, literally, at his doorstep. However, the pretense of Hinchey claiming to have no knowledge about a whole variety of politically charged issues in his district is somewhat hard to believe. Being the shrewd politician that he is, Rep. Hinchey keeps tabs on everything of importance in his district.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">While none of this may be illegal, it does have a certain odor to it. It is a typical, in your face type chutzpah, from a politician who has been around a long time. Rep. Hinchey has long cultivated an image of himself as being a man of the people. It is, frankly, sad to see a politician in the twilight of his career grasping after the proverbial dollar. Politics, it has been said, is the art of the plausible. In the heady days following the victory of President Obama and his party, a great many things must have seemed plausible. Now, in the cold light of dawn, what once seemed plausible is now ridiculous. While the amounts concerned might seem trivial in the grand scheme of things, they cannot be viewed in isolation. If you multiple these political schemes throughout the country it is easy to see why the United States is hemorrhaging red ink to the tune of 1.6 trillion dollars this year alone. These debt levels are simply unsustainable and portend a bleak future. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; ">In his day, Franklin Roosevelt lifted the spirits of the nation by reminding us that we had a rendezvous with destiny. President Obama, and the Democrat leadership, on the other hand, are promising us an appointment with catastrophe. That day is coming faster with politicians in power like Congressman Maurice Hinchey and those who think like him. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "> </span><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 12px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span style="font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; "> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "> </span><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br /></span></span></div></span>Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-82083162001242474082010-05-04T14:26:00.000-07:002010-05-04T19:02:17.050-07:00Your Vote Matters<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Dear Fellow Conservatives:</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Ronald Reagan once said, </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!” This quote comes to mind because I believe it aptly describes the instinctual reaction of millions of Americans to the actions of their government over the past year. Americans sense danger in the out of control spending of the stimulus bill; the massive power grab and intrusion into our health care; and the naive, incoherent conduct of our foreign policy. And rightly so. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Whether we are deciding who sits on the local Board of Education, or who we elect to this nations highest office, elections do matter. I am writing this letter to you because I feel that the next election cycles in 2010 and 2012 are the most important in more than a generation. They will literally determine whether America enters into a state of permanent decline or whether we right our course and return to the values and principles that made this nation great. What follows is an action plan that we, as grass roots Conservatives, need to do. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Saugerties School Board election and budget vote will be held on May 18, 2010. School taxes are, for most of us, one of the largest bills we have to pay. I have long argued that the entire public education structure is broken and in need of reform. This need for reform has become even more apparent as we face a </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">21.1% increase </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">in our Saugerties school taxes. This effrontery comes from an education establishment that views the taxpayer as a bottomless source of revenue. I take a backseat to no one in caring about providing our children with a quality education. But I am just as concerned with people being taxed out of their homes. For this reason it is important that we have people on the Saugerties school board that reflect the taxpayers perspective. Re-electing two dedicated and hard working Conservatives, George Heidcamp and Jim Steinhilber will be a step in the right direction. They voted against the massive budget increase. These gentleman will provide seasoned judgment and the taxpayers perspective. This will be necessary when the new board begins negotiating teachers contracts. The teachers union, powerful as it is, does not need even more influence on the school board. I urge you to tell your friends and neighbors to re-elect </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">George Heidcamp and Jim Steinhilber.</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> These candidates meet the criteria that will best help the community, the student and the beleaguered taxpayer. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In the larger picture we are reminded how actions of our federal government impact us locally. There is no doubt that President Obama came into office under demanding circumstances. By promising a new era of hope, change, transparency and post partisanship, he engendered the good will of a vast majority of Americans. Over the past fifteen months both he and the Democrat Party have squandered that good will. In a short time they have added over two trillion dollars to the deficit in a frenzied spending spree. In an act of historic political tone deafness and against the will of the American people, they rammed through a hyper partisan health care law. This law allows the government to take over nearly 20% of the economy. This new massive entitlement comes at a time when we can not afford existing entitlements. The bad news is there is no way the economy can grow fast enough to pay for any of it. Within two years our total debt will be over 100% of GDP. Servicing that debt will consume over 10% of the federal budget. This is unsustainable. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Instead of concentrating on the most critical need, that of getting the economy back on track, both the present administration and the congress have followed a socialist script to create a European welfare state right here in America. In what can only be a calculated strategy on their part, this script is, if allowed to proceed, a blueprint for disaster. So wedded to this script are the Democrats that they are willing to label vast swaths of the American public as racists and worse. I refer of course to the Tea Party movement. I consider the Tea Party movement to be the most wholesome development in politics in my lifetime. The fact that millions of Americans are concerned over out of control government spending, questioning the legitimate role of government in our lives, and studying our founding documents is a good thing. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The upcoming November 4th, 2010 election represents an opportunity for American citizens to change the present course of America for the better. The logical step is voting Democrat Congressman Maurice Hinchey out of office. Protected as Hinchey is by his praetorian guard of local media, his leftism has been allowed to run unchecked and unquestioned. Congressman Hinchey is also using his power to feather his own nest and to avoid rules he gladly applies to others. For true hope and change, it is time to vote Maurice Hinchey out of office. I urge everyone to vote for George Phillips, the Republican candidate in the upcoming November 2010 Congressional Election. