Special election, abortion rights, rent control and more letters from readers – Hudson Valley One

The views and opinions expressed in our letters section are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Hudson Valley One. You can submit a letter to the editorhere.

Closet misogyny

Once again, I must bring up the irrational behavior of those who smile when they see women suffer. Misogyny, the dislike of, contempt for or ingrained prejudice against women, is the official definition. We already know that many men want to dominate women in various ways. We all know how women have suffered over the years from brutal attacks by men. An unbelievably large number of women walk through life with ugly memories of heinous crimes, perpetrated on them by angry men. Yes, we unfortunately know this.

But what many of us may not be aware of is the deep hatred, conscious or unconscious, that thousands of women have for other women. Closet misogyny is the term that comes to mind when some women smile quietly when other women are suffering. What do you think about that?

In 2016, 52 percent of all white women in America voted for Trump, in spite of him being accused of multiple rapes and sexual indiscretions directed toward women. Was it Trumps charisma and his appeal as a father figure? Maybe. Maybe not. Or maybe it was because many white women may have had an inexplicable, deep-seated hatred for Hillary Clinton. How many times did I hear women telling me that Hilary was too much of something or not enough of something else? Many women were extremely critical of her, and maybe it was simply that she was a woman. How many white women did not vote at all because they believed negative stories about the first female presidential candidate? Well never know that answer.

But we do know that 90 percent of Black women did vote for Hillary. Why were they able to make that decision? What galvanized their votes for Hillary when white women could not figure out how to vote for her? Could it be that Trumps unapologetic racism may have solidified their vote against such a racist, and subsequently made it a no-brainer to vote for Hillary?

But now we have the Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and the Republicans doing everything they can to push through horribly oppressive laws against all women, who simply want to retain the right to choose. How could it be, that in 2022, and in the United States of America, there are new laws being passed threatening pregnant women who were raped to either carry the pregnancy to term, or be considered a criminal if they seek an abortion? Its not enough that they had to deal with being raped? Its not enough that they have to handle the fact that the rapists violence and unwanted pregnancy has cause them more pain and confusion from their ongoing nightmare? But now many women will have to sneak around in dark corners of our society to seek relief from the toxic situation. Something is very rotten in our current society.

So, we now are three months away from a very important election in November. Most Republicans are pushing a platform that will enslave women even more in our society. Women have the voting power to comply with this, or to resist such archaic and irrational platforms. Republican women especially have more power than they think. They can vote Yes to oppressing women more. They can either avoid voting altogether, or they can decide that the Republican Party has made a grievous error. They can choose to vote for more humane platforms, even if it is against the partys position. They clearly have the choice.

Women have come so far since over 100 years ago when they successfully fought and won the right to vote. Today they are holding jobs that years ago they had no chance of getting. Women have successfully advanced into positions of leadership in the business world. I am constantly inspired by the progress women have made, as well as their gifts to our society. I am also saddened by the subtle ways they continue to thwart their own efforts to further empower each other.

Closet misogyny is a phrase, but it doesnt have to be a way of life for millions of women. But first looking in the mirror and honestly accepting what may be true today could possibly free many women from a deep-seated belief that holds them back from their own power. But will they take the time to look into that mirror?

Once we accept our limits, then and only then are we able to go beyond them. Albert Einstein

Marty KleinKingston

Born free

No one is born married.

SparrowPhoenicia

Indian Point shutdown

The NYISO, the organization responsible for managing New York States electrical generation and transmission infrastructure, announced that in 2021, downstate New York, including the Hudson Valley, received 89 percent of its electricity from fossil fuels. Compared to 2019, this was a 20 percent increase in the use of fossil fuels to generate electricity.

The shutdown of the Indian Point nuclear power plant, the activation of two new fossil fuel plants, Cricket Valley and CPV Valley, and the intensified use of existing generators resulted in the increased use of fossil fuels for electricity generation.

Each year, the NYISO publishes Power Trends, a report on the previous years operation of New Yorks electrical grid with a discussion about the opportunities and challenges moving to a 100 percent renewable energy supply.

