17 May 2005
Spectator
The View from Here
What use does as Christian nation have for mere moral outrage?
The Spectator recalls a line attributed to Benjamin Disraeli: "A conservative government is an organized hypocrisy." Disraeli wasn't writing about the current situation in America of course, but he could have been. The Christians coming together in Washington to celebrate one of the most corrupt politicians (no, that phrase doesn't have to be redundant) in modern times is nothing short of an indictment of the entire invasion of the religious right into the American body politic.
Tom Delay is pond scum. His own party is embarrassed by his continuing flaunting of even the scant rules that govern the legalized graft of the incestuous relationship between the lobby industry and Congress, but still the Christians not only plop down their money to celebrate Delay, they used the opportunity to attack those calling for even a semblance of decency and dignity in the Capitol.
DeLay, Bush, Cheney and Company have been the unapologetic beneficiaries of Christian conservatives who have touted "family values" and called for "a return to the Christians principles upon which this nation was founded." Forget for the moment that this country was not founded on Christian principles. Forget too, that none of the founding fathers was even Christian. The attention the self-proclaimed conscience of America has called upon itself reveals that the family values espoused are not those practiced. Divorce rates in "red states" is higher than in the heathen blue states. Adultery is not a big contention as seen in red state Nevada embracing both Bush and legalized prostitution. Truth is apparently not an important issue either as evidenced by the serial lies emanating from the White House. Justice doesn't matter, based on the conservative belief that they not only own the virtue of patriotism but its definition as well. Patriotism, according to Bush-Cheney-DeLay-Hastert-Frist-et al, is what drives the poor to the armed forces while they eschew military service of their own. Honesty is a side issue too. We need only look at Cheney and Halliburton to see how much honesty matters. Honor is not one of those conservative values either or else Bush and Bob Dole and the rest of the bunch wouldn't have seen it necessary to trash a military hero of the Vietnam War for mere political gain.
If the consequences for the nation weren't so grave, this entire scenario could be something right out of a David Letterman monologue. No, wait. No scriptwriter could dream this up. What has happened to our sense of outrage?
Joel Giambra: No handout, no bailout. For them. For me, it's okay.
While on the subject of hypocrisy, how about that "No Hand-Out, No- Bailout" Joel Giambra? Joel now wants to lead a hajj to Albany to seek hand-outs and bailouts from the state legislature. Let the Spectator see if he's got this right (and you can correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Fisher): Giambra convinced the Governor to pull the plug on the state aid to Buffalo so that a control board could come in and preside over the dissolution of the City. The City, Mr. Fisher has told us in this Report, was facing the double whammy of being up against its constitutional property taxing limit and state-imposed laws like binding arbitration that obviate the dictum of one man, one vote. As a result, Buffalo had no ability to provide for its own destiny. Thus, a control board was necessary. On the other hand, the County had collected more than $1 billion in special, dedicated sales taxes to keep it afloat during the last decade and a half. It can raise property taxes. The County Executive has asked to raise sales taxes again. But no one seems to want to accept the responsibility to do so. So the County merely lacks the courage, the will, or the guts to bite the bullet and raise taxes. Therefore the State should now do a "handout-bailout" for Giambra?
That unfunded mandate crap is getting old. Do the minions in County Hall think they are really the only ones beleaguered by out-dated, insensitive state laws? What about the City? Almost half its land mass is tax-exempt. What about binding arbitration, that eliminates executive and legislative oversight over more than half the city budget? What about the mandate that Buffalo fund its schools from the general fund (unlike Amherst and all the other towns in Erie County)? That's fair?
One thing Bruce Fisher and I can agree on in this one is that a control board is not needed for the county. The City's control board doesn't have the power to provide Buffalo with what it needs: money. Nor would a control board be able to provide the County with what it needs: a set of balls.
Firefighters' cosmetic surgerySpeaking of dishonesty, the May 13 edition of the Buffalo News printed a letter to the editor from a Buffalo firefighter claiming that the special nature of the job entitles firefighters and cops to elective cosmetic surgery at taxpayer expense.
Let's forget for a minute that more than two-thirds of all calls the BFD answers are false alarms. Let's ignore the standing around that takes place when one of more trucks respond to a car fire or traffic accident. Do you think it is mostly used by sworn officers injured on duty ... Officers who suffer those disfiguring injuries that the fireman writes about in his letter? Or do you think the surgery is most often performed on the spouses of the officers? It is a standing joke in the police department that the last thing a wife does before filing for divorce from her cop spouse is have her nose and boobs done. How does that reconcile with the writer's contention that the job makes the uniformed service entitled to elective cosmetic surgery?
Far be it from me to place myself in the office of the editor of the News, but wouldn't you think this letter is crying out for a little investigative reporting about who exactly is using the cosmetic surgery rider of the health insurance? Do you think the control board might be interested in finding out who is using the benefit? How about it Buffalo News editor Margaret Sullivan? Why not put one of your crackerjack investigative reporters on the case? You printed the letter. Now either prove or disprove the writer's thesis.
Copyright 2005 by Buffalo Report, Inc.