Extra! Extra! Corporate Media Ignores Nader Again!

Dear Editor,
Ken Tingley’s recent editorial asked, “Who’s Man Enough to Be President?” In it, the only principled person running is completely ignored (Ralph Nader). Tingley found Kerry to be “impressive” and Bush to be lacking.I can certainly agree that Bush has been a spectacular presidential failure. He is, at best, a simpleton, a chauvinist and a warmonger whose failed policies rival the worst in our history. But, to say that Kerry is impressive, by comparison, seems a stretch. Bush and Kerry squaring off in the intellectual arena are kind of like a heavyweight bout between a six-year old and Lennox Lewis, don’t ya think? Is it really a fair fight?What if we put Kerry up against a real contender, like Nader? Kerry, like Bush, is just another ruling class politician whose two-party message is surprisingly consistent with that of his supposed “opposition”. Neither candidate is a friend of anyone who works for a living, they’re just good fakers. What’s so “manly” about that?Ralph Nader is the man who will withdraw our troops from Iraq. No reinstatement of the draft on his watch! He has a single-payer Healthcare plan and a way to pay for it. He’ll repeal NAFTA and help put an end to global economic slavery (or “globalization”, as we’re asked to call it). He will mandate a minimum wage that is above federal poverty guidelines. He will fully fund alternative energy research. This doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface.Will we see this title fight? Will Nader get his time in the ring with “Mr. Impressive”? It’s highly unlikely with the “free press” so focused on the completely fake battle between TweedleDumb and TweedleDee. If the press continues to ignore independent candidates and doesn’t focus on the undemocratic nature of the “debates”, who will?Imagine an America where Instant Runoff Voting is the norm and where the press thinks of it as its duty to give equal time to every candidate. Do you think that place might be a little closer to a real democracy than the system of lies and posing we currently live under?Ken, please do your part. Stop ignoring the only “real man” in the race. Don’t wait for the wire services or the mainstream corporate press to signal that it’s okay. Cover Nader yourself. That’s what a newspaperman should do!
Matt Funiciello

Is Parking REALLY Such a Problem?

Dear Editor,
My business, Rock Hill Bakehouse Café, has just finished its first full week of business in Glens Falls (in the old Triads building) and it has been fantastic! I wish to thank both of our hometown newspapers (and TV8, as well) for the wonderful coverage we’ve received.After this first week, I have been left with a deep desire to work on re-establishing a shopping and restaurant district in downtown Glens Falls. Small towns all over the country have them. They are a destination where people come to shop, to eat and to be entertained. There are no “stars” in these districts. All choices are truly unique. Nothing is mediocre. Everything is exceptional. These districts become destination points for connoisseurs of quality items, food, wine, theater and clothing.It seems that Glens Falls worries about giving up much-needed sales tax revenue to Queensbury. The right answer to this problem seems obvious. Make sure that downtown stays high quality and niche market. Why not make revenue from one $295 dollar handmade American dress instead of ten cheaply-made $20 dollar dresses at a mall franchise? We already have some truly unique businesses. We have wonderful music and theatre. And thanks to Charley Wood we’ll soon have an amazing venue to match it. We just need to keep setting the bar higher; better food, better entertainment, better service until we are considered “the” place for upstate residents tired of being bilked to go for a wonderful afternoon or evening out.What we DON’T need is to continue focusing on (and being hysterical about) parking. I have yet to have trouble finding parking downtown, in fifteen years of living here. I have yet to walk more than a block and a half to get to any function, including sold-out Icehawks games and Taste of the North Country. I think we can all agree that people who can’t walk a block and a half are being ridiculously lazy, right? Do we really care about these lazy peoples’ needs so much that we are going to forego real growth and gentrification in favor of “parking hysteria”? Can’t we, as a community, focus our efforts on growth and spend every available dollar and morsel of energy we have attracting more new small businesses to town?
Matt Funiciello

Run, Ralph, Run (letter to "The Nation" magazine)