Kenneth PanzaWoodstock Climate Smart

Our partner Trump

Again? Theyre not even hiding it anymore. Is the again modifying help? Help again just like they did in 2016? Huh, I think I might have seen this episode. Theyre doing reruns. They really miss Trump in the White House, and we all know why. Yeah, Kremlin propagandists are openly fantasizing about a second Trump term wrecking America. Wow, whew, SMH. Russia, if youre listening, Installed by Russians. Removed by Americans. No thanks. We already dealt with that issue.

Russian state TV host Evgeny Popov says its time for the Russian people to call on Americans to change the regime in the US before its term expires and to again help our partner, former president Donald Trump, to become president once more. I think that Popov meant to say puppet, not partner.

Popovs continued praise of Trump on Russian state television demonstrates that he is their guy, just like he is regaled on Fox News. Trump was angry that Fox News had been ignoring him recently, adhering to a new memo and focusing on other potential 2024 candidates. I guess Mister Popov was filling in for regular host Tzucker Carlsonocoff. Whoa, whoa, weird flex when Russians on state TV tell the truth, but okay. Im always struck at how similar the sets of Russian state TV and Fox news look. Anyway, it looks like our Tucker has his marching orders.

The partnership is confirmed! Russia says the quiet part out loud: our partner Trump, komrade = partner Trump other synonyms kompanion, kompatriot, krony and/or kolleague. Isnt that interesting? Now that Russia is involved, that Fox memo wont be followed. Sheessh, I never like the term Axis of Evil, but they are on a spindle of their own making, arent they?

Since nothing happens on Russian state TV without Putins approval, I see this as explicitly calling for, or appearing to be, Putins confession to election interference to me. And now, their Fox affiliates are doing their best or will be wanting to spread all the Russian propaganda. It wont matter to MAGATs. They literally prefer Putin over Biden, according to polls. So, theyll gladly accept Putin taking things over.

I may be wrong, but thinking about this, seems like this is almost necessarily out of desperation; everything has gone against Putin and getting Trump back into the White House from Moscow is his best hope. Hes desperate. Russia needs to create a total internal breakdown inside the United States, and he said that Trump was just the man to make it happen.

Im not surprised by this. But I am a bit concerned. And not Susan Collins concerned. Keep calm and Fuck you, Russia! So, whats it gonna be in America? Time to pick a side.

Republicans will never wash off the stench of Trump. Do GOP voters have any idea what its like to live in Russia? Democrats need to use this. Dems need to blast this! If they dont run the shit out of this in the 2022 midterm and 2024 election ads, then I have lost all faith in this political party. This is being teed up on a goddamned silver platter for candidates up and down the ballots. Do not miss this golden opportunity!

Neil JarmelWest Hurley

Rent control hurts renters, landlords, communities

The Common Council through their actions have made Kingston radioactive to any new housing development in the City, having caused the problem in the first place through suffocating zoning and other regulations, making it impossible to build. Any promised future zoning reforms will now prove futile, since individuals and companies who would step in and build, which would actually solve any housing shortage, will avoid the toxic environment like the plague now being telegraphed by City government.

The Common Council is engaging in extremist government overreach by implementing New York City-style rent control and bankrupting mom-and-pop landlords throughout the City. These actions will be ineffective, since it only covers ten percent of Kingston renters. Rent control is proven to make apartments less available and will lead to accelerating rents on the other 90 percent of City renters. Just look 90 miles south. ETPA is targeted at older buildings and perversely puts strict dollar limits on improvements, so the ten percent will suffer living in dilapidated and deteriorating living conditions, frozen in time.

The only way to solve the housing crisis is to construct additional supply, but last night the Common Council might as well as put a large sign at the Thruway circle: Housing Investment Not Welcome Here.

Rent control will not add a single affordable housing unit in the City, will kill the needed building that is actually the solution and therefore self-perpetuate the situation. It is not a step in the right direction, but sadly, as might be expected out of City Hall, decidedly a step in the wrong direction.

