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An Oft-Told Lie Doesn’t Become Truth

If you tell a big enough lie, and tell it often and loud enough, people will believe it is true. The Nazis and Soviets had it down to a science, with their propaganda ministers, like most totalitarian states. Modern day propagandists, however, are taking it to a whole new level. While it is true that there are some outrageous conspiracy theorists, who weave together a narrative that everything bad that happens is a part of a vast, overwhelming conspiracy, their existence does not negate the existence of real conspiracies, and there are many wide-ranging examples. Edward Snowden did ...

Looking For Canning Supplies?

It appears that canning supplies are among the things that have been hit by the pandemic. I, personally, have not looked for lids or jars, but I noticed that some are being offered for sale through the classified. That tells me that they are of limited availability. Earlier when I was out shopping, I saw some canning supplies, but now that they are needed, they seem to be scarce. We have gone through shortages before. I remember one year sugar was in short supply. You could not go to the store and just pick up a bag of sugar. If they had any five-pound bags there was a limit of ...

A Democratic Lion Has Passed Away

Charles “Chuck” Porpiglia had no peer in the Democratic Party of Chautauqua County over the past fifty years plus. He will never be replaced in the hearts and minds of those of us who were able to call him friend or mentor. Over Chuck’s half century span laboring for the party, there was nothing Democratic in our county that wasn’t within his purview. Those of us working to elect Democrats could always count on the “did you ask Chuck” question when strategy and election plans were being made. But Chuck was so many things besides being Mr. Democrat. There was never a ...

The Bus Is In A Ditch

Let us look at Chautauqua County as though it is a big yellow school bus. Driving the bus is the County Executive PJ Wendel and immediately behind him on the bus are his department heads, county legislators, various elected officials in all parts of the county, and in the rear of this bus are you and I, the citizens of Chautauqua County, who have all paid for the ride through our taxes. The bus is going down a bumpy road, caused by a pandemic, and needs a steady hand to handle the wheel. We expect that the driver is skilled and will get us safely through this crisis. But wait, we now ...

Find A Safe Way To Have Nursing Home Visits

There has been a lot of press recently about relatives being unable to visit their family members who are in nursing homes during this time of COVID-19. Much of the discourse revolves around how much people miss their parents or grandparents whom they have been unable to visit. To my mind, attention should actually be more focused on those who are confined in the nursing homes. They desperately need to have this family interaction. Being alone, especially if you are dying, is a terrible thing. The restrictions on visits in nursing homes is understandable because the elderly are ...

Be Patient For COVID-19 Vaccines

You may be wondering — why is there no “pill” to stop the coronavirus? When we first realized there was a deadly virus threatening the entire world, many Americans assumed that there just had to be a pill for that. Once people heard that the symptoms were things like headache, shortness of breath, exhaustion, or a fever, they figured the next step was easy: Go to their doctor and get a pill. Except there isn’t any — and whipping up an instant vaccine hasn’t proven easy either. The fact is, we’ve been conditioned to think medicine can do anything. In my small ...