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">When this nation was facing similar economic and social crisis, Ronald Reagan, in his inaugural address, said “The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away. They will go away because we, as Americans, have the capacity now, as we’ve had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.” Let no one tell you that elections do not matter!</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica; color: #333233"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0pxcolor:#333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 11.0px Helvetica; color:#1e00af;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></p>Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-68610739742176222302010-03-08T13:33:00.000-08:002010-03-09T16:48:39.571-08:00A Great SuccessThe first lecture of the Hudson River Lyceum was a tremendous success. My thanks go to John Taylor Gatto and to everyone who helped and attended this informative and important lecture. Mr. Gatto was in great form and gave his unique perspective on the state of education. I was particularly pleased at the attendance, for there were close to three hundred people there. People from as far as Oneonta, and Albany came to hear John speak. There were about a dozen college professors along with many local teachers in addition to the entire board of education from Onteora.<div><br /></div>I believe the attendance was indicative not only of the message of reform that Gatto speaks to but also the fact that it must be addressed now. We no longer have the luxury of time to make needed reforms. New York State is currently in a budgetary crisis, masked only by the spending of federal stimulus money. Unlike many people, I believe the subject is not as difficult or complicated as it is being made out. It only gets complicated when the special interests exert their influence. All too often this influence is at the expense of the taxpayer and the children in the type of education they receive. This subject is only going to loom larger as our society comes to grips with the new fiscal realities. Here is a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GE74aYcoEw">link</a> to a brief video clip of the lecture.<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><br /><a href="http:/"></a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GE74aYcoEw"></a></div>Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-29695008991849937822009-05-05T08:40:00.000-07:002009-05-05T08:42:45.526-07:00JOHN TAYLOR GATTO<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3m7rz7aUgtbb3JwYKGD1olZZUQYicDSooACiyHv1ec0ezO01_7w07uA4FqXc-5yfLWSQPD9jVmoAIVowGZTk0E38E7Du5S3hHdRXcddXwQjoJpz1ZDQbwwdBFG26keNsQxYltpeXx7jA/s1600-h/john.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 367px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3m7rz7aUgtbb3JwYKGD1olZZUQYicDSooACiyHv1ec0ezO01_7w07uA4FqXc-5yfLWSQPD9jVmoAIVowGZTk0E38E7Du5S3hHdRXcddXwQjoJpz1ZDQbwwdBFG26keNsQxYltpeXx7jA/s400/john.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332365692156410018" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 20px; font-size:13px;"><div><div><br /></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:24px;">T</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">he Hudson River Lyceum is honored to have </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">John Taylor Gatto,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">one of the most influential visionaries of the future of education,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">deliver its inaugural lecture on Friday, May 29, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. at the Bearsville Theater, Woodstock, New York. Question and answer period to follow lecture. The lecture is free and open to the public. </span></span><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">Mr. Gatto, a former New York City and New York State teacher of the year, is one of this country's leading voices on the subject of education reform. Through hundreds of public talks, articles, interviews, and classroom projects, Gatto has shown decisively where our failing schools have gone wrong and what can be done to fix them. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">A much sought after speaker throughout North America, his books include </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">A Different Kind of Teacher, The Underground History of American Education, Dumbing Us Down, The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling,</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"> and </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">Weapons of Mass Instruction.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:18px;"> What others have said about John Taylor Gatto:</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:18px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></div><div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">“I happen to agree with damn near every semi-colon and comma that Mr. Gatto has written. Thank you, thank you, thank you, John Taylor Gatto: perhaps American’s most brilliant educator.” - Tom Peters, management guru and author of </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">In Search of Excellence.</span></span></i></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">"I've loved John Gatto's work ever since I first encountered his astounding essays in </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">The Sun. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">This analysis of schooling is</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">presented with daring, panache, and a humorous passion that leaps off the page. I give this book [</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">Underground History of American Education</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">] a standing ovation! Bravo! " - Christine Northrup, author of </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: italic; font-family:'times new roman';font-size:16px;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">“Gatto’s voice is strong and unique... a Socrates of the educational world.” -Thomas Moore, author, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">Care of the Soul </span></span></i><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">“How does he probe so deeply the complex issues surrounding our schools when so many experts can hardly penetrate the surface at all? Here a master lecturer works his magic to cast the issues surrounding our schools in a new light. An examination of the assumptions behind compulsory schooling is the goal of this book [</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">Underground History of American Education</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">] . Haunting. A minor classic.” - Eric Schultes, The Whitehead Institute, M.I.T. </span></span><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">“Gatto is a singular antidote to stale convention.” - David Guterson, author, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">Snow Falling on Cedars</span></span></i><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">“A remarkable achievement. I can’t remember ever reading such a profound analysis of modern education.”</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"> - </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">Howard Zinn, on Gatto’s </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">The Underground History of American Education</span></span></i><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">“</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">Gatto’s ideas are splendid. I just hope someone is listening.”