Rich LanzaroneExecutive director, Hudson Valley Property Owners Association

Be responsible for your own safety

Responding to the article Sharing the road, I am sorry that the young lady was injured and is suffering, and I applaud her goal to make the roads safer for bicycle riders. She has lots of courage and strength and purpose. Allow me to approach this issue from a different angle. Bicycle riders often repeat the mantra: We have as much right to roads as automobiles. Okay, since no one driving a car has a legal right to drive, since its considered a privilege granted by the state after passing a test, you have no rights to the road; you are allowed the privilege unless you have more rights than others? Maybe rethink that argument.

Yes, of course we all need to be cognizant of bike riders and their safety. However, I never hear about their own responsibility for safety. Past wearing a helmet and wearing special shorts so they dont get chafed, what are they doing as a group? Pushing for mandatory lights, signals, horns, rearview mirrors and safety courses? Nope, never hear it. Pushing to prohibit use of bikes on roads unsafe for bicycle traffic? Nope, never hear that one. How about license and insurance for your bikes? How about urging recreational riders to ride on trails provided all over the Hudson Valley for this very purpose? Limit group riding on roads to two or three people and in single file? Never hear those either.

The Idaho stop proposal is just plain silly. The premise is we break the law all the time by not stopping for lights and stop signs, so just let us do it legally. Also claiming that it reduces the risk of riders being clipped on corners. Interesting. I wonder, how much does it increase the risk of getting run over by a car the rider didnt see coming before pulling into the intersection? Dangerously foolish idea. How about following the laws as written like everyone else?

The fact that bikes got more tickets than trucks in New York City is not a very good argument for your cause. It is astounding that trucks that travel thousands more miles a day than bikes could in a month in New York City get less tickets than people on bikes! That not inequity; thats an example of the of the careless attitude of many bicyclists.

I spent about 40 years on the road as truck driver, and from Day One all I ever saw was Safety begins with you. On posters in dispatch, on mirrors in rest rooms, on the door to get in the truck, on sun visors at every safety meeting, it was pounded into us; and I believe that it is the only way to be safe as possible, no matter what I am doing: working, riding my motorcycle, driving my car or shaving. I cannot depend on those I share the road with to do the right thing or even see me. By the way, I cant tell you how many times someone in a car or on a bike did not see my 102-inch-wide, 70-foot-long, 13-and-a-half-foot-high truck on beautiful sunny days. So, do really think you are very visible on your bike?

Ride your bikes safely; its up to you. Keep fighting for safer roads, but start being responsible for your own safety.

Chuck PaneNew Paltz

Got you last!

In the past, I have played the game Got you last with Peter Fiorentino, writing responses to him because of his misrepresentations of my views. With this in mind, Peter is once again misrepresenting something I wrote. In his letter Vaginal politics and the Bible, Peter states, George Civiles letterargues that the Bible supports this SCOTUS [abortion] decision and is viewed as a source of higher truth by most people. The only problem with Peters relating of what I argued is that I argued no such thing. Nor did I say (if context means anything) that the Bible is viewed as a source of higher truth by most people.

This is what I actually wrote in my letter more complicated, indeed: Funny thing about caring about what the Bible says: When one is combating slavery or fighting for civil rights and social justice, the Bible is viewed as a source of higher truth by most people. However, if one is speaking against sexual immorality or abortion, the Bible becomes irrelevant to many of these same folks. This quote was a play on something similar Steve Massardo wrote about the Constitution, and the letter itself was a response to Steves More complicated than that. The point of the quote was not that most people view the Bible as a higher source of truth, but rather that many people will value what the Bible says and even honor it as a higher source of truth only when it validates their views. Moreover, since the major purpose of my letter was to answer Yes to the question gleaned from Steves letter Should Americans care what the Bible says since we dont live in a theocracyyet? it is obvious that Mr. Fiorentino mischaracterized my letters purpose.

