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MOTTO:
"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
George Orwell
BATR Columnists Essays
Tale of Two Townships by James Hall
Wind Turbines and Cows DO NOT Mix!
What separates the local government of the Town of Malone, NY from that of Cohocton, NY is not a distance of geography, but mindset. The protracted battle over industrial wind turbines can be easily understood when you examine the vast difference between two laws. Malone has passed their wind ordinance of 5/24/06. Read the provisions and appreciate the protections for their community built into the law. Now inspect the second attempt by the Town of Cohocton to draft their Local Law regulation that virtually turns the township into an industrial landscape. The obvious question is which town has fulfilled their duty and responsibility to protect their citizens as stated in their respective comprehensive plan?
NYS law is clear and precise. Each township is bound by their comprehensive plan as the fundamental and key authority to regulate land use. In the case of Cohocton, the Town Board is willfully and intentionally working towards circumventing their own comprehensive plan in their outrageous campaign of sanctioning the Cohocton Windmill Power Project. This project requires that the developer, UPC must compel the town to repudiate the existing comprehensive plan and remove the zoning board and appeal process, in order to build their field of industrial turbine generators
"We've got trouble!" --Tank, The Matrix Back in 2004, I published The Real Matrix in seven parts (read them here). I had little idea how the process outlined there would accelerate in 2005 and 2006. Indeed, even those still “plugged in” ought to be wondering why the U.S. Senate just gave thumbs-up (62 yeas vs. 26 nays) to an immigration bill that most of the public does not want and would clearly be destructive of this country’s long-term best interests—educationally, culturally, and economicall...
Everyone has a worldview. Everyone has a way of interpreting current events. While few study the past anymore, where we’ve been as a society, civilization and as a world counts heavily. In postmodern times it seems everyone and everything is on the move. Advances in trade, communications, travel, science and virtually every field of endeavor have combined to shrink the world immeasurably. Yet what’s shrunk along with that is our ability to properly analyze events (particularly between the fall o...
As I write, the nation is trying to digest the latest military "atrocity," this one allegedly committed by U.S. Marines in Iraq. Notice something revealing but never mentioned about such events. The nation fought in World War II on three continents and many islands for almost four years. In geographical terms, it was the biggest war we ever fought. How many atrocities did our forces commit?You can't think of any, can you? You can't even name one. Think about that for a minute; then ask yourself ...
“Surely nobody would be a charlatan, who could afford to be sincere.” Ralph Waldo EmersonThe French kiss Al Gore received from the mainstream media in Cannes over his shlockumentary fiction ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ exceeded even the chronic revulsion that is symbiotic with all things Al Gore.The over-the-top fear mongering Gore regurgitates about ‘global warming’ conveniently ignores far more than it presumes to expose.
Now that we are about to have the third Secretary of the Treasury in the last five years and the second CEO of Goldman Sachs appointed to the position, do you think the media and Congress critters will ask the right questions. For instance, Mr. Paulson: how do you feel about federal trust funds? Or: can the national debt be paid off with anything other than taxpayer money?Since all federal trust funds are managed by the Secretary of the Treasury, these would certainly seem to be legitimate and i...
According to the Associated Press and UPI, the American Bible Society has refused to print an order of Bibles with “Jesus Loves Porn Stars” emblazoned across the cover to be handed out to adult film stars by XXXchurch.com at locations across the country.The American Bible Society contends that such a statement was inappropriate for a New Testament cover. As a ministry to those so trapped by this filth as to seek it out in public, one cannot blame the outreach for trying though, as frankly up unt...
Newsweek's June 5 cover story "Rethinking the Marriage Crunch" is typical of the psychological war waged on society by the mass media.Newsweek magazine waited 20 years to retract a 1986 story that educated 40-year-old women have "as much chance of marrying as being killed by a terrorist," although they knew it was bogus. The story became part of popular culture, mentioned in movies and television, causing many women to panic.
Suppose that, within America, existed an organization whose leaders defrauded, lied to and stole from their followers. Suppose that this organization's leadership had taken power illegally after years of honest and responsible leadership. Furthermore, suppose that this organization killed and maimed some of its own followers and lots of the followers of other organizations. Finally, suppose that this organization not only preached the overthrow of America, but actively and violently worked to...
