4/14/08 Village Board Meeting

Nobel prize winning economist and professor at Columbia, Joseph Stiglitz , has estimated that the cost of the war in Iraq, even if we start withdrawing troops tomorrow, will be at least 3 trillion dollars. That's 10,000 for every person in this country. My family of five in Trumansburg (and/or my descendants) will pay 50,000 for this, the biggest foreign policy blunder in US history. $50000, That's my Village of Trumansburg taxes for 80 years. But it is the collective wisdom of this board, that it would be innapropriate to ask Congress to investigate what laws were broken in the process of incurring these huge debts on behalf of every resident of the Village.

Chris Thorpe graduated from Trumansburg High School in 2006, the same year as my daughter. He told my son that he was going to join the Army because he "wanted to kill ragheads" He is now in Iraq. If he survives, statistically, his chances of being wounded physically or mentally, to a degree that he will be given disability pay, are more than 4 in 10. But the Board continues to do nothing about it.

A US nuclear submarine just entered the Persian Gulf. Our commander in cheif has given "prepare to deploy orders" for the Eisenhower Strike Group to arrive in the Persian Gulf this October. Admiral Fallon who was the highest ranking military man to refuse to attack Iran recently resigned under pressure. General Patreaus just blamed the last attack on the Green Zone in Iraq . . . on the Iranians. Of course he has no proof, just a hunch. We would have to be deaf dumb and blind to fail to understand that the administration is preparing to attack Iran. The stage is being set for the election of John McSame, while Obama and Clinton continue to squabble. Impeachment proceedings, wether successful or not, would damage the chances of those who wish to ensure another 4 years of this insanity.

I collected over a hundred signatures on the petition. I represent a large portion of this village. In the 6 months that I have been speaking at these meetings, I haven't heard a word of response from the Board. Could you please give us an update on your thinking on these matters? We have a new board member tonight who didn't give her opinion on this at the September meeting. We would like to know where she stands on these issues.

I read this at the 4/14/08 Village Board Meeting. There was no response at all. They moved on to more important issues like "why can't we have the fire whistle back?"