</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"> - Christopher Lasch, author of Culture of Narcissism </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">and </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">The Revolt of the Elites</span></span></i><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"><i></i></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">“</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">Every word Gatto writes comes from the depth of his caring about the lives of children.” </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">- SKOLE: The Journal of Alternative Education</span></span></i><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">“</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">Anyone interested in the fate of our schools should make this book</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"> </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">[</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">Underground History of American Education</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">] a priority.” - Dan Greenberg, Co-founder, the Sudbury Valley School</span></span><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">“In this fine work [</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">Underground History of American Education</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">], John Taylor Gatto traces the historic sources of educational corruption and pleads for a new deal for children, one grounded in the family and an intelligible order of the good.” - John E. Coons, Professor, University of California Law School at Berkeley, author, </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">Making School Choice Work</span></span></i><br /></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">“In his lectures and his writing Gatto not only adeptly denounces public schools, but also makes radical suggestions for improving them. These suggestions are grounded not in hypothetical clouds, but rather on his own innovative sturdy, apprenticeships, and solitude.” - Grace Llewellyn, author of </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">The Teenage Liberation Handbook</span></span></span></p></div></span></div>Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-80249548537647618512009-04-22T10:36:00.000-07:002009-04-22T10:42:14.730-07:00Hudson River Lyceum Lectures<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica; min-height: 17.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Are you interested in innovative ideas? Do you seek creative and fresh thought that might cause you to consider the world around you a bit differently? Are you tired of being fed filtered news and information? Do you care about your country and its future? If you answered yes to any of these questions, than you are not alone. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica; min-height: 17.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Fortunately for you a new lecture series has been organized which will serve as a forum to hear engaging speakers talk about topics of general interest in addition to important public policy issues. The lecture series, known as Hudson River Lyceum (HRL), has been created for everyone who feels that education doesn’t end with formal schooling but rather is a life long endeavor. It is designed to encourage you, your friends, neighbors and fellow citizens to gather in a public setting to hear a real live speaker. This simple act of community seems to be disappearing from the scene as a plethora of various media vies for our attention. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica; min-height: 17.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">You may be excused if the word lyceum conjures up an image of a movie theater, (it does have an association with entertainment) but it is actually a very old word whose roots go back to ancient Greece. Originally it was a place of learning famous for it’s association with Aristotle and it’s importance in the development of western science and philosophy. In this country, lyceums have a rich history and are regarded as one of the earliest instruments for the diffusion of general education to arise. The lyceum was a purely small town institution which was designed to provide opportunities to people of all ages to study history, art, science and hear lectures on public issues. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica; min-height: 17.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">The first lyceum was established by Josiah Holbrook in 1826. Within a few short years the idea spread over most of New England and the northeast, extending to the midwest and some southern states. New York became a leader in the lyceum movement, the first one being formed in Troy and establishing the first state lyceum in the country in 1831. Along with other voluntary organizations such as “mechanics institutes” lyceums helped in the founding of both public and private libraries. At it’s peak there were over three thousand lyceums in the United States. </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica; min-height: 17.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">The lyceum became nineteenth century America’s version of a inexpensive night out. For a very modest price a family could get a subscription to a lyceum which entitled them to courses, lectures and entertainment. Part of it’s original mission was the application of the latest scientific advances to the problems ordinary people confronted. Practical courses were offered to farmers on subjects like soil depletion, and there were offerings for tradesman and merchants. A popular form of entertainment for a family was to diagram sentences, if you can believe it! Some of the most notable personalities of the time from poets and philosophers, writers, orators and lecturers, and entertainers traveled what was known as the “lyceum circuit.” Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Daniel Webster, Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Jenny Lind and even Abraham Lincoln spoke at lyceums.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica; min-height: 17.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Closer to home there were lyceums in Kingston, known as the Rondout Lyceum and also at Saugerties. In 1855 the Saugerties Lyceum held a lecture given by Horace Greeley, one of the more in demand personalities on the “lyceum circuit.” At the time, Greeley was the most influential newspaper editor in the country. Often remembered today for his advice to his readers to “go west young man, go west,” Greeley was actually much more. A rather eccentric fellow, which was noted at length in the newspaper account of his lecture, Greeley none the less impressed his audience. A strong advocate for reform he championed the cause of women’s rights, temperance, and anti-slavery.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica; min-height: 17.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">The lyceum movement was a quintessentially American phenomenon. A shining example of a free citizenry filling a need by forming voluntary associations. It is hoped that this new lecture series will initiate a dialog on public issues that will match the vibrancy of the original lyceums in their heyday. The inaugural lecture, which will be free and open to the public will take place in the very near future with a very special guest. Further details as to the time and venue to be announced shortly so stay tuned! </span></span></p>Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-5365189353057897692009-04-17T16:26:00.000-07:002009-04-18T08:49:54.528-07:00A Great AfternoonWhat a great afternoon for The Kingston Tea party in front of the mall in Ulster on Wednesday. Well over two hundred people came out in support of a great cause - our country! But what was really encouraging were the hundreds of cars and trucks beeping their horns in solidarity and giving us the thumbs up. It seemed like every few seconds another horn was beeping, it was great. The crowd was great, there were veterans, seniors, lots of young people, housewives, business types, a