{ title: 'The Altamont enterprise and Albany County post. (Altamont, N.Y.) 2006-current, December 07, 2006, Page 5, Image 5', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about NYS Historic Newspapers - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/2006245259/2006-12-07/ed-1/seq-5/png/', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/2006245259/2006-12-07/ed-1/seq-5.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/2006245259/2006-12-07/ed-1/seq-5/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/2006245259/2006-12-07/ed-1/seq-5/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
Image provided by: Guilderland Public Library
The Altamont Enterprise-Thursday, December 7, 2006 The Enterprise opinion pages are an open forum for our community. We encpurageyeaaierg to ekpress their thoughts about issues that appear in this rte%paper or affect the community. Letters should be brief (with an outside limit of 1,000 words) and must include the writer's address, name, and phone number for verification. The editors may reject letters that have been printed elsewhere. Letters concerning elections will be cut off one issue before the *mg* j* g election at the editor's discretion. No unsigned I £y ^LvL.€L £^CvL/> letters. Deadline for letters is Tuesday at noon. W*-*** If***' WORK BOOTS • SNEAKERS • SHOES • MPPCASItfS. WALLETS Democrats' victories were hollow To the Editor: This is a response to a letter written by David Crawmer that ran in the Nov. 30 edition of The Altamont Enterprise. Ordinarily, I am not one who is in agree- ment with Mr. Crawmer, but his assertion that the Democratic victories in the mid-term elec- tions were hollow is a sentiment I agree with. Already, the conservative wing of the Democratic Party or Blue Dogs as they are known are already jockeying for power and rolling forward with the conser- vative agenda. So, as Mr. Craw- mer pointed out, the hoopla and fanfare is merely a cover or a distraction from what is hap- pening. The liberal left has not gained any true power and, if anything, has lost power because now they must fight their own party mem - bers as opposed to Republicans. The American political system will change very little and things will continue on as though Election Day was a bump in the road. There are two areas within Mr. Crawmer's letter that do bear discussion, statistics and Mark Foley. Rather than take up editorial space to spew statistics that refute Mr. Crawmer's view of the nation, I will merely say, things are not as rosy as they appear. However, in a future letter I will gladly provide ample statistical data showing just how poorly our country is faring. Mr. Crawmer, if I understand you correctly, you fault the Democratic Party for speaking out against Mark Foley? So, you are OK with Mr. Foley e-mailing sexually suggestive material to former interns who are minors? For me, it was not a heterosexual or homosexual issue; it was an issue about the exploitation of children. While I agree with the hollow- victories sentiment, I will con- tinue to take issue with the statistical and manufactured smokescreens that blind us to the entire American experience. Aaron Harrell Guilderland New Congress will provide oversight QUILT-LINED J DUCK L ! S JTQ99 I V#C03 $93 fig; ••*••••••••••••••••••••••*•• i FOOTWEAR? WORK SPLAYi £0VER 15 BRANDS TO CHOOSE FROM $ On Individual l.„ Or Footwear Purchases Under SUA! SANTA'S SHOPPING LIST Jeans Pants Shirts Jackets Sweats Bib Overalls Coveralls Hats Gloves Work Boots Sneakers Moccasins Slippers Socks Wallets Belts Belt Buckles Womens Wear Jewelry Body Care Picti/re Frames Mugs Suncatchers Candles Incense Stocking Stutters ••••••••••A***************** *tafc J 00 m • • oo ,c o T; I- m w m z w % m > 7) • 73 C 7\ CO m CO • m § m i - J} < D CO m > 7) CD o < o > m Tl aa*EN 11305 Route 32 Greenville, NY (518)966-8700 • WEEK To the Editor: Saddam Hussein stood in the village mall, Saddam Hussein took a great fall, But all of George's horses and all of George's men Could not bring order for their planned regimen. George, Dick, and Robert, too, Best be more diligent in what they do, Or Iraqi friends and foes of old Saddam Hussein Are liable to place him back in power again. About a year ago, I stated in a - letter to this paper that 2006 would be an interesting year in American politics and that 2007 would be even more interesting if the Democrats obtained a majority in the Congress. The next two years should be a jour- ney worth going along on and one that could become a political saga of its own. Because all the candidates I voted for in this year's election emerged as winners, I must qualify for membership in the Guilderland businessman's \small-minded liberal group\ that is \celebrating a hollow victory.