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Getting used to getting old

Commentary

I think that you have to be in your 80’s before you get used to getting old. It takes a while. So, in that respect, I have arrived. Every morning, at around 6 a.m., when I limp into Hogan’s Hut to get the paper and the staff says: “Good morning, Mr. Kidder!”—I realize that my gait and gray hair have given me seniority. It is a part of getting used to being old. Of course, when I meet with old friends there is also that constant reminder. Someone is getting a new knee, someone else is getting used to their new hip, others are seeing an oncologist or orthopedist for ...

NEW YORK STATE Wetlands Act delayed, not dead

The OBSERVER’s View

The more time one gets to look at the judge’s decision in local lawsuits challenging the state’s Freshwater Wetlands Act regulations, the more it is clear that the regulations are likely merely delayed, not dead. Judge Richard Platkin’s ruling last week in state Supreme Court in Albany didn’t strike at the heart of issues the local challenges to the regulations raised. Platkin found that the Freshwater Wetlands Act changes and the Part 664 regulations don’t violate landowners’ due process rights, that the challenges didn’t prove that the 2022 amendments and Part 664 ...

Surprising U.S. tax history truths

Commentary

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Taxes, for instance, have been changing and staying the same ever since Reagan and the 1980s: They’ve been heaven for corporations and the rich, purgatory or worse for everybody else. Now comes a groundbreaking book that looks back not just decades but centuries. It’s Vanessa A. Williamson’s The Price of Democracy: The Revolutionary Power of Taxation in American History. The surprises never stop coming. Surprise No. 1, the Boston Tea Party. We’ve been brainwashed into believing that taxes were the cause. Not so; the Sons of ...

PORTLAND: Data center talk brings responses

The OBSERVER’s View

Portland town Supervisor Richard Lewis in March set the ball rolling. In an interview with Dunkirk OBSERVER reporter Braden Carmen, the elected official noted there may be some interest in the former Sugar Hill golf property by a data center. Within a month, the board meeting saw attendance numbers that had not been that high since the solar discussions took place before the COVID pandemic. On April 8, about 50 residents came to voice their opposition to the center. Days later, a petition began filling up online. There are now more than 2,000 who have signed it with the intention of ...

As numbers grow, helpful tips for budding socialists

Commentary

We would like to offer some helpful tips for our budding socialists. A recent U.S. poll claimed that 55% of U.S. voters under the age of 30 favor socialism, and they complain the economy does not work for them. This begs an obvious question: Why do the 55% claim the economy does not work for them? Are they saying that they are not free to pursue personal dreams because they are taxed to death to support deadbeats? (No, that’s the 45% who oppose socialism.) The 55% apparently believe the government should take from those who produce, and give it to people who do not. How ...

Healthier choice in automobiles

Peoples column

Editor, OBSERVER: As communities across the country grapple with rising fuel costs, air pollution, and the growing impacts of Global Warming, one solution is becoming increasingly clear; the widespread adoption of electric vehicles. Electric cars offer a cleaner, more sustainable alternative to gasoline-powered vehicles. By producing zero tailpipe emissions, they reduce air pollution and improve public health, especially in urban areas where smog and poor air quality disproportionately affect vulnerable populations. When you factor in that EVs cost roughly 40% less to fuel, and ...