Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Address on the 4th of July, 1942

For 166 years this Fourth Day of July has been a symbol to the people of our country of the democratic freedom which our citizens claim as their precious birthright. On this grim anniversary its meaning has spread over the entire globe–focusing the attention of the world upon the modern freedoms for which all the United Nations are now engaged in deadly war.

On the desert sands of Africa, along the thousands of miles of battle lines in Russia, in New Zealand and Australia, and the islands of the Pacific, in war-torn China and all over the seven seas, free men are fighting desperately–and dying–to preserve the liberties and the decencies of modern civilization. And in the overrun and occupied nations of the world, this day is filled with added significance, coming at a time when freedom and religion have been attacked and trampled upon by tyrannies unequaled in human history.

Never since it first was created in Philadelphia, has this anniversary come in times so dangerous to everything for which it stands. We celebrate it this year, not in the fireworks of make-believe but in the death-dealing reality of tanks and planes and guns and ships. We celebrate it also by running without interruption the assembly lines which turn out these weapons to be shipped to all the embattled points of the globe. Not to waste one hour, not to stop one shot, not to hold back one blow–that is the way to mark our great national holiday in this year of 1942.

To the weary, hungry, unequipped Army of the American Revolution, the Fourth of July was a tonic of hope and inspiration. So is it now. The tough, grim men who fight for freedom in this dark hour take heart in its message–the assurance of the right to liberty under God–for all peoples and races and groups and nations, everywhere in the world.
On Liberty:

In 1936 FDR stated, “Liberty requires opportunity to make a living – a living decent to the standard of the time, a living which gives man not only enough to live by, but something to live for.”

With regards to our Republican Tea Party Patriots:

In 1937, FDR stated: “The Test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

We headed into NYC on Saturday on a crisp, but cool late Saturday morning. Linda wanted to head to the Westside Market which is located on Broadway at 110th Street which is not far from her old Barnard College apartment. This place is sort of a super Zabar’s without the Jewish salamis, cold cuts and Nova Scotia. But it has oodles of everything anyone cold imagine. We parked on Broadway, bought some bread, pickles, NE clam “chowda,” chopped liver, capers and couscous salad.. We then ate a quick lunch and headed down Broadway to meet Jon at his 24 West 64th Street apartment.

We then zoomed south to the Chelsea Market on 9th Avenue and 14th Street. There was practically no traffic. I wanted to re-visit that interesting area and Jon also wanted to take a look at what they offered. The Market Place was crowded with both the neighborhood regulars and the tourists like us. The Market Place goes on forever and there are some remarkable stores that offer everything from butchered meat, to delis, bakeries, sweet shops to wonderful ethnic delicacies at Buon Italia where Linda bought some tortellini and Calamata olives.

After we finished we headed east on 14th Street back to Broadway. We turned right on Broadway and a left on 12th Street where Jocelyn lives. Jon went to meet her and we then walked up to the Union Square Market, which was incredibly crowded with their Christmas Week Holiday bourses and their regular fruits, vegetables and bakery stands. It was a bit chilly, but tolerable, and some cups of hot cider bolstered our constitution. We were searching for Martin’s Hard Pretzels, which is located in Lancaster, Pa., and has been selling their great, salty, dark, handmade, oversized pretzels ever since this market opened over three decades ago. We found them at the north end of the park, got our $5.00 bags and headed around the park to 12th Street.

Our next stop was the Jewish Museum which is located on 5th Avenue and 92nd Street. I parked on Madison Avenue and we walked one block over to Fifth, where the museum, which is free on Saturdays had an exhibition on “The Radical Camera, NY’s Photo League, 1936-1951,” whose photos chronicled life, in and out, of the desperate neighborhoods and mean streets of NYC, from the middle of the Depression, through WWII and into the McCarthy, Red Scare Era. On another floor was a selection of Hanukkah Lamps selected by the artist Maurice Sendak.

After the Museum we headed back to the West Side and Jon’s apartment, to split up all the goodies from the Chelsea Market and light the Hanukkah candles. Once, all of that was done, we again headed out to dinner at Bella Luna’s on Columbus Avenue at 88th Street. Parking was easy. At 6:15 pm the restaurant was quiet, but within an hour almost every seat was taken. I had a great pasta dish of linguini and meatballs with Bolognese sauce for $12.95. Can’t beat that in Manhattan.

We are awash in idiocy in this country amongst the people who on one hand blame the elitists on Wall Street, but have all their money tied up in 401ks. IRA’s , 503bs and every other type of invest vehicle, but do not want transparency and regulation and cry when criminals and brigands steal their savings. But we hear from these same right-wing philosophers about the spending of government and the debt, but conveniently forget that Reagan tripled out National Debt, unemployment averaged almost 8% (was over 10% for two years) in his time cut taxes for the 1% and that his clones the Bush twins did worse.
As to FDR and the New Deal, expenditures on WPA projects through June 1941, totaled approximately $11.4 billion. Over $4 billion was spent on highway, road, and street projects; more than $1 billion on public buildings, including the iconic Dock Street Theatre in Charleston, the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, and the Timberline Lodge on Oregon’s Mt. Hood; more than $1 billion on publicly owned or operated utilities; and another $1 billion on welfare projects, including sewing projects for women, the distribution of surplus commodities and school lunch projects. One construction project was the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut, the bridges of which were each designed as architecturally unique. In its eight year run, the WPA built 325 firehouses and renovated 2384 of them across the United States. The 20,000 miles of water mains, installed by their hand as well, no doubt aided in a more fire protected country.
The direct focus of the WPA projects changed with need. 1935 saw projects aimed at infrastructure improvement; roads, bringing electricity to rural areas, water conservation, sanitation and flood control. In 1936, as outlined in that year’s Emergency Relief Appropriations Act, public facilities became a focus; parks, buildings, utilities, airports, and transportation projects were funded. The following year, saw the introduction of agricultural pursuits in projects such as the production of marl fertilizer and the eradication of fungus pests. As the Second World War approached, and then eventually began, WPA projects became increasingly defense related.

The PWA spent over $6 billion in contracts to private construction forms that did the actual work. It created an infrastructure that generated national and local pride in the 1930s and remains vital seven decades later. The PWA was much less controversial than its rival agency with a confusingly similar name, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), headed by Harry Hopkins, which focused on smaller projects and hired unemployed unskilled workers.