Dear Editors,
I have a few questions about your ridiculous “Open Letter to Ralph Nader”. Was it Carter or Reagan or Bush or Clinton or GW who murdered people overseas to protect American corporate interests? Who misled America and was then brazen and unapologetic about doing so? Who got us all health care? Who encouraged globalization and NAFTA and basically provided the ruling class with a license to print their own money? Who was pro-union and increased the minimum wage? Who championed Instant Voter Runoff and Campaign Finance reform? Who is pro-environment and forced the big three to develop hybrids and alternative energy?Ultimately, what is accomplished, exactly, when we elect a Democrat instead of a Republican? You might liken voting for Nader to banging ones head against a wall. I can only say that at least my wall is made of sheetrock and is weakened by each blow. I am surrounded by astonishingly naive Democrats with bloody foreheads and brick dust on their LL Bean sweaters. Doesn’t that hurt? Do you really think that wall’s giving way?During each election cycle, Democrats never tire of pretending that all Republicans are the anti-Christ and only a Democrat can save us! Spare me. Both parties are full of completely straightforward fascists and the only real answer is to stop supporting them and their corporate masters. Your somewhat undemocratic strategy to stifle Nader’s candidacy and urge voters to support another corporate minion isn’t awfully inspired and, in my lifetime, has yet to yield us a single human president. Can you explain by what wizardry you expect it to work now?I will support Ralph even if he doesn’t run and so should you!Shame on the Nation (both the magazine and the country) for taking such a cowardly stance!
Matt Funiciello

Are You a Member of the Ruling Class?

Dear Editor,
A friend of mine, perceiving himself as rich, took offense at my “Tax the Rich” bumper sticker. I define the rich as those who don’t pay taxes, and who live, as parasites, off our collective backs. I asked him to take my test. Was he obligated to get up and go to work in the morning? He said yes. I congratulated him for being a worker.Many people like him seem strangely desperate to define themselves as “rich”. They list the signs of wealth; big houses, college-bound children, SUV’s, boats, cottages, stocks. My grandfather earned a similar lifestyle working hard on the shop floor of a glove factory. I know he saw himself as a worker who had done well for himself, and not as “rich”.Approximately 95% of America’s wealth is controlled by 3% of our population. It’s a no-brainer that if you’re reading this, you’re probably not of that class. You are a worker. You have to be smart and strong and lucky to survive. You have almost no safety net. You are not an heir or a trust fund baby.In November, wouldn’t it be wise to vote for candidates who understand this struggle? Won’t they better represent you? Why vote for those who have been handed everything on a silver platter (like Bush and all three front-runners in the democratic primaries). How can they appreciate what they have been given when they have done little or nothing to earn it.Albert Einstein said that … “The minority, the ruling class at present, has the schools and press, usually the Church as well, under its thumb. This enables it to organize and sway the emotions of the masses, and make its tool of them.”Let’s show ourselves to be wiser than “tools” by supporting real people who have struggled, candidates like Ralph Nader and Dennis Kucinich. Remember which class you belong to when you vote. If we mess up yet again, it is our children who will suffer. They will still not have health care. They will still have to fight oil wars. They won’t have social security and they’ll be left with a huge deficit. They will have fouled air and water.The ruling class, as always, will laugh at us (we “tools”), confident that their children, through mountainous accumulation of wealth, will always be insulated from these “lower class” realities.
Matt Funiciello

"Pro-Life" or Just Control Freaks?

Dear Editor,
Much debate surrounds the proposed over-the-counter sale of the “Morning-After” pill. Some claim it will lead to an increase in “frivolous sexual behavior”. While it could certainly be expected to cause a decline in the number of abortions, why do they think it would lead to sexual “frivolity”.This criticism is an amazing stretch of the imagination touted by a group of people responsible for much supposedly “conservative” ideology. We’ll call these people “False Christians” or F.C.’s (I’m absolutely sure that Christ would be embarrassed at the association). The F.C.’s use this type of political subterfuge all the time to keep our attention off the real issues. Issues like war-profiteering, voter fraud, corporate welfare, massive retraction of civil liberties and imperialism. You know, things that actually matter! If these F.C.’s truly cared about morality or the sanctity of life, why would they blindly support the bombing of a civilian population who had nothing to do with 9/11 (which they statistically did, in droves)? I’ll tell you why. Because they’re misinformed hypocrites who are easily lead.This silly inference that sexual behavior should always be necessary, and, therefore, not “frivolous”, reminds me of the opening scene from Monty Python's, "Meaning of Life". Puffing pretentiously on his pipe, Michael Palin, playing a stuffy Protestant, looks with obvious contempt at his Catholic neighbor’s inconceivably, staggeringly huge brood and pontificates, "Look at those bloody Catholics! Every time they make love they have to have a baby.” After a thoughtful pause, his middle-aged wife responds, saying “And how are we different, Dear? We’ve made love twice and we have two children.” Bill O’Reilly invited those who wish to bring our country down to go live in Iraq. I agree! Lets send all of the felons who wish to defile our laws and restrict our freedoms back to their ideological homelands! We can send O’Reilly to Nazi Germany, Bush to the Saudi Emirates, Ashcroft to Iran and Falwell to China. These extremely repressive societies should make these moral ideologues feel right at home. They can dictate hypocrisy and legislate morality to their heart’s content. Meanwhile, true Americans can continue to believe in a little thing called “the Constitution”. One might notice that the founding fathers neglected to place little quotation marks around the word, FREE.
Matt Funiciello