It should be noted that Mr. Massardo had challenged my assertion that the Biblical narrative reflected in Genesis 9:6, of humans having been made in the image of their Creator was responsible for the view that human life was unique and held to be sacred, even in the womb, by the civilization (Western) it helped to form. Regarding Peters other arguments, I again recommend Susan E. Wills non-Biblical article Ten legal reasons to reject Roe.

Because there is a great chance that any response from Mr. Fiorentino to this letter will misrepresent my words again, I submit the parody below of the Platters classic hit The Great Pretender, titled The Misrepresenter, for Peters consideration.

Note to Stephen Massardo: Steve, your letter Salvation history is irrelevant to this discussion was not well taken, because its claim that the point of your letter was unclear to me it wasnt (see my letter More complicated indeed and references to Stephen above), and your statement The Bible is not and should not be a source of law in the United States is untrue. To wit: It contradicts the following quote and many more I could present: Since the first settlements in British North America, Christianity and the Bible have had a significant influence on American jurisprudence. This reflects Christianitys expansive influence on Western legal traditions in general and the English common law in particular. (Christianity and American Law by Daniel L Dreisbach, published online by Cambridge University Press, 24 June 2019.)

Regarding my engaging in rhetorical gymnastics trying to convince people that the Bible doesnt condone slavery, it is true that slaveowners and slave traders used the Bible to protect their economic interests to condone slavery by taking scripture verses out of context and ignoring the very relevant salvation history needed to properly understand the Book. However, the Bible speaks against slavery in no uncertain terms, placing slave traders in the company of those the New Testament asserts will not inherit the kingdom of God: lawbreakers and rebelsthose who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoralfor slave traders and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine. (I Timothy 1:8-14).

It is interesting that the song Amazing Grace was written by a man, John Newton, who engaged in the slave trade, and after his dramatic conversion to genuine Christianity which involved studying the Scriptures spent the rest of his life fighting against slavery, aiding William Wilberforces 20-year campaign to end slavery in England by inspiring and helping him found the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, more commonly called the Anti-Slavery Society.

There is much more to say on this and other subjects from both of your recent letters, and I will do so in the future. (May I say, God and the editor willing?) In the meantime, readers are encouraged to interchange Stephen and Peter in the parody below. And, Stephen, Id love to read a parody song from you, so go for it!

(Stanza)

Oh, Peters the misrepresenter

He misrepresents what I say

My words it seems come from his dreams

I feel like a pawn in Petes play

(Stanza)

Stephens the misrepresenter

He makes my words seem unsound

His thoughts of me are not mine you see

He must stop his messing around

Lest his Feedback distortions abound

(Bridge)

His words have the feeling of make-believe

His critiques conceal what my real words reveal

(Closing stanza)

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Peters the misrepresenter

This missive I will not prolong

My words it seems come from his dreams

So Ill say Got you last with this song

In a game that I hope wont last long

(Wont last lo-o-ng)

George CivileGardiner

Separation of church & state & reproductive rights

Pope Francis has recently joined a growing list of world leaders to apologize for the disastrous impacts of past colonization and forced religious or cultural assimilation. The countries, religions, victimized peoples and legacy of impacts vary from case to case; there is a common theme. Forcing the ideals of one religion or culture onto other people with established culture results in a myriad failure, unrest, strife and disenfranchisement. Although there may not be an outside country invading America, it is affronted by an effort from within our own borders to force the religious beliefs of a few on the established cultural norms and constitutional rights of the many.

The First Amendment prohibits Congress from establishing religion or favoring one religion over another. The recent rash of state laws strictly limiting or prohibiting access to safe abortion caters to a minority of religious zealots (would-be oligarchs) and represents internal religious colonialism. Not all religions or people believe that life begins at conception or that every sperm is sacred (cr. Monty Python it still holds up). Not all Americans practice organized religion, and some dont believe in God, which is their constitutional right. Some of the Founding Fathers werent even sticklers for organized religion and rather opted for deism.