More than any other New Deal program, the PWA epitomized the progressive notion of “priming the pump” to encourage economic recovery. Between July 1933 and March 1939 the PWA funded and administered the construction of more than 34,000 projects including airports, large electricity-generating dams, major warships for the Navy, and bridges, as well as 70% of the new schools and one-third of the hospitals built between 1933–1939.

Streets and highways were the most common PWA projects, as 11,428 road projects, or 33% of all PWA projects, accounted for over 15% of its total budget. School buildings, 7,488 in all, came in second at 14% of spending. PWA functioned chiefly by making allotments to the various Federal agencies; making loans and grants to state and other public bodies; and making loans without grants (for a brief time) to the railroads. For example it provided funds for the Indian Division of the CCC to build roads, bridges and other public works on and near Indian reservations.

The PWA became, with its “multiplier-effect” and first two-year budget of $3.3 billion (compared to the entire GDP of $60 billion), the driving force of America’s biggest construction effort up to that date. By June 1934 the agency had distributed its entire fund to 13,266 federal projects and 2,407 non-federal projects. For every worker on a PWA project, almost two additional workers were employed indirectly. The PWA accomplished the electrification of rural America, the building of canals, tunnels, bridges, highways, streets, sewage systems, and housing areas, as well as hospitals, schools, and universities; every year it consumed roughly half of the concrete and a third of the steel of the entire nation.
Some of the most famous PWA projects are the Triborough Bridge and the Lincoln Tunnel in New York City, the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state, the longest continuous sidewalk in the world along 6½ miles of Bayshore Blvd. in Tampa, Florida, and the Overseas Highway connecting Key West, Florida, to the mainland. The PWA also electrified the Pennsylvania Railroad between New York and Washington, DC. At the local level it built courthouses, schools, hospitals and other public facilities that remain in use in the 21st century.

So what troglodyte or mental midget would reject the reality of those accomplishments?

Last night I was the guest of my old buddy Alan Rosenberg at 92nd Street Y’s “Evening with Jerry West,” one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Along with me was Bob Trupin, another great basketball fan, player and friend of Alan’s and mine. Thanks to Alan’s great planning we had seats in the front row and we were all able to shake West’s hand, the one that scored 25,192 points in the NBA regular season (27 ppg) and 4457 in the NBA playoffs (29.1 ppg) and 2309 (24,8 ppg) at West Virginia University,

The star of the evening was Jerry West, who has written a new and interesting book, West on West: My Charmed and Tormented Life. It’s a revelatory treatment of his life, regarding his parents, the tormented relationship with his father, the loss of his older brother in the combat of Korea, the agonies of his defeats in championships games from the 1959 NCAA finals to losses to the great Boston Celtic teams of the 1960s and 1970’s along with his relationships with the great players of his time and his years of angst as GM of the Lakers. It also tells of his co-captaining the victorious USA team in the 1960 Olympic Games, an NBA title in 1972 and his great success as the General Manager of the LA Lakers.

The 92nd Street Y was crowded with hundreds of fans wanting to get a glimpse at an American sports icon and hear his story in his own words. After the almost two hour interview, he signed books for his multitude of fans. The demand was so great for his book that the supply quickly ran out. Alan, Bob and I were able to get into the signing area, where Cal Ramsey, a good friend of Alan’s, the former great NYC scholastic standout and basketball star at NYU, was receiving plaudits from his legion of admirers.
Jerry West was one of America’s greatest basketball players. He played his entire professional career for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His nicknames include “Mr. Clutch,” for his ability to make a big play in a clutch situation, such as his famous buzzer-beating 60-foot shot that tied Game 3 of the 1970 NBA Finals against the New York Knicks; “The Logo,” in reference to his silhouette being incorporated into the NBA logo; and “Zeke from Cabin Creek,” after the creek near his birthplace of Chelyan, West Virginia. Playing the small forward position early in his career, West was a standout at East Bank High School and at West Virginia University, leading the WVU Mountaineers to the 1959 NCAA championship game, earning Most Valuable Player honors despite the loss. He then embarked on a 14-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, and was the co-captain of the 1960 U.S. Olympic gold medal team in Rome, a squad that would be inducted as a unit into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.

Playing the guard position as a professional, he was voted 12 times into the All-NBA First and Second Teams, was elected into the NBA All-Star Team 14 times, and was chosen as the All-Star MVP in 1972, the same year that he won the only title of his career. West holds the NBA record for the highest points per game average in a playoff series with 46.3. He was also a member of the first four NBA All-Defensive Teams, which were introduced when he was 32 years old. Having played in nine NBA Finals, he is also the only player in NBA history to be named Finals MVP despite being on the losing team (1969). West was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980 and voted as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history in 1996.
Cal Ramsey, a native of Selma, Alabama as a youth, has been part of the NYC athletic landscape for over fifty years. Since his graduation from NYU in 1959, where he starred in basketball as an All-American, he still holds many team records and was a member of NYU’s Scholastic Honor Society. Because of his excellent career on the hard courts, he has been enshrined in a number of regional sport’s hall of fames. He is even a member of the famed Friar’s Club. After two seasons in the NBA with both the old St. Louis Hawks and the NY Knicks, his basketball career was cut short by a knee injury. He then began work in the NY Public Schools. He has devoted his life to working with the youth of NYC with regards to an emphasis on education and staying-in-school. Cal has had a three decade career in broadcasting and public relations with the NY Knicks, and has also devoted his considerable energies to NYU’s alumni affairs department.

My old buddy, Alan Rosenberg graduated from AB Davis/MVHS and New York University. He is a long-time CPA, who has offices in both New York City and Scarsdale and is an avid sports fan and memorabilia collector. Alan also played basketball for NYU, and has been heavily active in NYU alumni affairs.
Bob Trupin another friend and an All-Ivy Basketball star at Yale has been a coach, camp director, teacher, and commentator. He has had a long career as camp director, he has taught at places as varied as the NYC school system, Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, the Guilford Arts Center, the Shoreline Foundation, and college summer programs. His sport’s column, “Handle on Sports” appeared in the Shoreline Times newspapers for many years.

Bob, who originally grew up and was educated in Mount Vernon, NY, was a Westchester High School All-County Basketball player, played basketball at Yale University, where he was selected All-Ivy and was drafted by the NY Knicks. He worked for the Knicks in the publicity department in the late 1960’s. He also has an MBA from NYU’s Graduate School of Business and a MS from Fordham University. Bob, Alan and Cal Ramsey have been guests on The Advocates over the years. On December, 14, 2011, both Alan, and Bob will join Bruce Fabricant and The Advocates again on my annual “Sport’s Roundup” program of WVOX. Tune in at www.wvox.com.

