Monday's Council Meeting

Having just downloaded the Agenda for Monday's Council meeting, I was poised to write a lengthily commentary. However, I then checked to see if Plaintalker had posted the crux of this meeting, and to our pleasure she had plus a report on a pending PMUA appointment.

Since it would be ridiculous for me to try to duplicate that which has been duly reported in detail, I shall limit myself to a few brief comments:

The assignment of city owned vehicles to various officials is legitimate if used only for work related purposes. Unless the IRS rules had changed, I could not deduct the cost of operating my car from home to office to start work. It follows that the 40 miles between residence and city limits is a personal matter and should not be at the taxpayer's expense. I also wonder if any city official needs an expensive to operate vehicle. City related business should be definitively stated.

The request to discuss the so called Ral Blanco rules of order for the Council is worrisome. The plan for only one set of meetings a month and rotating sites seems to be a priority for this Council. When it was originally thrown out as a feeler , I voiced strong objections because it is not in the public's interests. Whereas it is true that some members more than others of the Council have on paper a heavy committee and liaison load, that should go with the territory. The interaction between Council and public should not be compromised.

I have not been able to read "The Civil Responsibility Act Ordinance 2005-07" but it would seem that it may have been disregarded over the past few years.

About the PMUA, how much with perks does a commissioner receive annually?. since this is a Municipal Authority is the compensation of its officers and directors open to public review?

I think this agenda session will be most interesting.

Jan.11,2009

Thanks to my NYC Maven I was able to delete an email that I thought might be preventing my receiving mail.

Of not earth shaking importance in today's news , far overshadowed by the economy, The Ponzi scheme, and Gaza was an item that I don't remember reading in December. Plainfield's Eugene Moore was selected in the second string AP ALL AMERICAN TEAM. We can take some vicarious pleasure in that honor.If he had not be playing on a losing team he might have received enough attention to be a first stringer. The scuttlebutt is that Moore will be one of the first two offensive lineman selected in the NFL draft.

I am not a Crusader today so for the rest of this blog I will continue to celebrate leaving France (slides) and go to Rome. The first three slides of course are of the most famous sports arena in the world, the fourth is a view of the Forum, and the last is an available light photo of the inside of the Pantheon.

EMAIL PROBLEMS

To anyone who has sent in a comment the past two days: I am having a problem receiving e mail and if you have sent in any comments unfortunately I can not read them . I hope to be able to clear up the problem asap.

PLAINFIELD HEALTH CARE

If I were superstitious I would believe that the number 3 is significant. Three incidental and separate factors suggested today's blog.

The First was the Health Care Forum this week. I am still waiting for the newspaper report or a summary on the city site. Fortunately Bernice reported in some detail in Plaintalker.

The Second was a July 7 article by Patricia Quattrocchi in "Politiker" about Jerry Green's relationships with the closing of Muhlenberg Medical Center. She raises serious questions about the Assemblyman's possible conflict of interests. While most of it is old hat, there are issues that have been slid over.

The Third was a third hand story about recent incident in the Kennedy ER. Apparently a man with pneumonia was transferred to JFK from a rehab facility where he was receiving post stroke treatment. He was on IVs because of an inability to swallow.He apparently was in the ER for almost 12 hours,For several hours there was no pole available to hang an iv bottle. There were no intensive care beds available, and the ER was a "madhouse".

All three "incidents" occurring in one week started wheels churning. There is no question that the Plainfield area has been suffering from an acute health care crisis for the last 5 months with no true relief in sight. No matter what spin Solaris, Trinity and the State put out, the ER facility at Muhlenberg can not provide without the on site backup of hospital (operating room) facilities the degree of acute care a community needs.

I may suggest that instead of the present in camera supposed negotiations for restoring a better degree of health services that the Council establish by resolution a Health Care Commission. Such Commission would be actively involved in the process of restoring adequate Health services to the city. It would be charged to periodically report on a regular basis to the Council and thus maintain the transparency that to date is lacking.