real good mix. All of the people I spoke with expressed a deep concern for the direction our country is heading in. This countries moral, spiritual and economic health was on people's minds. Don't let anybody try and fool you because this event was strictly grass roots. I heard about it from a friend via email and saw five people there that I told. The internet is a very powerful tool. To political leaders like Nancy Pelosi who mocked this groundswell of the people by calling it "astroturf," in other words fake, I would say if you want to see something fake Nancy look in the mirror at your face. The mainstream media's coverage of the tea parties was ridiculous. Why is the left in this country so uptight about conservatives coming out in support of the things they believe in? That is a very interesting question. Could it be they are afraid? Could it be they know they're wrong, that we can't spend our way to prosperity? I would like to thank whoever organized this happening because they deserve three cheers. Here is a very well done video of pictures from the event, enjoy! <div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre; font-family:Arial;font-size:10px;"><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/uQtS_U2-tBI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uQtS_U2-tBI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object></span> </div>Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-92155300968617165702009-03-03T13:04:00.000-08:002009-03-03T13:21:43.533-08:00LETTER TO CONSERVATIVES<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family:'Trebuchet MS';font-size:13px;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">March 2009</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 12px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Greetings fellow Conservatives! As you may already know, George Heidcamp, Town of Saugerties Conservative Party Chairman, and the Conservative Executive Committee, resigned their positions in 2008. At a meeting of the County Executive Committee this past December, I was appointed to the position of Conservative Party Chairman in Saugerties. While I did not seek this position I accepted it for several reasons. The purpose of this letter is to discuss the current state of affairs and to explain why I feel conservatism matters.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 12px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">First, however, I would like to acknowledge and thank George Heidcamp for his leadership of the party these past years. George took up the cause and was active in promoting the party. As a consequence of some of his strong stands he often became a target of our political opponents and has taken more than a few arrows for the conservative cause. I want to thank George and his entire executive committee for a job well done. </span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 12px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> I also want to acknowledge the contributions of former party chair Dorothy Dederick. Dottie was chairman when I first registered and her energy over the years is a testament to her devotion to conservative principles. </span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 12px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I would also like to thank you for registering as a conservative. It tells me that you have an abiding affection for this country and the principles on which it was founded. Far from the caricature of conservatives in the media today - portraying us as reactionary and ignorant, conservatism for me embodies the best of America. Conservative thought is forward looking, cautiously optimistic, respectful of our traditions and currently contains some of the best ideas on major public policy issues. </span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 12px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I have been asked what conservatism is and it’s a good question. There are many voices of conservative thought, from social to fiscal conservatives, libertarians, neoconservatives and so forth. For me, conservatism isn’t so much an ideology as it is an approach to life. I believe conservatives have a far healthier and more realistic understanding of human nature. We know man is not a perfect creature and no government on earth can make us so. A basic tenet of conservatism can be found in the proverb “ Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime.” This simple yet profound insight, I believe, found it’s most harmonious expression in the founding documents of our republic. Our system of self-government, while maintaining civil order, allows us the ability to reach our full potential as individual human beings. As conservatives we value self-reliance, individualism and hard work as some of the prerequisites to a healthy, functioning society. In the course of human history there has never been a system of government that allows mankind more freedom, dignity, and a chance to succeed than the one bequeathed to us by the founders. This is our heritage as Americans and something to be justly proud of.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 12px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The so called stimulus bill is now law. This act, along with many other actions the government has taken over the past year is an affront to the idea of self-government. The purpose of this latest legislation is not to stimulate the economy but to stimulate government. It points out, better than anything, the differences between our political opponents and us. They want to foster a culture of dependance. They want and encourage people to look to government for help, and in so doing they can aggrandize more power unto themselves. No one is saying that there isn’t a necessary and proper role for government, but, as Thomas Jefferson said over two hundred years ago, “a government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.”</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 12px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I hope you are as motivated as I am to correct what the liberal establishment is doing to this country. To me it’s reminiscent of the late seventies, a time where our elite lost faith in the abilities and resourcefulness of the American people. </span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 12px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">More than ever this country needs to get back to basics and return to conservative values. The best way to do that is to offer common sense solutions to our many problems. I have accepted the chairmanship of the Conservative Party to promote those values and ideas in an ongoing public debate. It will only be with </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">your </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">support and feedback, that the Conservative Party of Saugerties will have a voice that will be heard loud and clear. </span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 12px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">For your convenience a blog site has been set up as a forum for conservative thought and ideas at </span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="text-decoration: underline; "><a href="http://www.coolcons.net/" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 204); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">http://www.coolcons.net</span></a></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">/ Please visit and bookmark the site and watch for important news. You will be able to post comments on the articles that appear. I welcome and encourage feedback!