\ Small-minded and hollow we and it may be, but our votes helped to elect a new majority in Congress, and that is reason for optimism. Their efforts during the next two years may or may not be successful in resolving or changing any of the issues we face today, but we are rid of a congressional majority that wantonly turned a blind eye and a deaf ear not only toward the policies and actions of the cur- rent .administration but also of its own members who displayed a level of corruption not seen since the days of Tammany Hall many decades ago. This new Congress will, at the least, serve as a \check\ on the current administration and provide a type of oversight not witnessed during the past six years. During the Florida vote re- count of the 2000 presidential election, Congressman John Sweeney, by actions belying we live in a democracy, was instru- mental in attempts to halt that recount. It seems fitting that, in this year's election, democracy not denied was instrumental in his defeat. President George W. Bush seems proud that he has alleged- ly cut the 2006 federal deficit by half. What an accomplishment! I remember at the beginning of President Bill Clinton's first term in office that conservatives couldn't stop harping about the need for balanced budgets. During his second term, Clinton not only achieved balanced bud- gets but also large surpluses. Where, oh, where have those fiscal conservatives gone? As for the 2006 federal deficit being cut in half, that old adage \liars figure but figures don't lie\ rings true today (especially visiting the United States Trea- sury's website at http// www.- publicdebt.treas.gov/ and click- ing on 'The Public Debt.\ You'll find a history of the debt going back to 1791. Currently, every citizen, whether one hour old or 100 years old, owes about $29000 of this debt. I wonder how that Guilderland businessman ex- plains to his children that they have this albatross around their necks and that it just continues to grow larger. Hey, more tax cuts will fix it, right? Not likely! Tax cuts usually result in a net revenue loss and rarely generate income equal to the cut. In optimum times, which cer- tainly aren't occurring today, the most income realized is seldom more than 50 percent of the amount cut. Sometime in the 'Liars figure but figures don't lie.' when applied to an administra- tion's reporting of its own fiscal irresponsibility). The true mea- sure for determining the 2006 deficit is to compare the total national debt as of Jan. 1, 2006 to the total national debt as of the most current date available. The difference in the amount of debt between Jan. 1, 2006 and today amounts to a deficit of $470 billion, not the $250 billion as professed by the Bush Admini- stration. And that does not in- clude interest that accumulates at about $20 billion per month. The total income reported to the Internal Revenue Service by Americans in 2004 was $7,044 trillion. The current national debt is approximately $8.64 trillion. That debt was a tad less than $1 trillion when President Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980. Twenty-six years later, after 18 years of GOP/Conser- vative presidents and eight years of a Democrat President, that debt has grown by over $7.6 trillion. Guess on whose watch it grew the least? His initials are WJC. You can access information about the national debt by very near future, a President will have to step up to the plate, raise taxes, truly make unpopular cuts in spending, and downsize the federal bureaucracy, making it possible to achieve not only balanced budgets but actual surpluses, all in hopes of beginning to pay off the national debt. Over the past 26 years, the GOP/Conservative fiscal com- bination of tax-cutting and bor- rowing, which has given us record deficits, is, at best, fiscal irresponsibility and does not deserve to be referred to as fiscal conservatism. The cap on the national debt is currently set at $9 trillion. Within the next six to nine months, President Bush will have, to re-quest the new Congress to raise that cap in order to keep the federal government operational. I wonder if the new Congress will display the same flippancy demonstrated by the current GOP/Conservative majority when it raised the cap from $8.2 trillion to $9 trillion without any serious discussion or debate? Ed Nicholson Knox .** tf« o* s ,\©fc STOKER STOVE and \Berne\ coal at Valley View Farm John and Beth O'Pezio 179 SeaburyRd., Berne S3 www.wfstoves.com (CsJ) 518-872-1007 HOURS: Mon-Fri- 5 p.m.-8 p.m. Sat. • 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Special discounts and promotions through December 12, 2006 Automatic and hand-fired coal stoves 'Heat Your Home for 1/2 the price of oil • Cleaner & more heat than pellets 'Auto Burn 4 to 5 Days CHECK OUT OUR WEEKLY SPECIALS'! 3403 CARMAN RD (RT 146) SCHENECTADY - GROCERY DEPT 355-1530 • MEAT DEFT. OR FAX 356-0076 (STORE HOURS Mon-Sat 7am 8pm Sw8am-8pm Good HI Sunday, Dec l(Hh-VISIT OUR WtBSnt-wvm.GrailiclisMarttfLcora WHDlf, CHOICE WHDlf NEW YORK Q 99 STRIPS J 7 FAMILY >*>*&*« PLAN £ESS& Ml 31/4k)ltUtvM^iCkJdn *' .,» *sCw*yIl» Iff 7JhMerc*C*9ab ° 7Jb$a*ridiSlnb| 2fclM» Swap Ufa! tuft LOOSE ITALIAN -to SAUSAGES 959 L, LB. SARA LEE HONEY OR OVEN ROASTED DELI SAHA Ut BUNtT UH UVtN HUASItU — ft A I LAND 0 LAKE'S I\ A A TURKEY BREAST* 5-99 SWISS CHEESE LB. 5.99 CLASSIC SOUPS e/m |t CABOT M. BAR CHEESE A mmmmmm i0im ( P1LLSBURY ALL PURPOSE FLOUR SIB. BA6 BBOWNIEMIXOZMJJ CABOT goz SHREDDED CHEESE k CABOT ALL NATURAL 801 CHEESE SLICES m. NOODLES ^ Mm; EAREUCK FARMS AEROSOL im WHIPPED TOPPING ^v BIRD'S EYE ttOim DOLE ITALIAN T FRESH CELLO T MACINTOSH f'll'llli'ilHI^UI^'lHIlM FOOD STAMPS ACCEPTED • ALL SPECIALS WHILE SUPPLIES LAST *t—?iW$illM|