Nothing has changed in the decades since FDR’s times. Just listen to the current crop of right-wing brigands that represent the Republican Party and their Teabag Brigade Masters.

Just listen to their anti-women, anti-environment, anti-union, anti-safety net, anti-minorities, and anti American rhetoric. Just open your ears to their support for flat tax idiocy. Just listen to their rejection of the reality of global warming. Just listen to their flat-earth thinking. From Bachmann with her mindless diatribes, to Citizen Cain’s confusion on everything, to Romney’s flip-flops on every single issue, to the religious fanaticism of Santorum, the craziness of Paul, the hypocritical cynicism of Gingrich, and not left out, the lunacy of Perry, the GOP has rejected almost all of the positions they once stood for and are ready to thrust us pack to not only Jim Crow, but maybe even to the Articles of Confederation. They are the do-nothing party of hatred, the poor house, the sweat shop, the pollution of the past, and the triumph of the inter-locking directorate, the monopoly, the trusts and rule of the few over the many.

FDR summed it correctly in this passage from his speech at Madison Square Garden in October of 1936.
“They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me–and I welcome their hatred.
I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master.”

What was the message then and now? Should we turn our country over to these modern day flat-earth/flat-tax zealots? Should we reverse the clock back to not before the Great Society, or the New Deal, or the Progressive Era or back to the Articles of Confederation? Should we listen to Romney, who tells the distressed home owner, and I paraphrase, “there is no help for you, so let the market forces take your home and then you can rent it back!” Should we listen to Citizen Cain who wants to lower corporate taxes from 39% to 9% and the top bracket for 375,000 people (the 1%) who earn more than $1 million to 9%? But he is willing to add a regressive 9% to everyone including the working poor!
Governments can err, presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that Divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted on different scales.
Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.
There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.
Nothing has changed in the decades since FDR’s times. Just listen to the current crop of right-wing brigands that represent the Republican Party and their Teabag Brigade Masters.

Just listen to their anti-women, anti-environment, anti-union, anti-safety net, anti-minorities, and anti American rhetoric. Just open your ears to their support for flat tax idiocy. Just listen to their rejection of the reality of global warming. Just listen to their flat-earth thinking. From Bachmann with her mindless diatribes, to Citizen Cain’s confusion on everything, to Romney’s flip-flops on every single issue, to the religious fanaticism of Santorum, the craziness of Paul, the hypocritical cynicism of Gingrich, and not to be left out, the lunacy of Perry, the GOP has rejected almost all of the positions they once stood for and are ready to thrust us pack to not only Jim Crow, but maybe even to the Articles of Confederation. They are the do-nothing party of hatred, the poor house, the sweat shop, the pollution of the past, and the triumph of the inter-locking directorate, the monopoly, the trusts and rule of the few over the many. Whatever progressives they had from the party of Lincoln, which included folks like TR, Holmes, Dewey, Rockefeller, Javits and a number of others has long disappeared into the rebirth of the new Know-Nothings from the middle of the 19th Century.

FDR summed it correctly in this passage from his speech at Madison Square Garden in October of 1936.

“They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me–and I welcome their hatred.

I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master.”

What was the message then and now? Should we turn our country over to these modern day flat-earth/flat-tax zealots? Should we reverse the clock back to not before the Great Society, or the New Deal, or the Progressive Era or back to the Articles of Confederation? Should we listen to Romney, who tells the distressed home owner, and I paraphrase, “there is no help for you, so let the market forces take your home and then you can rent it back!” Should we listen to Citizen Cain who wants to lower corporate taxes from 39% to 9% and the top bracket for 375,000 people (the 1%) who earn more than $1 million to 9%? But he is willing to add a regressive 9% to everyone including the working poor!

FDR said: “Governments can err, presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that Divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted on different scales.

Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.

There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.”

There is no class warfare in those 1936 campaign remarks, just the truth. The class warfare started with the Reagan Years, his alliance with the old Dixiecrats of the South and the lowering of Federal taxes to two brackets 28 and 15%.

My name is Richard Garfunkel, and I want to thank this body for inviting me to speak tonight. I come here as a concerned citizen, who was raised in this lovely city over 66 years ago. I started high school at the AB Davis building approximately 50 years ago and I was in the last class to graduate from that edifice, and in the first class to be called the modern MVHS. I played varsity sports there and worked closely and developed a life-long friendship with the legendary Hank Littlefield and got quite friendly with the new coach Gene Ridenour, who spent many years serving this district.

In those years I got to know people like John Branca and Irv Halstead who guided athletics in Mount Vernon for many years. I even met the great Mount Vernon star quarterback Frank Carideo of Knute Rockne’s last Notre Dame team. I knew the coaches and leaders like: Dave Rider, Lorenzo Thomas, Ed Williams, Harry Bright, Al Cain, Randy Forrest, Bill Sywetz, Sully Mott, Arzelia Strong Thornton among others. Though we were from different backgrounds they were all critical to my development and knowledge of how to work with people. In fact, two of the schools in this district are named after Ed Williams and Nelly Thornton.

I met my wife Linda Rosen Garfunkel, who was student teaching at MVHS, while she was finishing her Masters degree at Columbia University after graduating from Barnard, while I was substitute teaching at the high school. I was temporarily working there while I was awaiting my OCS Class in the Air Force.

In my college years at Boston University, Mount Vernon hosted for the first time the Section I three county wrestling championships and I was asked to serve as the tournament director for Coach Henry Littlefield each of the years from 1965 through 1967. We won the Section I title every year from 1963- through 1967.

In the ensuing next years, even though I was married in 1969, I volunteered many hours and weekends to work with Dave Rider and Randy Forrest and their respective sports. By the mid 1970s, with a growing family, a business to run in NYC, and other responsibilities, my activities at the high school waned.

But, I have here a copy of a note and a telegram, sent to me by the then Congressman Richard L. Ottinger, who represented this district in 1975. When a MVHS track star named Ken McBryde, who was attending Manhattan College, was selected to be on the first America (AAU)-Chinese Track meet, the head of the NCAA banned him and other college athletes from the meet by threatening to have their scholarships revoked. I called Congressman Ottinger and he wrote Walter Byers and along with others pressured him to back down! Ken McBryde was allowed to participate in that critical international meet, which had a great deal to do with normalizing relationships with the People’s Republic of China. I have always been interested in MV and the rights of its residents.

