The election campaign of 2012 is now upon us. The Long Island Reporter will provide information about and urge discussion of the issues and candidates involved. Please get involved with the candidate of your choice.
Announcing his support for Commissar Sebelius’s edicts on contraception, sterilization, and pharmacological abortion, that noted theologian the
Most Reverend Al Sharpton explained: “If we are going to have a separation of church and state, we’re going to have a separation of church and
state.”
Thanks for clarifying that. The church model the young American state wished to separate from was that of the British monarch, who remains to
this day supreme governor of the Church of England. This convenient arrangement dates from the 1534 Act of Supremacy. The title of the law
gives you the general upshot, but, just in case you’re a bit slow on the uptake, the text proclaims “the King’s Majesty justly and rightfully is and
ought to be the supreme head of the Church of England.” That’s to say, the sovereign is “the only supreme head on earth of the Church” and he
shall enjoy “all honors, dignities, pre-eminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said dignity,”
not to mention His Majesty “shall have full power and authority from time to time to visit, repress, redress, record, order, correct, restrain, and
amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offenses, contempts, and enormities, whatsoever they be.”
Welcome to Obamacare.
The president of the United States has decided to go Henry VIII on the Church’s medieval ass. Whatever religious institutions might profess to
believe in the matter of “women’s health,” their pre-eminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, and immunities are now subordinate to a
one-and-only supreme head on earth determined to repress, redress, restrain, and amend their heresies. One wouldn’t wish to overextend the
analogy: For one thing, the Catholic Church in America has been pathetically accommodating of Beltway bigwigs’ ravenous appetite for marital
annulments in a way that Pope Clement VII was disinclined to be vis-à-vis the English king and Catherine of Aragon. But where’d all the
pandering get them? In essence President Obama has embarked on the same usurpation of church authority as Henry VIII: As his Friday
morning faux-compromise confirms, the continued existence of a “faith-based institution” depends on submission to the doctrinal supremacy of
the state.
“We will soon learn,” wrote Albert Mohler of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, “just how much faith is left in faith-based institutions.”
Kathleen Sebelius, Obama’s vicar on earth, has sportingly offered to maintain religious liberty for those institutions engaged in explicit religious
instruction to a largely believing clientele. So we’re not talking about mandatory condom dispensers next to the pulpit at St. Pat’s — not yet. But
that is not what it means to be a Christian: The mission of a Catholic hospital is to minister to the sick. When a guy shows up in Emergency
bleeding all over the floor, the nurse does not first establish whether he is Episcopalian or Muslim; when an indigent is in line at the soup kitchen
the volunteer does not pause the ladle until she has determined whether he is a card-carrying papist. The government has redefined religion as
equivalent to your Sunday best: You can take it out for an hour to go to church, but you gotta mothball it in the closet the rest of the week. So
Catholic institutions cannot comply with Commissar Sebelius and still be in any meaningful sense Catholic.
Senate Candidate Stops By Southern Tier
By WBNG News
February 10, 2012 Updated Feb 10, 2012 at 10:17 PM EST
Binghamton, NY (WBNG Binghamton) A candidate looking to
become New York State's next U.S. Senator stops by Binghamton to
dine and network with the local GOP at their Lincoln Dinnner.
George Maragos wants to unseat Democratic senator Kirsten
Gillibrand.
The Nassau County Comptroller has worked in the private sector for
the past 35 years, serving as vice president for JP Morgan Chase and
CitiBank, and founding his own business--SDS Financial Services.
Maragos says one of his top priorities is solving what he calls the
"unemployment crisis" and bringing jobs to Upstate New York.
"I think we need to incentivize and bring manufacturing back,
especially to the upstate region, which is disproportionately suffering
from unemployment. We need to provide incentives and provide
assistance to our farmers upstate, and we need to allow gas drilling,
but do it in a safe manner and create a whole industry," said Maragos.
Maragos says a partnership between the state's universities and natural
gas drilling companies could lead to new, cleaner technology, and
make New York a leader in the production of natural gas.
"
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL: GEORGE MARAGOS
CONTINUES TO CRISS CROSS NYS. HE IS THE ONLY
CANDIDATE CAPABLE OF BEATING SEN. GILLIBRAND
Obama - The New Henry VIII Read Mark Steyn's great essay, at the National Review, "Church of Obama"
Numerous Long Island lawmakers, joined by both the Nassau and Suffolk County Executives, plus Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate
Murray, and Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos were out in force last Friday, calling for further reductions in the MTA payroll
tax.
