Adirondack Daily Enterprise "Web Poll"

There is a letter to the editor in todays Adirondack Daily Enterprise requesting that they cease publishing their so-called "web poll". Here is the letter:

Please do the community a favor and do away with the weekly Web Poll.

This so-called opinion forum has morphed into nothing more than a conveniently anonymous chat room where cowards deposit their rants, attacks, religious preachings and complaints over things that have nothing to do with the poll question. The Web Poll has served no other purpose than to divide the community. It is a verbal toilet.

The questions themselves are usually meaningless, divisive or poorly stated (or all of the above), and the “results” are worthless because the poll is unscientific.

As the only choice available for local news and information, the Enterprise should hold itself to a higher standard. The Web Poll is unprofessional and downright childish. If the editors really feel it’s necessary to have such a forum on the paper’s Web site, they should simply create a chat room where these people can have their anonymous, free-for-all shouting matches. Otherwise, there is already a legitimate way for the reading public to express opinions in the newspaper. It is called a letter to the editor, where you sign your name and accept accountability for your arguments.

I beg you to put a stop to the Web Poll. Flush the toilet!

Annette Scheuer

Saranac Lake

I have to say it's pretty hard to disagree with Ms. Scheuer. Take a look at the comments to the current "web poll" question. The question is: Does the Minneapolis bridge collapse make you more hesitant to cross bridges? A bit of an inane question but that is beside the point.

The comments begin with their usual pro-Walmart, anti-community store, native vs transplant "thoughts". They then rapidly devolve into rants against the Unitarian Church! Do the editors of the local paper and the commenters realize that these comments can be read by anyone with internet access? How do these comments make our community look to people living outside our local area? Most commenters probably don't care because if you live outside of Saranac Lake you are only a potential transplant who is not welcome in Saranac Lake.

Might we all be better off if Saranac Lake were a dying community?

More Ocean City, NJ

The Chatterbox


The Alley


Shrivers on the boardwalk


Downtown


Taffy at Shrivers ready for the wrapping machine

Democrat Congressmen Need to Be Fearful

E.J. Dionne Jr. discusses the reasons Democrats caved in to the President and the Republicans on the warrantless surveillence bill.

The episode was the culmination of a shameful era in which serious issues related to national security and civil liberties were debated in a climate of fear and intimidation, saturated by political calculation and the quest for short-term electoral advantage.

Politically, Republicans won this round in two ways. They got the president the bill he wanted and, as a result, they created absolute fury in the Democratic base. Pelosi has received more than 200,000 e-mails of protest, according to an aide, for letting the bill go forward.

Democrats concede they made an enormous tactical blunder by not dealing with the issue earlier, forcing the question to the fore in the days before the recess. One anxiety hovered over the debate: If a terrorist attack happened and Congress had not given Bush what he wanted, the Democrats would get blamed for a lack of vigilance.

Democrats are worried that they will provide Republican challengers and voters reasons to vote for someone else in the next election unless they appear strong on the WOT.

What Democrat congressmen should really be worried about is whether I and other Democrats will vote for them in the next election.

The TSA Makes Flying Safer for Americans

Read Raed Jarrar's version of how he was treated at JFK airport. Evidently certain t-shirts are not allowed on US airlines, at least JetBlue. What was Raed's crime? Wearing a t-shirt that said "we will not be silent" written in arabic and in english. Happily, Raed has sicced that commie organization, the ACLU, onto the TSA and JetBlue.

Mr. Jarrar, an architect, moved to the USA with his American wife to get away from an authoritarian government. Ironic isn't it?

Did you know there was an airline screening playset available for sale? See here.

Yeah, yeah I know. We libs all hate America. But we do love the Constitution.

August 9, 1974

33 years ago today, Richard Nixon resigned as president of the USA. But was he worse than the current president?

“Indeed, Bush puts Nixon into a more favorable light. He has trashed the image and reputation of the United States throughout the world; he has offended many of our previously close allies; he has burdened future generations with incredible debt; he has created an unnecessary war to further his domestic political objectives; he has suborned the civil rights of our citizens; he has destroyed previous environmental efforts by government in favor of his coterie of exploiters; he has surrounded himself with a cabal ideological adventurers . . . .”

Can An Atheist Run for Public Office?

Of course, this is a free country and Article 6, paragraph 3 of our Constitution says:

"no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States".

But tell that to the states of Arkansas (article 19, section 1), Maryland (article 36), North Carolina (article 6, section 8), South Carolina (article 4, section2), Tennessee (article 9, section 2) and Texas (article 1, section 4). Each of these states constitutions require that you acknowledge the existence of God or a Supreme Being in order to hold state level public office. I especially like article 1, section 4 of the Texas State Constitution:

"No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, in this State; nor shall any one be excluded from holding office on account of his religious sentiments, provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being".

Who is the highest ranking public official in the USA that publicly denies the existence of a supreme being? That would be Rep. Pete Stark of California.

Next question. Does God bless America?

Motels of Ocean City and Wildwood NJ

You won't find any "big name" hotel or motel chains in Ocean City, NJ. This community knows what it wants and how it wants to present itself. No highrises at all.


The Nantucket is in Wildwood NJ





The Coral Sands is open all year.


The Forum Motor Inn


The Homestead Hotel


The Caprice is in Wildwood, NJ

Serving Their Country - Getting Dad Elected

Why aren't any of Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's 5 sons serving in the military?

"One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I'd be a great president."

There's a sacrifice for you.

Good Christian Website!

I finally found a Christian website worth visiting and reading. It's called truechristian.com. The web author tells it as it really is and pulls no punches. Check out his FAQ page and read some of the hateful emails he has received from liberals and atheists (I rolled on the floor when I visited this section of the website, be sure and try it.

The "Kidz" section is especially good for educating your children about the Bible. I really like the bible stories for kidz, complete with pictures. Here's the one about David and Goliath
Definitely worth a visit.

Yea for Gillibrand, Clinton and Schumer

They all decided that protecting our Constitution is more important than winning conservative votes in the next election (especially brave of Gillibrand who represents a rather conservative district). These 3 congress people all voted against changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (also known as the "Protect America Act"). The Bill temporarily expands the executive branch’s authority to spy on suspected foreign terrorists without a court order, when communications are passing through the U.S. It seems that even the rubber stamping approval of the FISA courts for warrantless searches were too much to ask of the Bush administration.

FAT

An interesting article on fat in todays NYT's Science section. Let's not forget that fat has an important role to play in our physiology. There is even an hypothesis that the relative "fattiness" of humans when compared with other species results in our "braininess".

Ocean City, NJ

Ocean City, NJ was founded in 1879 by several Methodist ministers. It has a long tradition of being a family resort which continues today. Thus the reason for many churches and a dry city. Here are a few pictures.




The boardwalk is exciting and is filled with people day and night. It's a huge hangout for kids at night and they all seem to be very well behaved.


Early morning til 11 AM the boardwalk is open to biking. You have to watch your step as a pedestrian during these hours.


Long beautiful, clean beaches line the Island.


This picture was taken about noon. The beaches clear out about 5 PM.

Back from Ocean City, NJ

I'm back from my little trip to Ocean City, NJ, Washington, DC and Olney, MD. Ocean City was a real trip. I've never been there before. I can't wait to post my pictures of all the 50's motels. No big name motels or hotels in Ocean City. It's also a completely dry community. Picts of the beach and boardwalk also to follow.