In 1994, in the wake of the untimely death of my high school friend and classmate, Jon Breen, a former president of our class, a Dartmouth College, and Harvard Law School graduate and a Fulbright Scholar, I went to Superintendent Pratella, Brenda Smith, and LE Smith the head of the MVHS History Department, and suggested a yearly essay contest with a public policy theme.

Many in our Class of 1963, like Jon, went on to achieve excellent academic records in our best colleges and graduate schools. As I person who ran and assisted with all of our reunions; the 20th, 25th, 30th, 35th and the 40th, I got to know the life story and achievements of many, many of our classmates. I can say that without hesitation that MVHS and AB Davis HS produced an inordinate amount of doctoral scholars in many disciplines. I could easily say that Davis and Mount Vernon, with a pluralistic student body, all through those years, was one of the best suburban schools in America.

Over the years, from 1994 through last year, I have seen and met many of the best and the brightest students of MVHS. The Jon Breen Scholarship Fund, which I have chaired, has raised over $30,000. Much of it has been spent totally on giving out prizes for award winning essays on public policy. With the help of John Alberga and his successor Paul Court, the Chairs of the History Department, I was able to meet with their honors and AP Classes and give master class lectures on mid 20th Century history.

During the past five years I have hosted a radio show on WVOX called The Advocates, which specializes on public policy issues that range from education, health care, justice in America, and to a whole host of other issues.

On my program, I have had many shows devoted to education in America. I have interviewed your current Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Tony Sawyer, the volunteers and the director of the “Amazing Afternoons” program at the Ed Williams School, Mr. Daniel deVise, The Washington Post education editor, Professors Mark Taylor of Columbia University, John Loase of Concordia, Victor Cahn of Skidmore, John Valenti of the College of New Rochelle and a number of others whose concern is the future course of education. I have heard perspectives on all sorts of issues relating to how we improve our schools from the earliest grades through graduate studies.

Over these years I have witnessed a great change from my graduation over 48 years ago through my period of teaching and volunteering to the 17 years working with the Jon Breen Fund, the MVHS College Scholarship Committee, and Project 2000, a group founded by Brenda Smith and I to rehabilitate the MVHS auditorium and create a school of the performing arts.

I have watched the change from one of the great public school systems in America to one that is on the verge of bankruptcy. Of course, one can never discount the negative impact of the current recession and economic malaise, the widening gap between rich and poor, the breakup of the nuclear family and the demographic changes Mount Vernon has experienced over the past 45 years.

Over the years, until very recently, I could come into the MVHS on any afternoon to meet with school officials, teachers or students to discuss projects of interest without an iota of fear and with the utmost sense of security.

I am sad to say tonight that I cannot do that today with the confidence that I had in the past. In fact, I find the high school threatening. With the need for a chained parking lot, metal detectors, scores of hanger-ons sitting on the stone wall on California Road and the milling around of students in the halls, I have no desire to come to the high school under these conditions. Whether I am right, or wrong, these conditions give me the impression of a state of lawlessness, lack of over all control and fear. This attitude has been re-enforced by my many conversations with teachers and counselors.

The building complex is rundown, the lawns are unkempt, there is rust on the support columns outside, and the damaged curbs reflect decades of neglect. Recently when I went to our annual summer meeting of the MVHS Scholarship Committee, I noticed many cars parked in the fire lane, where parking is prohibited, though there were scores of spaces available on each side of the building. The building is drab, display cabinets have been vandalized, and there is a dreary look to the building. The building is under-utilized as the high school population continues to shrink. It seems to the casual observer to be half-empty, while there are two other high schools at other locations, with an obvious duplication of services and staff, draining off valuable resources. The whole concept of the new Mount Vernon HS, which is located far away from most of its students, was to unite the students, faculty, and administrators of both the old Davis and Edison campuses. Therefore the question must be asked, with this under-utilized campus, cannot these three entities be housed again under the same roof?

In recent years, we have witnessed a revolving door of principals and support staff, which has featured short term incumbents with no sense of permanence. This lack of continuity spills back on educational continuity and drives leery parents away from investing their children’s future into a system that has no idea of where it is going. The stories of fights, knifings and shootings has blared for years across the local the newspaper headlines.

Along with the physical and moral deterioration of the school system, there have been many changes regarding the internal educational structure. There was a multiplicity of plans that incorporated house leaders and all sorts of different educational configurations that have come and gone. I do not have the time here to review the multiple changes and the amount of people who have come and gone. For sure, few over the past 17 years have had any knowledge or interest in what I was doing.

When I started the Jon Breen Essay Contest in 1994, I received hundreds of essays, which were written by hand and typewriters. By 2008 I could hardly get more than two dozen and they were all computer generated and many were lifted directly from Wikipedia. In the last few years, after being totally frustrated by the lack of student and faculty interest, the cavalier plagiarism, and the handful of submissions, I discontinued the essay contest and asked the English and History Departments to submit the resumes of their best students and I would give a scholarship prize to them in the name of Jon Breen and Henry Littlefield. Recently I even stopped requesting the few transcripts that were available and left the choice to the advisors.

The change has been profound, disastrous and depressing. I will conclude my statement with one last vignette which focuses on the failure of the past Boards to fund adequately the capital improvements to this school system. On January 22, 2009, I met Superintendent Sawyer in his office at the Education House. My colleague, Mr. John Berenyi, an internationally known financier and an advisor to state and international governments, accompanied me that morning.

Mr. Berenyi and I had just finished a year long effort to review the structural integrity of the Mount Vernon Doles Center, the Griffin-Valentino Fire Station, City Hall, create a jobs incubator, review antiquated zoning laws, bring businesses to the City of Mount Vernon and create a vision statement for the City. This was all accomplished, except the creation of the jobs incubator.

In that period of time, I was referred by Dr. Lewis Perelman, a Mount Vernon HS graduate, a Phi Beta Kappa, CCNY graduate in physics and the recipient of a doctorate from Harvard University, an innovative educational thinker from Washington DC’s McKinley Tech. Dr. Perelman, the author of the well-know received and respected book, “School’s Out,” which predicted many of the problems we have experienced over the past two decades told me how the McKinley Tech HS, which was an urban school on the brink of bankruptcy, was turned around by an innovative programs involving the collaborative work of parents and teachers and the introduction new age technologies.