The press conference, held at the Nassau County Executive & Legislative Building, introduced state legislation (S-6206), one co-authored by
State Senators Jack Martins (R-Mineola) and Lee Zeldin (R,C,I-Shirley). The bill would exempt villages, towns, and counties in New York
State from the MTA payroll tax. Municipalities in New York State, both lawmakers said, currently pay a .34 percent tax per $100 of payroll
to pay for the MTA.
“Property taxpayers paying for village, town and county services should not have their hard-earned tax dollars diverted to subsidize the
MTA through this payroll tax,” Senator Martins said. “We need to alleviate some of the burdens placed on our local governments. This
legislation does that and the result will be relief for our taxpayers, something we desperately need.”
Senator Jack Martins and Senator Lee Zeldin co-author legislation to reduce MTA tax
DEMOCRATS ENCOURAGE HYSTERIA AGAINST COUNTY EXECUTIVE ED MANGANO'S POLICE CONSOLIDATION
PLAN
By
Norman J. Gersman
This past June my car was victimized, to the tune of $7000 in damages, by another car which made an illegal U-turn on Shelter Rock
Road…right in front of me. The event did not put me in a good mood. A few days later I was even more irritated because I had to waste
a gallon of gas and a lunch hour driving my rented car to the Sixth Precinct on Community Drive to obtain a copy of the accident report.
Now I had not been to the Sixth Precinct in many years and all I could think was: "Geez, couldn't the police just have taken my email
address at the scene of the accident, and then they could have just simply scanned the report and emailed it to me. Please, this is not
1975." But the other day, listening to the crowd attending the legislative meeting about the police precinct consolidation I learned that
large numbers of people are anxious to actually visit their precincts….who knew? I must have missed something at the Sixth
Precinct….free lunch?
Let's be very clear about one thing. The only reason the Democratic legislators whipped up a large and very rude crowd to oppose
County Executive Ed Mangano's proposal to consolidate the precincts was to gain a publicity advantage for the Democratic Party. Oh
some of the crowd might have actually thought that they were attending and speaking for greater public safety and to save the County's
police department, but those were the very naïve. The Democratic party and the democratic media started hyperventilating in anxious
hysteria the moment County Executive Mangano made his proposal to make the police department more efficient. They must have been
absolutely amazed that a supposedly savvy politician would leave himself exposed on the issue of public safety. Whether his plan was
the best in the world or stunk did not matter. Democrats would cry that the sky was falling, the criminals are knocking at our doors, and
County Executive Mangano would be a target that no one could possibly miss. He was going to be thrown naked into the center of the
arena and the lions were hungry. The Democratic legislators, especially those who believe that they have a chance to gain the nomination
to run against Mangano in 2013, had to be dragged from their microphones.
Acting Police Commissioner Thomas Dale made a presentation to explain the proposed changes. He repeatedly stated that the
consolidation plan would not diminish police enforcement or police patrols. That the plan was matter of internal efficiency eliminating
about 100 administrative salaries. Except for one brave senior citizen, who was loudly booed by the rude crowd, the Commissioner was
talking to himself. The fact that none of the precincts were actually going to close and they would all be still open to the public 24/7 was
ignored. The Democratic legislators did a great job rabble rousing and I am sure that they are more than pleased with themselves. I think
they should be ashamed for inviting large numbers of party faithful who were not interested in the facts, and who attempted to influence
the hearing with noise. I suppose that we have not seen end of this.
As we all know, Nassau is one of the highest taxed County's in the United States and as a result it is unattractive to both potential
residents and business. Nassau County property owners are at the financial end of their ropes and made that known by electing Ed
Mangano and Comptroller George Maragos. In 2009, the then County legislator Mangano campaigned promising to not to increase taxes.
As the County Executive he has kept his promise, and I applaud any attempt at making the County payroll smaller and making the
County more efficient. The only way Nassau County will become more attractive to new residents and businesses is to hold the line on
our property taxes and let the rest of the country catch up to us, which they are. Until then, Nassau County retirees will leave as fast as
possible for lower taxed areas of the country and we will have a hard time attracting property buyers and businesses. The County
Executive may have the Democratic Party and its hacks attacking him but the majority of the County's residents know that he is keeping
his campaign promises and he is on the right track. Good for him.