Talking With a "Pro-War" Veteran

Dear Editor,
I met a Vietnam vet in February whom I will call “Mike”. He came to my place of business with a bullhorn to yell that I “don’t support the troops”. This was his reaction to an article about a peace demonstration I was organizing because of a lack of media attention paid to the local anti-war movement which was (and is) huge. Instead of calling the cops, I went out to talk with “Mike” and I am so glad that I did.I learned in the course of a 45 minute conversation that we have many things in common, foremost, a deep and sincere concern for other human beings and a deep distrust in most of the liars who govern us. As portrayed by our media, “Mike” (the “soldier”) and Matt (the “protestor”) are supposed to be diametrically opposed, right? Well, what a surprise that our attitudes really aren’t all that far removed!“Mike” and I are both disillusioned by the lack of voice people have in our democracy. I am a Green for that reason exactly. He was disgusted by the lack of media attention given to veterans prior to our occupation of Iraq. I, myself, couldn’t believe that our own “hometown” newspaper had all but ignored the existence of 60-85 local protestors in full force every Saturday for three months before the bombing began (12 of whom were veterans). Having been to war, these Americans seem to recognize, perhaps better than most, why war is never to be entered into except as a last resort. Their voices certainly should have been heard before our lying (p)resident caused a single American soldier or Iraqi worker to die. The media failed, miserably. (As a side note, I saw Rex Smith speak several weeks ago and he referred to the Times Union as an “independent paper”. God help us all! A Hearst paper, independent?!)I think that “Mike” came to understand that I am no enemy of the troops, I just believe in supporting veterans after the war, too, not only when its “on”. I believe that we have to impeach and imprison officials who would use the military as a tool for their personal enrichment. I learned that “Mike” is not a simple minion of a corrupt administration but a human being who has been through much in his life and who is, as , or more frustrated by, current events than even I am.We both believe in supporting the troops in peace time and in using them only as a last resort. To me and to Mike, this was clearly not a last resort. It was this corporate administration’s imperialist plan all along. To Mike, the war’s on now and the merit of it can no longer be an issue. In the final analysis, that is where we disagree. “Mike” feels that we have to support the war once the machine is in motion, regardless of its rationale. I don’t. I say get all of our people out, now. Our troops AND KBR and Halliburton, too!“Mike”, I just want to say that it was truly a pleasure to meet you. Lets both keep banging our heads against our respective walls in our two different ways. As the old hipster said, “If the people lead, The leaders will follow”.

Reading Can Be Quite Illuminating

Reading can be quite illuminating ...When the government fears the people, it is liberty. When the people fear the government, it is tyranny. - Thomas PaineNever do today what you can put off till tomorrow. Delay may give clearer light as to what is best to be done. - Aaron BurrTo announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. - Theodore RooseveltWe can have a democratic society or we can have great concentrated wealth in the hands of a few. We cannot have both. - Louis BrandeisThe minority, the ruling class at present, has the schools and press, usually the Church as well, under its thumb. This enables it to organize and sway the emotions of the masses, and make its tool of them. - Albert Einstein...But, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country. - Hermann GoeringWe must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. - MLKIf liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. - George OrwellThose who cast the votes decide nothing; those who count the votes decide everything. - Joseph StalinWhen the rich make war it's the poor that die. - Jean-Paul SartreIt is regrettable for the education of the young that war stories are always told by those who survived. - Louis ScutenaireFirst learn, then form opinions. - The TalmudA man's true wealth is the good he does in the world. - MohammedThou Shalt Not Kill. - GodWouldn’t it be wise to learn from the past and those who lived (and died) in it? I say, "Support Our Troops and Choose Peace".