The purpose of my meeting with Dr. Sawyer was strictly focused on curriculum and the possible meeting between Dr. Sawyer and the people from McKinley Tech. I had no contract with or no agreement to represent these people in any financial way, and no other interest, except suggesting alternate ideas for the district.

At the meeting on January 22, 2009, I was introduced to another attendee, Mr Bill Weinmann, whom I was told was the Director of School Facilities and Operations, of the Mount Vernon City Schools. I have a copy of his card for your inspection. Since this was a meeting strictly scheduled to talk about curriculum, I had no idea why he was in attendance.

After I made my presentation to Dr. Sawyer, he answered very quickly that he had no money for any project and seemed to show no interest in what I was saying. I was basically suggesting a meeting, at no expense to the district, to have the people from the McKinley School’s ideas expressed, but quickly that was ruled out.

Since John Berenyi and I had just finished a year-long needs analysis for the city, I turned to Weinmann and casually asked him if the school district had recently had a “needs analysis” on their buildings. He answered that the district already had an analysis completed. I asked him who had completed this project. He answered, and I quote, “my company.” I was a bit taken aback and astounded. Immediately I wondered about the specter of conflict of a interest, but showed no change in emotion. I then asked him directly, “How much did your people charge?” He answered that the job was “done pro-bono!” At that time I had no idea whether the work was really done for the school system, or that he, as an employee of a company, contracted to do the work on the grounds and the buildings. In fact, I later learned that he was not on the payroll of the school system.

Eventually, since I didn’t feel that I had the right to ask any more questions, the meeting ended and we departed. On April 12, 2010 the massive wall at the MVHS, near the auditorium collapsed destroying a number of classrooms. Luckily, it was late in the day when the wall collapsed, or many lives could have been lost along with the potentiality of scores of injuries and countless lawsuits. Just by blind luck an absolute disaster was avoided.

On April 14th, two days later, in the wake of that disaster, which has cost the district $500, 000 above the insurance reimbursement, I wrote a letter to Mr. Brian Bochow Jr., the assistant to the Mayor, reminding him of my earlier discussion regarding the meeting the year before with Dr. Sawyer and Bill Weinmann. I inquired whether the city administration had an interest in the structural safety of the MV public schools. I asked him in that letter the same questions I am going to ask you tonight. I have included a copy of that letter and a follow-up letter sent to Mayor Clinton Young on May 26, 2010. I never received an answer from both gentlemen.

So here we are, a few years later and the wall was finally repaired at the cost of $1.5 million. The questions still remain:

A) Did a needs analysis ever really take place?
B) If it did, why was the roof and walls not thoroughly checked by engineers?
C) Was Weinmann’s company paid for this supposed work and what was his connection to the school system??
D) Where is the report, and what did it say? Were there other reports?
E) What was the conclusion regarding the investigation of why the wall collapsed?

I believe that this new Board has an obligation and responsibility to search out the answers and to find out the truth behind this costly incident. It is critical to know whether these building were really inspected and why the students of Mount Vernon were placed in imminent danger.
As to the City, I would hope that the public would demand to know why the current city administration did not follow up this request which was sent to them in writing.

If the current Board of Education wants to turn around this obviously declining system from its curtain free-fall, it must start right here and now. It must seek out the records, follow the money and open a new era of transparency, openness and responsibility. It must follow every lead and find out where the money has gone. It must ask the tough questions about its previous capital budgets and the neglect of its properties. It is therefore incumbent of the Board to question the previous policies regarding the lack of capital improvement and therefore, answer the question of happened to the $120 million that was allocated. The Board should question why in the last fifteen years the school population has been reduced by 15% from 10,000 students to 8,500 and why you have added more schools along with two extra high schools, while older ones remain in the state of severe deterioration.

The public rightly knows and believes that the key to turning around the city begins with the school system. Most communities rise and fall on the success of their school system. Property values are intrinsically tied to how well the school system prepares its students for the world outside. Education helps establish community roots, and a strong community will encourage businesses to come to Mount Vernon and prosper. That prosperity will create jobs.

This effort should start with the wall collapse, the contract with Bill Weinmann and the history of the “needs analysis.”

This Saturday we spent the afternoon with Marc Soucy and Nancy Jenkinson from Boston. They were down in Westchester on a serendipitous trip to see some of the sights. Linda had suggested Kykuit, the Westchester home of the Rockefeller Clan which is situated right on Route 9 in the Village of Sleepy Hollow, which previously had been known as North Tarrytown. Kykuit was built by John D. Rockefeller in 1902, and has been the home to four generations of the Rockefeller family. Kykuit means “high point” in Dutch and has breathtaking views of the Hudson River. Kykuit is home to beautiful furniture, paintings and sculptures. The grounds contain wonderful terraces, fountains, gardens, and a large collection of 20th century sculpture. Kykuit also has a large collection of antique cars and horse drawn vehicles.

Meanwhile, Sleepy Hollow is a village in the Town of Mount Pleasant, which originally was named North Tarrytown which was a product of the merger of the neighborhoods of Beekmantown and Sleepy Hollow in the 19th Century. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about 30 miles north of midtown Manhattan and just north of Tarrytown, which is the Town of Greenburgh. The village decided to change its name in 1996 when residents voted to have it changed to honor the Washington Irving story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

After our usual tennis games in Armonk, our trip back to our home in Watch Hill, our showers and change of clothes, we headed over to Kikuyu to meet the Marc and Nancy and led them (in their car) to the Hyde Park, and Springwood, the ancestral home of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The trip usually takes one hour and the Taconic Parkway was smooth sailing until the exit for Route 55 West. After reaching Poughkeepsie, it’s only another four miles up Route 9 to Hyde Park and the Roosevelt homestead and library.

We toured the Henry A. Wallace Center, the Rose Garden and the graves of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, walked around the mansion, named Springwood, and looked down the valley towards the Hudson, which was blocked from view because of the trees near the banks of the river.
The estate, which also comprised about one square mile of land at the time, was bought in this condition by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s father, James Roosevelt, in 1866 for a price of $40,000. At this time, a stable and a horse track had been built already, which was important to James Roosevelt since he took a great interest in horse breeding. From right after the purchase until his death 34 years later, James Roosevelt had many improvements of the house carried out. He enlarged the servants’ wing of the building and added two rooms. He also had a spacious carriage house built in the vicinity.