</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 12px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I can be reached by email at </span><a href="mailto:catmtn1@gmail.com" style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 102, 204); "><span style="text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">catmtn1@gmail.com</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Please send me your email address so we can start building a mailing list. The next mailing will be a notice for an organizational meeting. Thanks for your interest. </span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">MARK H. KNAUST</span></p></span>Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-30647274728225408452009-03-03T12:52:00.000-08:002009-03-03T13:22:12.673-08:00BRICKS AND MORTAR<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family:'Trebuchet MS';font-size:13px;"><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">The following appeared last fall in the local paper. It's up to us to make people come to the "right" conclusions!<br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">With the recent market turmoil and panic, combined with a highly charged political campaign, Americans can be excused if they find it all a little bewildering. While bewildering, it has caused me to think of bricks and mortar. Bricks and mortar in a real sense and more importantly in a metaphorical sense.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">I often think how much we take for granted in this country. The world we wake up to each day has in it the homes and businesses, associations and organizations that comprise our physical reality and by extension, our culture. How did these things come to be? What was the animating spirit behind their creation? What is it about this culture that makes us unique and sets us apart? As a building can fall down, can the things that have made our culture also be destroyed? </span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">In all of the responses to our current travails perhaps what is most alarming is a very deep sense that the political responses are missing the mark and drawing the wrong conclusions. It reminds me of a story attributed to Abraham Lincoln. When Lincoln was a practicing attorney he once represented a client who owned barges on the Mississippi River. One of these barges got loose one day and rammed an abutment of a railroad bridge and caused extensive damage. The railroad sued the man for damages and during the trial brought in all kinds of experts and high priced legal talent in an effort to win. Their case seemed pretty airtight until it was time for Lincoln’s summation. “My learned opponents” Lincoln said, “have presented an impressive case. There is no question that they have their facts absolutely right. But they have drawn completely wrong conclusions.” The jurors laughed uproariously at this, adjourned to deliberate and shortly came back with a verdict favoring Lincoln’s client. With the trial over, attorneys for the railroad besieged Lincoln asking him how this could be. They had the case won, how could Lincoln win they demanded to know, simply by saying what he did. “Well boys” Lincoln replied “it just happened that when court adjourned for lunch today I happened in the saloon where the jurors were eating and told them a little story. A story of a farmer working in his barnyard when his ten year old boy came rushing up to him all excited. Paw, said the boy, come quick. Sis and the hired man are up in the haymow. He’s a pullin down his pants and she’s a liftin up her skirts. Paw, they’re gettin ready to pee all over our hay. Son, the farmer said, you’ve got your facts absolutely right but you’ve drawn a completely wrong conclusion. </span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Now, I know that the American taxpayer doesn’t want to end up like that farmers daughter. To me it’s absolutely essential that we don’t do more harm by coming to the wrong conclusions, that somehow our system and it’s principles are at fault.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Most Americans recognize that we’re headed for some lean times. This should be regarded by us as an opportunity to get back to the basics, living within our means, working hard, saving and thrift, and strengthening our sense of community. If you cut through all the fog its not hard to see anything that can’t be fixed by returning to the virtues that built this country. Can there be any doubt that what is ultimately going to pull our chestnuts out of the fire is the American free enterprise system? American businesses, workers, entrepreneurs, doing the millions of things that they do every day conducting this nations affairs is the mortar that holds us together. We certainly can not look to government to create wealth for us. </span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Perhaps the most important “brick” of our civilization, it’s very foundation if you will, is under assault, and few recognize the danger this poses. To understand the origins of that foundation and it’s bearing on us we need to go back to a misty June morning centuries ago in the English meadows of Runnymeade. While not appreciated at the time, the events that day helped to sow the seeds of the greatest civilization in the history of the world. By compelling the government, in this case the king, to sign a document recognizing certain of their “rights” and privileges, the barons set in motion a chain of events that over centuries coalesced into the freedoms we all enjoy today. The signing of this document, the Magna Carta, was the first, nascent, organic appearance of the recognition that a king was responsible to a higher authority. It helped to lay the foundation that our personal freedoms are directly tied to our economic freedoms. Stop and think about that for a moment. Your right and my right to associate, worship, and speak freely are inherently bound to our rights to property. At a time when our government is scattering billions of dollars like chicken feed, swollen and drunk on it’s own power and sense of self-importance, it threatens to expand it’s size and scope even more. </span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 17px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "></span><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">It is my hope that Americans are mindful of these things and don’t draw the wrong conclusions. For it’s not just billions of dollars that we stand to lose but the steady erosion of our freedoms. The freedoms that allow us to build, create and succeed beyond our dreams. But with that success there is always the inherent risk of failure. That is the nature of life. The art of life is in treating success and failure as the imposture’s that they are, as a wise poet once said. Let us not attack the foundation, the “bricks and mortar” that make us who we are because of the abuses of a few. The stakes are that high if we are to pass on an America to our children that bears any semblance to the one we knew when we were young.</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal Helvetica; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">- Mark H. Knaust</span></p></span>Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-42693229864155096192009-03-03T10:00:00.000-08:002009-03-03T13:28:41.807-08:00Don't Laugh - It Could Happen<div><br /></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div><br /></div><div>I came across the following on a blog by a fellow named Chuck posting as <a href="http://www.nitecruzr.net/">http://www.nitecruzr.net </a>. What was once ridiculous is now possible. I think you'll agree, it's pretty funny. <br /></div></span><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(153, 51, 0);">New Government Program Ends Job Discrimination</span></div><div><br /></div><div>The Americans With No Abilities Act (AWNAA)</div><div><br /></div><div>Washington, DC - Congress is considering sweeeping legislation that will provide new benefits for many Americans.