Sunday Opinion: Rep. Gibson draws praise, dings, and more scorn for Albany
Good Sunday morning. Here’s a look at some of the weekend opinion floating around out there in the North Country.
Rep. Chris Gibson, the freshman congressman from the 20th district, is drawing a lot of attention. The Adirondack Daily Enterprise lauds the Republican for promising to shrink the size of the military.
The members of this editorial board feel strongly that our nation should reduce its global military presence. U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, a retired Army colonel who represents New York’s 20th Congressional District, said it most succinctly in a Feb. 28 conference call with reporters, when he said several times that the U.S. military should be appropriate for “a republic, not an empire.”
Amen.
The Glens Falls Post Star, on the other hand, dings Rep. Gibson for voting to cut funding for Planned Parenthood.
The paper quotes a Gibson spokesman who said “he voted for the bill because he did not believe the government should fund abortions.” But then then editor Ken Tingley argues the following:
By taking a stand on abortion, Gibson yanked funding for women to get breast cancer exams and cervical cancer screenings.
That was something, I as a man, was not aware of.
According to Planned Parenthood, it provides more than 1 million screenings for cervical cancer and 830,000 checks for breast cancer each year.
It also writes 2.5 million prescriptions for birth control. It says that 83 percent of its services are to prevent unintended pregnancy. They also provide nearly 4 million tests for sexually transmitted disease.
“Planned Parenthood,” Tingley concludes, “still provides a lifeline to many young people who would not know where else to turn.”
The Watertown Daily times, meanwhile, turns its attention to the latest bribery scandal in Albany, involving a gaggle of Democrats who appear to have waded neck-deep into the sleaze pool. The newspaper wants Governor Andrew Cuomo to take action.
He has threatened to appoint a commission to investigate corruption if the Legislature fails to enact comprehensive ethics reform. However, the Legislature does not appear capable of policing its members.
Under the 1907 Moreland Act, the governor can appoint an independent commission with investigative and subpoena powers. Rather than wait while the Legislature dawdles, Gov. Cuomo should get started now.
And the Plattsburgh Press Republican points out that village elections are slated for Tuesday in much of the North Country and cautions about voter apathy.
The newspaper argues that participation might grow if these local elections were held in the fall along with other political contests.
It might seem villages would have better turnout of candidates and voters if they switched their elections to the fall. Most of the emphasis each year is on the November elections, when national, state, county and town votes take place. If it happens to be a presidential election year, you can expect an especially vibrant voter turnout.
So there it is. A lot to chew over. As always, your comments on any of these topics welcome…
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I wonder how Chris Gibson’s nuclear policy is working out about now.
According to the New York Times this morning: http://nyti.ms/eWPPFG
“Japanese officials struggled on Sunday to contain a widening nuclear crisis… saying they presumed that partial meltdowns had occurred at two crippled reactors and that they were bracing for a second explosion, even as they faced serious cooling problems at four more reactors at two separate plants. ”
Gibson’s plans were recently laid out here: http://bit.ly/i7B6Fb
“Bill Teator, a lobbyist whose clients have included several energy companies, will chair a panel U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson is putting together to develop a regional energy strategy that will include locating a nuclear plant in the region.”
Now that all media is focussed on North Africa, the Middle East, Japan, and the fake NPR sting, we get little coverage of hundreds of thousands of people protesting in Madison, Wisconsin for weeks. Hundreds of thousands in the streets over weeks!
Brian has been critical of the Left in the past for their violent protests but here it is in our country–a non-violent protest, direct attempts to redress grievances and to be heard in the halls of power and NPR hasn’t had a story in days that I’ve heard. If those protesters had burned one American flag, or smashed one store window, or turned over one police car they would be national news for days on end. This is starting to remind me of the attempts by the Left to stop the Iraq War.