In 1915, Franklin D. Roosevelt together with his mother Sara undertook a final major enlargement and remodeling of the home. Franklin D. Roosevelt contributed many ideas for the new design, but since the building work was paid for by his mother Sara, she had to find compromises which also took the financial aspect into account. She commissioned the design work the firm of Hoppin and Koen from New York City. The size of the house was more than doubled by adding two large fieldstone wings (designed by Franklin D. Roosevelt), a tower, and a third story with a flat roof. The clapboard exterior of the house was replaced with stucco and most of the porch was replaced with a fieldstone terrace with a balustrade and a small columned portico around the entrance. These alterations gave the exterior of the house the look of a mansion in Colonial Revival Style. The interior retained much of the layout of the old family home and was designed primarily with housing Franklin D. Roosevelt’s growing collections of books, paintings, stamps, and coins. The remodeling work was finished within one year in 1916. Franklin Roosevelt also changed the appearance of the surrounding land by extensive planting of trees. Between 1911, when the large scale planting started and Roosevelt’s death in 1945, more than 400,000 trees were planted on the estate.
After eating lunch at the Nesbitt Café, which was ironically named after the White House’s director of “cuisine,” Henrietta Nesbitt, whose food never really agreed with the President, we headed over to the FDR Library.
By the way, Henrietta and her husband, Henry F. Nesbitt, had been neighbors of the Roosevelts in Hyde Park, New York. Eleanor Roosevelt and Nesbitt met through the formation of a local chapter of the League of Women Voters. Mrs. Roosevelt, heavily involved in her husband’s campaign for governor of New York, asked Nesbitt to make baked goods for the Roosevelt’s growing social functions at Hyde Park. When Franklin Roosevelt was elected to the White House in 1932, Mrs. Roosevelt asked both Nesbitts to work for them in the White House. Henry Nesbitt tracked the household accounts as chief steward. Two sets of books had to be kept as the government only paid for state dinners and receptions; all other meals were charged to the Roosevelts. After Henry Nesbitt’s death in 1938, Mrs. Nesbitt took over these duties with the help of an assistant.

Mrs. Nesbitt proved to be an indefatigable worker and her position involved not only care of the house, but oversight of the servants, meal planning, and the purchase of supplies from her command post on the ground floor of the historic residence. The Roosevelts were socially active and entertained over 10,000 persons during the 1937 season at the White House.

Nesbitt became a minor celebrity through her position and gave newspaper interviews about her menus. She also appeared on a radio program with other White House staffers to discuss the running of the presidential mansion. Her plain home-style meals were never widely appreciated at the White House and both President Roosevelt and visitors complained about the quality and variety of foods that were served. A 1937 New York Times article stated “any man might rebel against being served salt fish for luncheon four days in a row.” Roosevelt had a food rebellion the prior week and said that the “kitchen had better not send him any more liver for a while and he is also getting pretty tired of string beans.”

After our lunch we headed over to the FDR Library and Museum which was conceived and built under President Roosevelt’s direction during 1939-40 on 16 acres of land in Hyde Park, New York, donated by the President and his mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt. The library resulted from the President’s decision that a separate facility was needed to house the vast quantity of historical papers, books, and memorabilia he had accumulated during a lifetime of public service and private. Prior to Roosevelt’s Presidency, the final disposition of Presidential papers was left to chance. Although a valued part of the nation’s heritage, the papers of chief executives were private property which they took with them upon leaving office. Some were sold or destroyed and thus either scattered or lost to the nation forever. Others remained with families, but inaccessible to scholars for long periods of time. The fortunate collections found their way into the Library of Congress and private repositories.

After we toured the museum portion of the library, which is in the midst of not only putting together an new exhibit on the 75th anniversary of the passing of the Social Security Act in 1935, but a long-awaited renovation, we all decided to head north to Rhinebeck and the site of the Clinton-Mezvinsky wedding.

Rhinebeck, the home of a bit over 2000 residents, is only 10 miles north on Route 9. It is a wonderful, small town, artsy community, which is the home of the Beekman Arms Hotel. The village originally started as a European settlement which dated to 1686, when a group of Dutch crossed the river from Kingston and bought 2,200 acres of land from the local Iroquois tribes. Later, Henry Beekman obtained a patent for the land, and saw a need for development to begin. He brought into the area Casper Landsman, a miller, and William Traphagen, a builder. In 1703 the New York colonial assembly approved money for the construction of the King’s Highway, later known as the Albany Post Road and today most of Route 9. The oldest building in the village is the Beekman Arms, built in 1700 and is reported to be the oldest inn in America.

The oldest house in the village is the Benner House, built in 1739. Rhinebeck was finally incorporated in 1834, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, himself a native of nearby Hyde Park would play a role in the town’s history during the later years of the Great Depression when he oversaw the design process for the new post office. He had long promoted Dutch-style fieldstone as a material for public buildings in the area, and told the architects to use Henry Beekman’s house (burned in a 1910 fire) as their model and some of its remaining stones for the post office. He spoke at the dedication ceremony and helped lay the cornerstone.

It wasn’t easy finding a parking place in Rhinebeck, but eventually we found a open space in one of the municipal lots off Market Street, We strolled around, stopped into some of the shops, talked to the storekeepers, who were quite excited about the Clinton-Mezvinsky Wedding. This wedding put Rhinebeck on the map, and thousands of visitors in the streets, eating at their restaurants, and buying local trinkets. We even stopped by at Gigi’s Trattoria, which hosted former President Clinton the day before. When it was heard that the president was having lunch there, over 1000 folks had gathered in front of the restaurant. When he finally appeared, a great roar of welcome came from the group of admirers and the president signed autographs and greeted all he could.

By the time we left, there were still hundreds of locals, tourists, reporters (Rehema Ellis of NBC was strolling around when I met her) and media hanging around the Beekman Arms and the adjoining area. Everyone was eager to see a celebrity or two. But, all who were invited were already ensconced at the Astor Estate and probably sitting down to dinner.

It was a long day, which started with tennis up in Armonk, so by 6:00 pm we decided to go to dinner back in Hyde Park, at the art-deco Eveready Diner. Which has been featured on the “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVolPZ8Vxj0 .We all had a great meal. I can only remember that I had a cup of matzo ball soup and a strip steak, but every one was quite happy and satiated. It was now close to 8:00 pm and we headed back to Tarrytown, and our friends made their way down to the Mid-Hudson Rover Bridge and their accommodations in Newburgh. By 9:00 pm we were back in Tarrytown, and ready for a well-deserved rest.