In Thomas Jeffersons own words, the First Amendments prohibition on establishing religion was intended to erect a wall of separation between church and state That wall must be kept high and impregnable. Im no lawyer, but legislation to force the will of one religion across the larger population flies in the face of what Ive learned about the First Amendment over the years, not to mention a slap in the faces of the Founding Fathers, whom were all so supposedly fond of.

In his apology to Canadas Indigenous Peoples, the Pope acknowledged that these problems are not all in the past, warning, Yet today too, there are any number of forms of ideological colonization that clash with the reality of life, stifle the natural attachment of peoples to their values and attempt to uproot their traditions, history and religious ties. America finds itself at a precarious crossroads, with one road continuing the American experiment and maintaining the wall separating state and church as the Founding Fathers prescribed, or a second where the foundations of our democracy are corroded by government-sanctioned internal religious colonialism.

We have an obligation to future generations to keep the ideology of religious oligarchs out of our legislation on the local, state and federal level. We should learn from past mistakes and hopefully avoid the need for another apology for forced religious assimilation.

Jennifer ArmstrongKingston

Back to the garden

The Woodstock Village Green is a beautiful garden. We have this beautiful garden because there are volunteers who, for years, have tended it. They are retiring. They are the last of their kind: gracious people moved to service by civic pride. There is no one stepping up to take on their work. An untended garden dies. Will Woodstock allow that to happen before something is done?

I suggest that the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce and the Town of Woodstock form a public/private partnership to fund landscaping on the Village Green. We cannot get ourselves back to the garden if the garden is dead from neglect.

William C. ONeillWoodstock

Winston Farm development & the publics role

The Saugerties Farm, LLC proposal to rezone and develop the 840-acre Winston Farm is one of the largest projects to come before our Town Board. As the proposed development of the property is under review, the public can play an important role.

The Conservation Advisory Commission (CAC), an advisory group to the Town Board, is charged with surveying and monitoring area natural resources and is a participant in the review process. The CAC does not advocate for or against this project. It identifies environmental implications and makes recommendations. We encourage the public to become familiar with the process and the publics role.

The State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) defines the process and procedures by which environmental consequences are identified, investigated and assessed. The Saugerties Farm proposal, classified as a Type 1 project, is subject to an extensive review through the process. The Town Board, as Lead Agency, has reviewed and responded to the Full Environmental Assessment Form (FEAF) prepared by Saugerties Farm, LLC, the applicant. The board issued a Positive Declaration, indicating the potential for adverse environmental effects.

Currently, Saugerties Farms, LLC is preparing a draft scoping document that outlines their plans for responding to the potential environmental issues outlined in the Positive Declaration. Once this draft scoping document is released to the public, there is a public comment period. At this time, concerned citizens and agencies can respond through writings and public hearings with additional comments and suggestions to be considered in the final scoping document.

Saugerties Farm, LLC must then complete a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). Any issue not included in the scoping document will not be addressed in the DEIS. When the DEIS is completed, it will be subject to further review and input from the public where additional actions may be called for.

Upon completion of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), involved agencies may review and respond to the document. With guidance from its consultants, then and only then will the Town Board vote on the applicants request for a zoning change.

The CAC believes that an informed public is important to ensure that any present and future development within the Town of Saugerties is environmentally sustainable and in the best interest of the community. The CAC encourages the publics full participation as the potential development of the Winston Farm moves through the SEQR process.

Mike HarkavySkip ArthurSaugerties CAC

Bypass zoning

If you want to rent out your house and property to someone for a large wedding or any other type of large gathering (a violation of the Zoning Law), it appears, based upon a recent occurrence, that you do not have to get permission from the building inspector or the Planning Board or get a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals. All you have to do is fill out an application for a mass gathering permit and get Supervisor McKenna to sign off on it.

Howard HarrisWoodstock

A Kansas moment

In the August 23 Special Election for Congress in the 19th Congressional District, womens rights are on the ballot, and we need a Kansas moment to stop Marc Molinaro from winning.

Go here to read the rest:

Special election, abortion rights, rent control and more letters from readers - Hudson Valley One