In conjunction with the deliberate dumbing down of America, the populace has surreptitiously been indoctrinated to abhor, tolerate, and then embrace the basest behavior in human sexuality. It is not coincidental that the raging, rebellious, out-of-control, bra burning sixties followed the deliberately decadent “research” of Alfred Charles Kinsey (1894-1956), a biologist and a professor of entomology and zoology, given credibility by the Indiana University in Bloomington. His insidious influence ...
“The commies of the ACLU are not going to let us do “Attrition through Enforcement.” The courts that are under their control will go along with them and force the illegals down our collective throats. Sorry, they win, we lose! If we are lucky, we may find a remote island somewhere, but face it, the United States is going to die and we can't stop it,” said Bob K., retired US Army.Doesn’t that curl your ears? When letters arrive like this one, I roar! We don’t teach Americans to lose. Not a bas...
When I was in college I lived in an old two-story frame house, built in the 1890's. It was a co-ed house with 13 people in it, and ha ha! I was the only renter who had a room to himself! Because I got there first, before everyone else, that's how! Downstairs was the family room, or living room, or community room, or throw-all-the-beer-cans-in-it room, or whatever you want to call it. It came with a TV, which finally disappeared into some cokehead's car and was never seen again.The year that we h...
Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise; why shouldest thou destroy thyself? Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time? --Hebrew Ecclesiastes, 7:16-17.Louisiana Congress critter William Jefferson was caught red handed with his corrupt hand in the cookie jar (up to his elbow). In any venue, other than congress, this ugly case of corruption, abuse of power, and greed would be a slam dunk: ‘go directly to jail, do not pass go, to no...
Just think; if the nineteen terrorists that brought us 9/11 would have just waited a little longer we would have offered them citizenship. Of course, they might have been required to pay a fine, learn to speak rudimentary English, pay taxes and otherwise cozy up to our elected representatives with promises to vote while waiting at the back of the line. In the meantime, they might have even become movie and sports fans and maybe given up on their mission to attack international trade and our mili...
It is a tough calling, being a Christian and Paleo-Conservative in America on Memorial Day weekend. This is for the simple reason that this time of year produces the obligatory public statements from key figures of the political and religious establishment of the United States, talking about our nation's greatness and commitment to individual freedom. The speeches are legitimate in recalling who and what we were in a storied past. The problem, however, is this--the patriotic speeches seem to avo...
As I peruse the internet, it is obvious that a lot of conservatives are angry at Bush and the GOP. Out of control spending, the Miers’ nomination, the Medicare drug plan, No Child Left Behind, the Dubai ports deal, etc. laid the foundation for dissatisfaction among conservatives. Of course the paleoconservatives also opposed the War from the beginning. The rank-and-file conservatives were unfortunately supportive of the War at first, but now it seems that only the most loyal Free Republic style ...
In a market economy, those with socially valuable skills and abilities are monetarily rewarded in free exchange for their services or the goods that they produce. Those whose aptitudes do not fulfill some kind of broader demand or need are forced to either adapt or be willing to endure a life of self-imposed deprivation.Foremost among such individuals who forego material enrichment for the sake of remaining true to their understanding of the craft to which they have pledged their lives are so-ca...
I've decided to leave the country and renounce my citizenship.Don't try to talk me out of it. My mind is made up. And I'm taking my whole family with me, too...including cousins, Aunts and Uncles. We're outa here.No more worrying about Bush's Gestapo...er...Storm Troopers...er...Homeland Security forces kicking in my door and hauling me away to one of those camps that Halliburton has been building throughout the country (under grotesquely-overpriced, no-bid contracts, of course). After all, the ...
Great statesmen advanced America with profound visions! Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Madison, at great personal danger, facilitated the founding of America. Those men understood the gravity of their fledgling country. George Washington fought for America on the battlefield. Later, Susan B. Anthony, Dr. Martin Luther King and others advanced America’s future by pushing ahead against enormous odds.Those Americans stood ahead of their time. They proceeded at great personal risk. They mov...
The key to good writing is to consider your audience.Recently a feminist wanted to vent and sent me a long diatribe.I replied: "What makes you think I'm going to read this once I've figured out it isn't praise?"People think you will read their thoughts just because they took the trouble to write them down. Communication is not the same as self-expression. If you need to express yourself, start a diary.
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It is easy to be brave from a safe distance - Aesop
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