I have had the distinct pleasure of hosting Michael Cohen on my show The Advocates over the past few years. I read with interest his piece regarding who were the best and the worst foreign policy presidents.

First of all no one could disagree with FDR being number one. From his warnings regarding the threat from the totalitarians in his 1937 Quarantine Speech, to his battle against the America First isolationists and appeasers, to his embargo of critical material to Japan, to his excellent strategy regarding Germany First, FDR was a master of judgment, strategy and negotiation. He kept the Allied coalition together; he selected excellent commanders on both land and sea, and was willing to forget ideology with regard to his cabinet (Stimson, Knox) and with the creation of the OSS (Donovan). He was the central force behind all of critical meetings from the Quebec Conference, to Casablanca to Teheran and through to Yalta. At the end he was the creator of the United Nations and the Bretton Woods Conference on Monetary reform was critical to the post war economic structure. He had a problem with the London Monetary Conference on gold, but scored high marks regarding his Good Neighbor Policy in Latin America.

Truman had a distinct disadvantage following FDR, but he gets high marks for continuing his policies. His decision to drop the A-Bomb was correct and even though it is impossible to know for sure, I believe FDR would have come to the same conclusion. The Marshall Plan, NATO and the Truman Doctrine give him high marks along with the firing of the recalcitrant MacArthur. MacArthur’s invasion at Inchon and his run up north to the Yalu River was not wrong-headed or against Truman’s directives. The problem was his failure to heed warnings regarding China’s motives that were clearly given him and his poor dispersal of his troops. Truman and the US were almost helpless in regards to the Chinese Civil War, which was almost decades old by 1945. Though FDR did not trust the corrupt Chiang Kai-Shek he was able to work with him because of the Japanese threat to the existence of an independent China, but after the war, Truman was stuck with a loser.

Eisenhower was an overrated president who made many foreign policy mistakes. His going to Korea didn’t change the dynamic of the truce, but it put a lie to the baseless and oft used Republican political cry of, “who lost China?” He was not well enough to be an active engaged president and he failed with the Suez Crisis, and after being bluffed by the Soviets, he let down our allies; the British, French, and yes the Israelis. He embargoed arms to Israel, and also did not capitalize on the aborted Hungarian Revolution. He was embarrassed at the summit over the U2 Incident, and was upstaged by the bellicose Khrushchev. His South American policies reversed excellent relationships developed by FDR’s successful Good Neighbor policies. (Nixon’s disastrous trip to South America in 1958.) He also fouled up the Vietnam situation by not recognizing Ho Chi Minh’s efforts against the Japanese, underestimated their aspirations for a unified country, and half-heartedly supported the French colonial rule, which FDR opposed. The CIA’s coup and their replacing Mossadegh with the Shah in Iran set the stage for long-term problems that have not ended. He allowed the ascendency of Castro, and the planning for the Bay of Pigs.

George HW Bush, deserved high marks for creating the coalition against Saddam Hussein, but failed miserably in the end. His failure to destroy the Baathist regime set the stage for the next round of warfare, which we are still entangled. Over all he was an uninspiring leader who achieved his office by the “Peter Principle.” His allowing Sadaam the use of helicopters enabled him to put down revolts in 90% of the provinces that resisted his totalitarian rule. He was generally seen as ineffectual and naïve.

Wilson’s policy of organizing our first effort as a real world power succeeded. His selection of Pershing was excellent and our effort won the war. But his inability to compromise with Senate “irreconcilables” led to his political failure. He gets high marks for the Fourteen Points, the World Court and the League of Nations, but underestimated the virulence of the Allies toward Germany and the opposition here to foreign entanglements. Conservative German-American revisionist historians in the 1920’s did a lot to sully Wilson’s efforts.

Lyndon B. Johnson forgot FDR’s adage on “guns and butter,” was sucked into the “who lost China” canard by the GOP, and fought an insincere foolish war. According to Art Buchwald, the late humorist and journalist, he could have bought off the North Vietnamese for a fraction of the cost of the war. His policies of containment followed the Truman model, but were unachievable because unlike Korea, Vietnam was not a peninsular and the Ho Chi Minh Trail could outflank our forces by going through Laos and Cambodia. He wasted blood and treasure in an unwinnable effort. As to his other actions, they paled in comparison.

Nixon politically exploited the Vietnam War with his “secret plan” for victory in the same way Eisenhower did in Korea. Nixon’s efforts in Vietnam were worse than Johnson’s. He allowed more of our forces to be killed, he spent more money, and he caused more damage to the region. As to China and the USSR he certainly opened the door to a different level of negotiation. But few people remember that it was Nixon whose Senatorial career and advice to Eisenhower as Vice-President was to not recognize Red China. It was that policy that delayed normalization with them. He supported the failed Eisenhower policy of supporting the French before the Dien Bien Phu defeat. Basically he was a paranoid hypocrite who spent the last years of his life rationalizing his whole disastrous career.

As to JFK being in the top five, that conclusion is disputable. He allowed the Berlin Wall to be built; he aligned himself with the corrupt Catholic minority in Vietnam, organized their downfall and was indecisive about how to handle that country. His “Ich Bin Ein Berliner,” speech got high marks, his South America policy was better than Eisenhower’s and he was able to be well-liked in Europe and the 3rd World. His efforts on Nuclear Arms limitations deserve high marks, but his shortened presidency left too many unanswered questions about the future. His actions in the Cuban Missile Crisis after the disaster with the Bay of Pigs deserve very high marks.

Carter was a poor president and his failure with the Iranian Hostage Crisis showed his weakness, but at least they were released alive. We were sucked into the Iranian Revolution by our past support of the corrupt Shah, and Carter’s ambivalence and his dalliance with him started the mess with the Iranian Mullahs and militants. But, he did get high marks regarding Israeli-Egyptian Peace Treaty.

Clinton’s foreign policy was under-rated with strong successes in Haiti, Northern Ireland, ending the Balkan War and containing Sadaam Hussein with relatively inexpensive air containment.

Reagan was overrated on foreign policy. The fall of the Soviet Union was on the way long before the expensive and unnecessary 600 ship navy and the foolish “Star Wars” expenditure. The revolt at Gdansk along with liberalization of Hungary which opened the door to the West for East Germany refugees set the stage for the USSR’s collapse.

George W. Bush was our worst president, home and abroad, enough said.

Top Five: FDR, Truman, Clinton, Wilson, and JFK. The bottom five: GW Bush, GHW Bush, Eisenhower, LBJ and Carter.