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Americans With No Abilities Act (AWNAA) is being hailed as a major legislative goal by advocates of the millions of Americans who lack any real skills or ambition.</div><div>Roughly 50 percent of Americans do not possess the competence and drive necessary to carve out a meaningful role for themselves in society said California Senator Barbara Boxer. We can no longer stand by and allow People Of Inability to be ridiculed and passed over. With this legislation, employers will no longer be able to grant special favors to a small group of workers simply because they have some idea of what they are doing.</div><div><br /></div><div>In a Capitol Hill press conference, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pointed to the success of the US Postal Service, which has a long-standing policy of providing opportunity without regard to performance. Approximately 74 percent of postal employees lack any job skills, making this agency the single largest U.S. employer of Persons of Inability.</div><div><br /></div><div>Private-sector industries with good records of non-discrimination against the Inept include retail sales (72%), the airline industry (68%), and home improvement 'warehouse' stores (65%). At the state government level the Department of Motor Vehicles also has an excellent record of hiring Persons of Inability (63%).</div><div><br /></div><div>Under the Americans With No Abilities Act, more than 25 million 'middle-man' positions will be created, with important- sounding titles but little real responsibility, thus providing an illusory sense of purpose and performance.</div><div><br /></div><div>Mandatory non-performance-based raises and promotions will be given so as to guarantee upward mobility for even the most unremarkable employees. The legislation provides substantial tax breaks to corporations that promote a significant number of Persons of Inability into middle-management positions, and gives a tax credit to small and medium-sized businesses that agree to hire one clueless worker for every two talented hires. </div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, the AWNAA contains tough new measures to make it more difficult to discriminate against the Non-ables, banning, for example, discriminatory interview questions such as - Do you have any skills or experience that relate to this job?</div><div><br /></div><div>As a Non-abled person, I can't be expected to keep up with people who have something going for them, said Mary Lou Gertz, who lost her position as a lug-nut twister at the GM plant in Flint, Michigan, due to her inability to remember righty tightey, lefty loosey. This new law should be real good for people like me, Gertz added. With the passage of this bill, Gertz and millions of other untalented citizens will finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. </div><div><br /></div><div>Said Senator Dick Durban (D-IL) - As a Senator with no abilities, I believe the same privileges that elected officials enjoy ought to be extended to every American with no abilities. It is our duty as lawmakers to provide each and every American citizen, regardless of his or her adequacy, with some sort of space to take up in this great nation and a good salary for doing so. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Another example of how the absurd is now quickly becoming reality - check out this video, amazing stuff!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; white-space: pre; "><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/opxuUj6vFa4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/opxuUj6vFa4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></span><br /></div>Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-5798872206589576842009-03-03T09:45:00.002-08:002009-03-03T19:57:33.324-08:00THE ACCIDENTAL CANDIDATE<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div><br /></div>S</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">i</span>x years ago (how time flies!), because of a series of unplanned events, I was asked to run as Conservative Party candidate for Town of Saugerties Supervisor. I did so without any other major party backing. I decided at the outset that if I was going to do this, I would raise issues in public that were important to me. My campaign cost $50. I had a blast meeting and talking with folks all over the Town of Saugerties. I wrote a series of articles that the local papers published (until they caught on to what I was doing and stopped publishing them). <div><br /></div><div>Looking back I can say that one of the principle reasons that I ran for Supervisor was the importance of land use in the the Town of Saugerties, an issue that continues to be relevant. The following four articles have themes that are still timely - education, taxation, the economy, land use, and the importance of long term thinking. I will re-visit these issues in the months ahead. <div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-79737646151344572202009-02-10T09:38:00.000-08:002009-02-24T14:47:41.857-08:00TAKING THE LONG VIEW<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqc5enBZpd4z58ZULdosw0XR6zevGS9kLqWoEk5AJi-uhLmYTRcWlCFD53LakFapTMK3iSxnQCslBwbEPZ57lAVGfsklglEKS1sDfWSMLCXmjkfV5IWnvWGaf1zCJX_D1l0z1fMjkONp0/s1600-h/PA080002.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqc5enBZpd4z58ZULdosw0XR6zevGS9kLqWoEk5AJi-uhLmYTRcWlCFD53LakFapTMK3iSxnQCslBwbEPZ57lAVGfsklglEKS1sDfWSMLCXmjkfV5IWnvWGaf1zCJX_D1l0z1fMjkONp0/s400/PA080002.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301951205317404866" /></a> <br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family:Helvetica;font-size:15px;"><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Mark Knaust at the site of the former Catskill Mountain House. </span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'times new roman';font-size:16px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Thomas Jefferson, America’s third president and best-known nature lover, once said that “there is not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me.” As a naturalist, he was a keen observer of the objects in the world around him and was inspired to send Lewis and Clark to explore uncharted territories. He was even committed to uncovering a natural curiosity -- the bones of a mastodon found in what was then Ulster County in 1801 -- when he helped to fund America’s first scientific expedition headed by his friend and Revolutionary War veteran, Charles Willson Peale. The discovery of the great mastodon was memorialized in one of Peale’s most engaging paintings. Jefferson’s love of the natural world and great sense of curiosity enabled unparalleled discoveries and advancement in scientific methods. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Recent commentary in local papers suggests Jeffersonian thought to be outdated. To the contrary, it is perhaps more relevant today than ever before. The very basic 21st century quality of life issues need to be evaluated as closely as the keen observer Jefferson did with issues facing him in the late 18th and early 19th centuries with what he stated as “an interest or affection in every bud that opens, in every breath that blows around me.”</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">America’s population growth and the increase in population locally -- due in part to the tragedy of September 11 -- have combined to push a new set of quality-of-life issues to the fore: traffic, congestion, disappearance of open spaces, strain on water supply and a lack of affordable housing. These issues are of great importance to many folks here in Saugerties. </span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A drive down Main Street or Ulster Avenue, through 9W in Barclay Heights or through the intersection of routes 212 and 32, reveals traffic congestion on the highways in Saugerties is increasing dramatically. A drive down any back road will reveal haphazard development of once beautiful farmland and natural areas. The increase in residential and business development will surely impact our treasured water supply.