Column by Adrian Kuzminski, September 7, 2018 THE GOAL: ECONOMIC, POLITICAL FREEDOM Populism As American As Apple Pie Ever since the last presidential election the words “populist” and “populism” have been widely bandied about, mostly as pejorative terms. A populist politician, we often hear, is a demagogue who wins votes by inflaming the resentments and emotions of ordinary people at the expense of rational thought. Those who fall prey to populism are no more to be trusted, critics suggest, than…
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Editorial for September 7, 2018 For Now, Only Choice In Sheriff’s Race Is For Due Process A letter to the editor the other week drew on the Biblical injunction, “The son shall not suffer for the sins of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquities of the son.” And surely that’s as it should be. That said, it’s legitimate for open-minded citizens to question how county Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr. has handled the situation involving his son,…
Column by Mike Zagata, August 31, 2018 Rising To The Fly On Natural Gas One of the main reasons that local brook trout don’t get very big is that they tend to rise to and take the first dry fly that is drifted over them. During my professional career, I have avoided “rising to the fly,” but my fellow columnist, Adrian Kuzminski, in his Aug. 23-24, 2018 article, floated one that was just too tempting. He was commenting on my…
Column by Adrian Kuzminski, August 24, 2018 Let’s Take Control Of Our Energy Future Recently, nearly 100 people crowded the Oneonta Town Hall to respond to a report by Otsego Now head, Jody Zakrevsky, about the controversial gas decompression station proposed for Oneonta. The backlash was overwhelming. A long series of speakers unanimously condemned the project and demanded instead a full-scale effort to transition to renewables as soon as possible. As the speakers pointed out, a myriad of solutions exist…
Editorial For August 17, 2018 Sensible Plan Surfaces To Ensure Energy For Industry When Otsego Now Executive Director Jody Zakrevsky was Schoharie County economic developer, a Canadian firm was a half-step away from buying long-vacant Guilford Mills, that rambling complex to the right of I-88 as you drive to Albany. All that was lacking was a letter from the mayor, assuring the company would be guaranteed sufficient power to conduct business. Such a letter was forthcoming, but the last line…
Column by Mike Zagata for August 17, 2018 Exotic? Natural Gas As Common As … Manure It’s amazing that the natural gas opponents all talk about wanting to protect the environment by moving from natural gas to “renewables.” Is it that they are misinformed or have an agenda? It’s difficult to tell, but here’s what the science tells us. Natural gas, or methane, is naturally occurring. It is emitted from volcanoes, manure piles and humans. It is the cleanest burning…
Editorial, August 10, 2018 The Arithmetic Is Inexorable: 2/3rds City, 1/3rd Town Fire District. Make The Deal Judges generally are loath to get involved in situations that should be resolved through the political process. But once in a while their hand is forced. Such seems to be the case shaping up in the now years-long standoff between Oneonta City Hall and the Town of Oneonta Board of Fire Commissioners over what the town should pay to be covered by professional…
Editorial, August 3, 2018 America – And Cooperstown – Fearing Fear Itself One of the many delights in getting older is you realize some things aren’t going to be resolved in your lifetime. If you’re 65-and-holding, you can relax. American paranoia and its companion, the National Security State, won’t be dissipated tomorrow, if it can ever. And, year to year, we witness the ever-fuller flowering of these truly abhorrent aspects of modern American life during the Hall of Fame’s Induction…
Editorial, July 27, 2018 Do We Divert XNG Trucks Now – Or After First Fatality? On the surface, the argument makes sense, (sort of). Boston-based Xpress Natural Gas’ trucks, carrying fuel from fracking fields in Northeastern Pennsylvania across Otsego County to the Iroquois Pipeline near Little Falls, are legal carriers and should be allow to use New York State roads just like any other legal carrier. After all, what’s next? Should we then ban oil tankers? Suburban Propane delivery trucks?…
Column by Adrian Kuzminski for July 27, 2018 On Playing The Race Card There was a time not so long ago when the ideal on racial issues was to be color-blind, presuming the equality of all. When that proved not to effectively address the underlying problem of racism, affirmative action became the order of the day. It played an important role in bringing minorities, especially blacks, out of the ghettos and into prominence in the professions, the media and middle-class…