The time to vote has arrived. No one can tell another person who to vote for. We all have our own opinions. I feel compelled to state what God and my religion has taught me. I don’t know how many people call themselves a Christian or an honest Catholic worshiper. I believe if you are an ...

As a public school teacher and principal for 33 years, I was admittedly uneducated and somewhat brainwashed by a teachers’ union and an administrators’ union when it came to school choice and school vouchers. As a well-trained and extremely hard working educator, I couldn’t see how any ...

Dichotomy: A division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different. Repeated branching into two equal parts. “Society’s natural gravitation towards in-group/out-group dichotomies poses a serious threat to humankind as it facilitates the ...

The time to vote has arrived. No one can tell another person who to vote for. We all have our own opinions. I feel compelled to state what God and my religion has taught me. I don’t know how many people call themselves a Christian or an honest Catholic worshiper. I believe if you are an ...

I was so disheartened by all the resignations and changes in the Arkwright Town Board that I simply couldn’t bring myself to attend the regular September meeting. Having reneged once, I felt it my duty to catch up by going to the new board’s organization meeting August 24. ...

I will never forget the evening of November 5, 2019. It was Election Night and the returns were in. I was going to be the next State Senator for the 57th District. I was overwhelmingly grateful to the voters of our region for trusting me to represent them in Albany and I immediately began ...

As we stumble along toward Election Day several things have attracted my attention. Probably enough for several columns. I just finished a book entitled “The Little Ice Age” By Brian Fagan. Professor Fagan’s field of expertise is archaeology and anthropology and not meteorology but he ...

My name is Mat Cardinale, and my father was an alcoholic. Based on that statement, you might already be making some assumptions about my father, his substance use, or about me. Some of you may not continue reading this because of stigma related to the word “alcoholic.” If you do that, you ...

ERIE, Pa. — Here and there this campaign season one sees an unusual lawn sign. It appears to be not from a candidate’s campaign but from persons acting independently. It urges voting for a particular presidential candidate. The candidate is President Trump. Yet none of these are ...

I think the writer of “Drive of Democrats needs a detour” (Oct. 19) needs another lesson in democracy. First, has California moved to phase out fossil fuel vehicles? Yes. California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order requiring new passenger cars to have zero emissions in 2035, ...

Politics, policy, and personality: these three themes seem to occupy today’s stage in our current political atmosphere. We are proud of our democracy and in our American heritage on which it stands. Indeed, we are a Republic and thus we elect those individuals who represent each of us in ...

New York cannot count your absentee ballot until the election passes. That is the law. ¯ Typically, mail-in ballots represent 5% of New York’s vote, so except in the case of very close elections, absentees do not normally figure in to who wins or loses. This year, due to the pandemic and ...

Water is one of the things we depend on. We simply expect it to be there. We rarely think about what it takes to deliver safe and abundant quantities of that precious liquid to our taps, not even when paying our water bill, until it’s not safe to use. The same is true about other ...

Actually, this has nothing to do with witches except another word rhymes well when describing my (mostly) black cat. Gloria can be very loving (particularly when I’m dishing up her food) but the bites draw blood and come so fast I have no time to pull my arm away. Why does she ...

Last session we met Maxwell, a P.A. whose boss referred him for counseling. Little was pointedly discussed about a patient complaint about Maxwell. He had fallen asleep while attending to a patient in an examination room. The patient left upset and later complained to the PCP. Here ...

Presidential candidate Joe Biden announced that on day one, he would repeal President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and raise taxes another $500 billion by closing loopholes. He plans to spend some of the money on making college, medical care, and pre-K education cheaper, if not free, for many ...

Let’s pick up where we left off last week. Joe Biden, the Democrats’ 2020 presidential candidate, rightly says he’d be “the most progressive” — read: liberal — president in American history. That understates the point in at least two ways. First, he’d likely be even more ...

It’s October again, and the earth is aglow. With a radiance only October can know. Crimson, yellow and gold covers all of the trees, And their colors splash wildly with each little breeze. A thousand gold leaves that pell-mell through the glade, Are pursued by a breeze that a shadow ...

As I read the OBSERVER on the front page recently was an article headlined, “Introduced bill would phase out gas-powered cars.” Sen. Pete Harckham, a Democrat, who wants this state to join California in phasing out gas-fueled vehicles. California and New York state, which are both run by ...

A good economy is one that uses resources wisely to maximize the welfare of the entire society. An entire society of happy, healthy and financially secure people are like the foundation of a house made of many strong stones. An economy, like a house, built upon this strong foundation is ...