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Unfortunately, even after the adoption in 1999 of the Comprehensive Plan for the Town of Saugerties, there have been instances of spot zoning and expansive business ventures with little or no review. These issues are in direct opposition to the comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan offers the best guide that I know of right now to lead Saugerties into the 21st century. The plan defines what is important to this community and is to guide change as consistent with community goals.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Let’s not wait for another historic house or cemetery to be demolished or farmland to be developed; let’s not wait to inventory our precious water resources. By taking a proactive initiative on topics discussed in the Comprehensive Plan and giving thoughtful consideration to the quality-of-life issues like public safety, education, transportation, recreational opportunities and the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">esprit de corps</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> of this community, we can affirm what values we want this community to aspire to. A blade of grass and a scientific expedition are as relevant today as they were over 200 years ago.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">- Mark H. Knaust</span></span></span></p> </span></div>Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-21343603949195420442009-02-06T12:13:00.000-08:002009-02-25T13:15:22.720-08:00OUR DAM ECONOMY<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgZlhymTYdntRINv40BO2lMTRT8nSgkghmM5A6LLh_DWgu_9xVJTeEOrZICX0v-AD4GB7PQXjFGswzDkKaFaWUhTpv3dwHBaaKjUyfYa5NKAHxbPRY6sV7djAl984e4Krv5YAaZJ9cZvY/s1600-h/Markcanoe1A.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 297px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgZlhymTYdntRINv40BO2lMTRT8nSgkghmM5A6LLh_DWgu_9xVJTeEOrZICX0v-AD4GB7PQXjFGswzDkKaFaWUhTpv3dwHBaaKjUyfYa5NKAHxbPRY6sV7djAl984e4Krv5YAaZJ9cZvY/s320/Markcanoe1A.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306482498111990834" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Mark Knaust at the base of the Esopus Creek Falls, Saugerties.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">From its inception Saugerties has attracted people of intellect, energy and drive. When Henry Barclay built his dam around 1825 and harnessed the power of the Esopus Creek for the industrial uses that built the surrounding community, it was generally thought to be a positive step in Saugerties' march to the future. With the rise of mills below the dam, the Industrial Revolution began in Saugerties.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Over the decades these industries both prospered and failed. But with the failures it seemed that succeeding generations managed to adapt, utilize what assets remained, and then prosper again. Today, people want to know what will drive the economy of tomorrow. Where are the sources of revenue that we need to support our local government and its many services? What can we do to foster a renewed prosperity and what is the economic future of Saugerties?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A look at the economic situation in Saugerties today reveals a small town with a proud industrial past struggling with a declining business tax base while contending with providing ever more services being funded by homeowners with modest incomes. What do we do to avoid a situation where Saugerties becomes a community of excessively high costs and too few good job opportunities?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I do not have all the answers to these questions, but the situation is not beyond our control. The decisions our local officials make impact our economic development in many meaningful ways. Where we seek guidance, and the policies we employ in making our decisions are important in positioning our community to meet the future.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I believe water can play a role again not so much by our harnessing its power, but by ensuring a clean and abundant supply of it. This region is blessed with tremendous water assets. Other regions of the United States are starting to reach their limits of growth because of concerns over water. It would be far-sighted for this town to identify and begin to protect all its water resources. Similarly, Saugerties should begin to identify and catalog its other assets such as our land, scenic, cultural and historic resources.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">By taking these actions and encouraging the growth and development of this town to comport with the outlines expressed in the Comprehensive Plan for the Town of Saugerties adopted in 1999, the town can position itself to attract the type of industries that everyone desires. The Hudson Valley between Poughkeepsie and Glens Falls is becoming widely known as the Hudson Valley High-Tech Corridor, the eastern seaboard equivalent of California's Silicon Valley. Computer technology, telecommunications, nanotechnology, biotechnology research and energy firms are springing up in the region as a result of proximity to research and educational facilities in the valley and to the quality of life that this valley offers.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">These industries are frequently unobtrusive and quiet, and the people associated with them are educated and well compensated. Saugerties should become more aggressive in its quest to attract this type of industry. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It has been a long time since Henry Barclay's dam has been of economic benefit locally, but the spirit, creativity and ingenuity that animated Barclay and the other entrepreneurs that followed him can serve as an example for us today. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">- Mark H. Knaust</span></span></div>Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-49913979651574784402009-02-06T11:27:00.000-08:002009-02-24T14:45:23.215-08:00RECESS ON SPENDING<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2TLpEvfyFJQKESzQKHcjl-Gw-3hyphenhyphen76HpVn7nlyoX1UXj6IxHUmeedZYIvtBS9JQnJq8KfTV8oB7F2wZoownN7nU-zPvuOvkFaK6X_g8DqsiA-nbH9SYw2bs2DLW-jNp2JGmSOXRGl978/s1600-h/MarkRedSchool.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2TLpEvfyFJQKESzQKHcjl-Gw-3hyphenhyphen76HpVn7nlyoX1UXj6IxHUmeedZYIvtBS9JQnJq8KfTV8oB7F2wZoownN7nU-zPvuOvkFaK6X_g8DqsiA-nbH9SYw2bs2DLW-jNp2JGmSOXRGl978/s320/MarkRedSchool.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306478106809744242" /></a> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Mark Knaust at a former one-room school house in Saugerties.</span></span><br /><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Education is one of the prime issues that citizens in Saugerties have discussed with me. Whether it is in providing a quality education for the children in Saugerties or discussion of the increasing size of the school budget and resulting increase in school taxes, it is a subject that produces very decided opinions. And it is a subject that demands particular attention around this time every year.<br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">The recent defeat by property owners in the Town of Saugerties of the $62 million capital project to build a new middle school and to make additions and renovations to the junior and senior high schools and all four elementary schools, is a case in point. The rejection of the school bond was a clear signal that all is not well. That defeat represented a failure in leadership and disconnections between the establishment in the town, the school, and the taxpayers.