en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/716055 Comments by Swimmingly http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/business/Protest-outside-of-closing-nursing-home#IDComment47783579 Whoops, almost forgot. If this is happening now, just imagine what would hapen under a govt run health care system. All hail Obama. Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:24:13 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/business/Protest-outside-of-closing-nursing-home#IDComment47783579 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/business/Protest-outside-of-closing-nursing-home#IDComment47783453 SEIU knew this was coming. You can only tax the workers of NY just so much. The money has been spent. Of all the billions being spent on social programs and all these other unnecessary programs in NY, people should be able to see why this is happening. I do think we owe something to our elders and morally we should take care of them but where do you get the money when everybody else is screaming for govt money? I say take it from the other social programs like welfare, and others. Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:23:02 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/business/Protest-outside-of-closing-nursing-home#IDComment47783453 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/politics/Gillibrand-cancels-satellite-media-tour#IDComment47543616 She is afraid of the citizens asking just that. She is buying the votes of those that have become dependent on govt money as well as trying to get more people dependent on the govt for their lives. HEAP and several other programs are a sad testament to what is happening to our country. I wonder if they had any of this in the 50s? How did people survive back then? Everyone should be dead. Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:39:25 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/politics/Gillibrand-cancels-satellite-media-tour#IDComment47543616 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/politics/Schumer-calls-flight-attendant-B-word#IDComment47543364 How dare the flight attendant tell his royal highness what to do. Doesn't she know who he is? She should be flogged in public. The rules are for the little people not him and Gillibrand. Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:35:18 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/politics/Schumer-calls-flight-attendant-B-word#IDComment47543364 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/weather/winter_weather/Picturesque-scene-in-the-southern-tier#IDComment47543127 Yes the Southern Tier and Western New York are beautiful. I tell all my friends that it is the govt that makes it ugly. Never a day goes by that I don't look around me and appreciate what God has provided. Spend some time in the desert in another part of the world and you will understand. We should send our politicians there. Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:31:48 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/weather/winter_weather/Picturesque-scene-in-the-southern-tier#IDComment47543127 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/business/Where-will-the-new-Harbor-Bridge-be-put#IDComment47542862 HAHAHAHAHA, yeah right! Don't hold your breath. Buffalo, where good ideas come to die. Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:27:06 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/business/Where-will-the-new-Harbor-Bridge-be-put#IDComment47542862 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/politics/Paterson-sued-over-cuts-in-state-aid#IDComment47542771 Another reason to disband the teachers union as well as SEIU. The education system is also top heavy as well as administrative heavy. Unfortunately it makes all teachers look like they only care about the money, not the kids. Keep going liberal gov. As much as I don't like the leftist socialist agenda, it is refreshing to see one practice some fiscal conservatism. Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:25:33 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/politics/Paterson-sued-over-cuts-in-state-aid#IDComment47542771 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/local/Icy-roads-causing-a-lot-of-accidents#IDComment47388547 If you live up here in the North then you had better pay better attention when you are operating a heavy piece of equipment at a high rate of speed. Yes, even 30MPH is a high rate of speed when you hit bad road conditions. Too many people, young and old get into a vehicle and drive without thinking. It is no different for them than playing a video game. You can only teach so much before you have to let a person out on their own. Think before you get behind the wheel and realize what you are doing and for God' s sake put away the cell phone. Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:34:36 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/local/Icy-roads-causing-a-lot-of-accidents#IDComment47388547 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/consumer_links/Death-of-children-prompt-blinds-recall#IDComment47385958 Really?? Recall the blinds?? Really?? The stupidity in this country never ceases to amaze me. We are becoming more and more like Europe. How many children die every year from automobile accidents? How about we recall all autos? Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:24:38 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/consumer_links/Death-of-children-prompt-blinds-recall#IDComment47385958 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/local/Will-new-bridge-be-towers-or-arches#IDComment47384888 Wow! Don't these people know how stupid they look to the rest of us? Eight years and how much money to get this far? It will be 2100 before they get the job done. Is this something Higgins wants to hang his political hat on? We will all be dead before they build this so it doesn't matter. As for the bird issue, I would like to see the people that think this will interfere with flight paths so I know what a natural idiot looks like. Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:20:30 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/local/Will-new-bridge-be-towers-or-arches#IDComment47384888 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/new_york/Gov-outlines-payment-reduction-plan#IDComment47228485 This liberal Democrat Gov is almost moving to the right. Only problem is these money amounts are "delayed" payments, not cuts. The schools, social services, and medicaid have received enough money. Time to cut them. Also cut all the fluff in the Assembly and Senate as well as all these executive govt positions throughout the state. Eliminate the pools of money each elected official has to give out to groups, cities, and towns. Cut Gov cut! Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:37:38 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/new_york/Gov-outlines-payment-reduction-plan#IDComment47228485 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/education/Regents-to-improve-school-performance#IDComment47227332 This short news article is a massive understatement. A few steps needed to fix the schools are: 1. Throw out the board of regents. They all should be ashamed to call themselves educators. 2. Disband the teachers union. Any occupation whose members receive their paycheck from tax dollars should not have a union. After all there is no "voice for the taxpayers." Also, eliminate tenure. 3. Get rid of the current Regents program. If you want to have one, go back to the one in the 70s and 80s where a student could elect to be a Regent scholar and voluntarily take higher level classes. Besides, outside of NY state a Regents Diploma is no better than any other HS diploma. This would eliminate all these regent tests and the teachers could spend more time teaching something important like the Constitution, US History, etc., instead of teaching to tests. 4. Unclutter the class schedule. How can you teach anything when there are 12 or more "periods" in a day? 5. Reduce all the party days and other days when it isn't worth teaching anything because it is only a half day prior to a three day weekend. 6. Teach memorization in the lower level classes for math so these kids can add, subtract, multiply, and divide without a calculator. I've seen the poor math skills all too often in HS students who should know better. Teach proper grammar and yes, cursive. Just because we have computers doesn't mean a child shouldn't be taught how to print and write neatly. Finally, 6. lets put some discipline back into the school and enforce rules. Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:25:05 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/education/Regents-to-improve-school-performance#IDComment47227332 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/politics/Paterson-orders-NY-to-delay-payments#IDComment47104571 Why stop at delaying payments? Just don't spend the money at all. All the schools are functioning now and the kids are learning. It is time to stop putting all this taxpayer money into an excessively expensive system. Do like the private sector and freeze wages for a few years and start making do with what you have. How did our parents and grandparents manage to learn with the school systems they had? Cut, cut, cut. Oh, and disband the teachers union. Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:47:50 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/politics/Paterson-orders-NY-to-delay-payments#IDComment47104571 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/local/People-rally-for-Olmsted-Parks#IDComment47104288 I think if the parks are to be saved then it should be by a private enterprise. How about those 100 or so people that showed up to demonstrate get out their wallets and put THEIR money into the park system and take it over. The taxpayers have spent enough on projects like this. Let those demonstrators restore the parks to their original grandeur with their own money. Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:42:37 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/local/People-rally-for-Olmsted-Parks#IDComment47104288 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/new_york/Paterson-bears-good-news-for-waterfront#IDComment46988060 How much of an increase will this be to our electricity bills and taxes? NYPA will raise the electric rates and NYS will tax us more for the higher electricity. I wonder how many people would have visited the waterfront last week if it had been in place already? How much damage would have been caused by the storm. Finally how many of these "Development Agencies" are involved and where do they get their money from? Who is paying their salaries, the govt? So how much of all that money is going into their pockets? Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:02:58 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/new_york/Paterson-bears-good-news-for-waterfront#IDComment46988060 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/new_york/Schumer-wants-help-on-border-crossings#IDComment46881769 Hello! Corporations have nothing to do with the regulations on entering or exiting Canada. The state has been advertising the new requirements for months and I am sure anyone who has plans on crossing the border would hopefully be smart enough to at least call before hand and check into it. Hey maybe this is one way of getting the stupid people out of NY. Send them to Canada and after they get there they will realize they don't have sufficient documents to get back and will be stuck there. Sat, 12 Dec 2009 11:51:38 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/new_york/Schumer-wants-help-on-border-crossings#IDComment46881769 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/new_york/Taxpayers-on-the-hook-for-legal-bills#IDComment46881393 Nope, should come from the Assembly and Senate as they should have known the laws well enough not to have entered this fight in the first place. Sat, 12 Dec 2009 11:46:20 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/new_york/Taxpayers-on-the-hook-for-legal-bills#IDComment46881393 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/new_york/Gov-signs-public-authority-legislation#IDComment46881284 Yep, the next step isto start getting rid of these "suthorities". What is their purpose anyway? Sounds suspicious to have so many in the state and to think they are govt agencies acting outside of the state govt jurisdiction. Just another one of the reasons this state is in such a wreck. Sat, 12 Dec 2009 11:44:50 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/new_york/Gov-signs-public-authority-legislation#IDComment46881284 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/new_york/Pension-reform-signed-into-law#IDComment46747443 This reform should have also been applied to tiers 1 thru 4 and made retroactive to apply to all current employees. I would be willing to bet tier 1 and 2 are the biggest drains on taxpayers. Are teachers in tier 1? This reform does not go far enough. ALL state employees are receiving a pension package which is much better than anything their employers (tax payers) are getting on their retirement. Does a taxpayer who is retired from, say, GM have to pay taxes on their retirement pay? Civil service and teachers don't. Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:39:06 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/new_york/Pension-reform-signed-into-law#IDComment46747443 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/crime/Gas-station-owner-shot-during-robbery#IDComment46746665 The owner should have been armed. Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:24:55 +0000 http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/crime/Gas-station-owner-shot-during-robbery#IDComment46746665