Last night’s late comedy of errors and loss was not the beginning of the end for the toothless Bronx Bombers, but the last number of games seems to indicate just where they maybe going.. Of course, it just may be another bump on their road to the playoffs, but their glaring weaknesses may have been foreshadowed in their last few games.

If it wasn’t bad enough that they gave up on Lance Bergman who is leading the NL with 26 home runs, look who they got to replace him. Have you heard of Eric Chavez? No? Well he’s a nobody, who’s been on the DL all season. But how about their bench? What bench? Young light-hitting, no threat, Mr. Pena had a tummy ache and is gone. He couldn’t hit his hat. Andruw Jones their over weight, over-the hill, burned out former gazelle is their backup outfielder. Until Cano’s home run last night, he was the last Yankee to hit a homer, which happened before the All-Star break. He’s hitting a hefty 211 and is death on the base paths.

But, what of their other flawed all-stars? ARod, who like many others in the near past, seems to be breaking down in his post de-tox come down from steroids. Before he went on the DL he had 13 home runs in over 300 at bats. I’d be very shocked if he makes a run on the home run record. He may have to play until he’s fifty.

But what of Teixeira who is now sinking under .240 and hasn’t hit a long ball in almost a month. Just throw him any breaking ball at his ankles and he’ll assuredly strike out. He’ll be lucky if he hits another 10 home runs in the remaining games.

I suggest trading him for Albert Pujols. The Cards can’t sign him, the Yankees probably can and the Cards will get a first baseman who’s signed for years. I am sure like Bergman he’ll hit in the NL. As for their other All-Stars, their catcher Martin is now hitting under .224 and he’s gone almost “o” for the summer. Looks like most of his production ended in April. Unfortunately their backup catcher, Cervelli, is batting .200, has no power and cannot throw. Nobodies perfect!

Aside from having an off year, or the reversion to form, Nick Swisher seems to unable to hit unless he’s at the top of the order where he gets decent pitches. Unfortunately Derek Jeter is in the way, and his bat seems weaker than Cervelli’s. Even though I love Jeter, and do not mind that his range at short stop has become a liability, he is sure handed. Too bad he cannot hit the ball out of the infield. He had his chance last night with men in scoring position and he was way over matched. He needs more than two weeks off or another All-Star break, he’s worn out or finished. That leaves us with Robinson Cano, who has great power, a wonderful swing and a terrific arm. Too bad he’s under-performing, seems disinterested, and is way below his potential.

We cannot rely completely on Gardiner’s “punch and judy” hitting and stolen bases and Granderson’s excellent play.

Last but not least is their pitching. Mariano won’t be there forever, Hughes is a big question mark as is Nova. Garcia and Colon may wilt in this coming heat wave and other than Robertson, their bullpen has questions. Boone Logan is a stiff and if they could find another lefty he would have a one-way ticket to Palookaville. The interesting reality is CC Sabbathia’s contract. He has a very expensive escape clause. And even though he has another year left, it is almost like he is in his option year. His next contract request could be a budget breaker for even the Yankees. Who needs a $30 million pitcher on a 4th place team?

How long will it take for the average American to understand that they are being snookered by the “divide and conquer” tactics of the Rupert Murdock, Glen Beck, Wall Street Journal, FOX News, Rush Limbaugh rightists? These dangerous revisionists are playing a very serious game with the future of this country. They have orchestrated their “Theater of the Absurd” with their lead characters, namely Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Rudy Giuliani, the Paul Twins, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich. Has any one really paid attention to what these puppets and fraud say? Gingrich the oldest and most worn out of these front people for the social engineers of the right, is the biggest fraud of the bunch. Just read about this pseudo-intellectual’s so-called books in last week’s NY Times Magazine section. He’s a fraud and always has been. The others deserve absolutely no comment. No one in their right mind could regard these clowns as anything but either tools of others, exploiters or self-delusional dolts.

But, what of the Wall Street Journal, the Bible of the “Plutocratic Right” and their hypocritical drumbeat over spending, big government and deficits. Where were their concern when it came to Reagan and Bush I and II’s spending and their irresponsible tax cuts for the rich? As to their new owner, Rupert Murdock, maybe the world has caught up to his web of lies, deceit, sensationalism and criminality. But just listen to his pal the “law and order” guru, Rudy Giuliani: This was reported this morning on CNN, “Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is urging observers not to rush to judgment about mogul Rupert Murdoch over the alleged hacking scandal embroiling his News Corp. media empire. ‘Give people the presumption of innocence,’ Giuliani told CNN’s Candy Crowley in New Hampshire on Thursday. ‘I think that just how high up it goes is a big question and one we shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions about.’ Murdoch and Giuliani are longtime friends. Murdoch attended the former mayor’s wedding in 2003, and endorsed him in the 1993 mayoral race. Also, a law and lobbying firm in which Giuliani is partner received $100,000 in lobbying fees from News Corp. in 2005, according to congressional disclosure filings.” What else is new? What hypocrisy! This is the guy who wanted Bernard Kerik to be running the Homeland Security Department. Too bad he’s in jail.

Thie Wall Street Journal is an institution that rants about “law and order,” decency, the rights of privacy, the abuse of government, and the “bleeding heart” socialism of the Democrats. This is the editorial staff that decries America’s safety nets. This is the cabal that trashes organized labor, this is the organized business lobby that believes that health care coverage is not a right of all people, but should be earned by paying through the proverbial nose. In other words, for the Murdock-FOX News conglomerate, being poor is the greatest crime. What is their real objective? Is it really jobs and growth, or is it a roll back of all the gains that the Progressive Era, the Square Deal, the New Freedom, the New Deal, the Great Society gave the average person? No let’s go back to even before the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890. Let’s go back to the interlocking directorates, the trusts, the monopolies, the price-rigging and the fraudulent Wall Street bubbles. Let’s get rid of wages and hours, minimum wage and child labor laws! Let’s dump the Federal Reserve like the Rand Twins propose. Let’s get rid of FDIC and free the banks to do what they wish. Why not? But why stop at all of that? Let’s go back to the “poor house,” and Social Darwinism. Isn’t America a frontier society, built on the idea of “survival of the fittest?”

The choice is clear, do we trot blindly down the “Yellow Brick” road path that the right-wing proposes of bread, circus, material, racism, and celebrity, or do we still fight for a society that provides access to opportunity, equal justice for all, and the vision of FDR’s Second Bill of Rights.