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">This community owes a debt of gratitude to a couple of leading citizens - both of them Democrats - for leading the opposition to this overreaching bond.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">I would like to represent the 70 or 80 percent of the citizens of Saugerties who resent being told that a no vote on the school bond means that they don't support the education of the children in this community.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">As a product of the Saugerites School System, I am aware that much of our infrastructure is past its peak. I supported the renovations to the Cahill Elementary School done in the 1990's because the renovations were both long overdue and reasonable. The latest bond referendum was timely perhaps, but not at all reasonable, and I, like you, rejected it. I also believe that even those who voted against this bond issue want to see every child in our town receive a fine education, and I am with you. Now is the time to take a recess and evaluate our needs and priorities regarding the funding of education. The voters seem to be saying that a larger school, with expensive extracurricular activities, will not ensure a better education, and I agree.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">Our school system is one of the largest "industries" in town. Unfortunately, our biggest export product seems to be our children looking for better opportunities. While other businesses are leaving this state, this is one industry that is flourishing. Education is so important to our community that it can no longer be the special province of our school board. The financial implications of the recent bond issue along with the size of the school budget suggest this to be the case. I believe we have to reassess our entire approach to the way we educate our children. We can start by having the school system become more integrated in the community. This idea was mentioned in the comprehensive plan adopted by the town and village of Saugerties in 1999. Creative thinking, innovation, efficiency and frugality will not come from the bureaucracy or special interests in Albany. It must be generated and cultivated here in Saugerties, by us. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">The humorist Will Rogers once remarked that "we have the honor of being the only country in the world that ever went to the poorhouse in an automobile." I'll leave it to the readers' imaginations as to which model automobile they would liken our present educational system. One thing is for sure, there are too many government controls on the motor and it sure guzzles a lot of gas!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">While I am not advocating a return to the one-room schoolhouse, it is worth pondering that previous generations of Americans managed to educate their children very will without sapping the lifeblood out of the citizens in the community. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';">- Mark H. Knaust</span></span></div>Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4069605392570838627.post-46200403834928591842009-02-06T08:37:00.000-08:002009-02-27T16:49:07.687-08:00CONSERVE SAUGERTIES<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgVLsHqZSDx3LDaFZ1RnDzvQb9nV-49QQbMg7x1WmAgHTxDmAaJEa2OahYR5xMgFLDLw7U5fJPVFT1w2S6OLVuCNOo0DdT8jWk6r5tafIF_ZpRJF8zi5bnHypenNF522r1OBJ1-2kkckY/s1600-h/Markgesture.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgVLsHqZSDx3LDaFZ1RnDzvQb9nV-49QQbMg7x1WmAgHTxDmAaJEa2OahYR5xMgFLDLw7U5fJPVFT1w2S6OLVuCNOo0DdT8jWk6r5tafIF_ZpRJF8zi5bnHypenNF522r1OBJ1-2kkckY/s320/Markgesture.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306475606878311122" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Mark Knaust and Bill Trumpbour discuss land use in Saugerties.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Land use is one of the most important and vexing issues facing Saugerties today. Important because we are in the midst of a profound period of change in our land use patterns and vexing because the subject covers a broad range of issues that offers no easy solutions. How we use our land, and the the impacts that flow from that use, will go a long way in determining not only how this community views itself but also our overall quality of life.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Saugerties has always been a predominately rural community. The importance of agriculture to this town was recognized when it was included in the original town seal in the 1830's, along with commerce and industry. Our relationship with the land has helped to define the town character and indeed the American character. In fact, the fundamental liberties that form the bedrock of this republic emanate from the recognition of private property rights. For most of the history of this country the land has been under the stewardship and protection of farmers. This relationship has left a positive and indelible mark on our character and is woven into the fabric of our society. Even today our school calendar still revolves around the needs of 19th-century farmers. The values that farming evokes - hard work, thrift, integrity and the giving of thanks every year for the blessings that providence bestows on us - form a very powerful component of our identity. <br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It is with more than a little sadness and concern that I have witnessed the slow disappearance of our rural heritage in this town. For too long we've taken for granted the beautiful countryside in this town, assuming it will always be there. I believe that we have to start realizing that behind every pastoral scene or bucolic setting there is property owner more than likely scrimping to pay their taxes. As long as government depends on generating most of it's revenue from land taxes there will be enormous pressure exerted on these landowners. The decisions that are made as a result of this pressure are likely to be bad ones.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Recently, I had the pleasure of talking about these matters with a local Saugerties farmer, William Trumpbour. The Trumpbour family ties to the land go back to the original Palatine settlement in the early part of the 18th century. Bill started farming in 1947 and bought his wonderful wife, Ellie, an engagement ring with the profits from his first buckwheat crop. The farm and the land around it comprise some of the most beautiful scenery in the township. It has remained nearly unchanged since the days when, tradition has it, Revolutionary War troops celebrated in that field following their victory in the Battle of Saratoga. Not long ago the adjacent land was slated for development, something that thankfully has not happened. These rural scenes are a large part of what makes this town an enjoyable place to live.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I don't want these thoughts to be misinterpreted as being against development of any kind. There are many people in the town that depend directly or indirectly on the building and construction trades. The town can grow but it should do so in a thoughtful and graceful way. A few years ago some of our local citizens worked very hard to produce a comprehensive plan for the Town of Saugerties that contains common sense and practical suggestions to accomplish just that. This town now needs leadership in pursuing that vision; a leadership that understands when a new business is sited in the town - one that could have a tremendous impact on traffic patterns say - it must go through proper regulatory review. It's time we start paying attention to these issues before we destroy the very aspects of this town that make it so appealing. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">- Mark H. Knaust</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div>Mark Knausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10470244719526323368noreply@blogger.com0