Although this is a spur of the moment idea which I have not had time to crystallize, I believe that said Commission should be fairly large and have besides the Mayor or her representative, one or two Councilpersons, at least two physicians plus another two or three health providers, a social worker, two or three members of the Save Muhlenberg group especially from the active clergy, and a few citizens at large selected by the Council. That would make a fairly large group of 12 to 15 diversified individuals. I would also recommend that the chair not be from the political area.

As I have indicated this is an incomplete concept that will need refining, but offers a very positive step in returning safety to Plainfield. Of course I would be willing to lend what little expertise I have accrued in the past 60+ years to this Commission.

I do have a very personal interest; I want my wife and myself to receive proper medical care if and when we need it. At this moment no one in Plainfield is assured that they will not suffer from today's inadequacies.

BELATED MUSINGS. JAN. 9,2009

If it was not for a good football game Thursday night, and a slight logistic problem this AM caused resulting from turning off the alarm clock just before it was to sound, I might have found the the time to be a pundit on some pertinent subject. However words of wisdom must wait for another day.

My problem was compounded last night when after the game was over, I decided to check the on line Courier to see if there was a posted report about the Heath Care Forum since none had appeared in the truncated printed edition. There was none, but I made a mistake in reading some of the letters and comments that are posted.

Three facts are outstanding; The letters in the electronic and my printed editions are often not the same, there seems to be a common group of commentators who hide behind their nome de plume, and anything goes in the publish comments in the electronic edition.

There are a few characters who believe that the more vitriolic or scurrilous they can be their status as a cognoscenti will be established. Fortunately very few such individuals seem to read blogs. Even more to the point as Councilor Storch and others have pointed out, the blogger does not have to provide a stage for those persons.

A final comment , the Ledger seems to have perfected the cesspool for this class of commentators on letters to the editor as well as news events. That does not mean we should ignore this venue since it can become the perfect media to spread bigotry and hate. Perhaps the editors can find a solution without violating the First Amendment.

I was unable to attend the so called Health Forum" last evening, For 67 years of married life we ate "dinner/supper at 6PM. That time was convenient for "family time when our children were growing up. The time also made it possible for me to go back to the office for evening hours. In my early practice years doctors did have evening hours for those who worked during the daytime. Also for the same reasons my parents also observed a 6PM dinner time.

I don't know how many people now a days find meetings or forums starting between 5:30 and 7 PM acceptable. I would think that if better attendance is desired a later time would be ideal. But what do I know? I am just one old timer.

To atone for not having any positive thoughts, I am sharing a little insignificant Americana. There are two Beauforts along the Atlantic Coast. Their names are pronounced different in North Carolina- the site of the first house, and in South Carolina. The next two pictures are from South Carolina. The last one, although I had marked it as the North Carolina Beaufort harbor side it may be from the deeper South.

Both towns were important ports during the Civil War. Beaufort, SC was the destination of most of the blockade runners. It was also the base for many of the bootlegger's speedboats

GAZA

The world today is struggling with an deteriorating economy and warfare in Asia and Africa. The latest in the Holy Land. There have been two letters in the courier that I feel merit a response. I have sent such a letter to the paper but I know that it is too long for valuable print space.

I am going to take the liberty to reproduce it here.

"Years ago I decided that the media was not a place to express my views about Palestinian-Israeli relationships. Almost every letter ever written has expressed a very biased view one side or the other on the continued conflict.I was not sure that I could seem to be impartial or realistic.

However, the present incursion by Israeli forces into the Gaza Strip and letters in the Courier the past two days by Rev. Nehemiah Thompson and Stanly Mozda has forced me to break that resolve.

Stanly Mazda calls for revisiting Resolution 181 “implement it, and make compliance compulsory and mandatory”; it has been over 60 years since the UN enacted Resolution 181 which created a nearly bifurcated Israel state and a larger Palestinian States out of the old British Mandate. Two separate distinct political entities.

Remember, Sir, who did not abide by that resolution? Who initiate military action in 1948? You would now destroy a realistic country that more nearly represents the ideas which we claim than any other Asian or third world nation.

What is now known as the West Bank was created by 181 to be an independent nation, Palestine. Instead Jordan assisted by the armies of Syria, Iraq and Egypt with Saudi support at once invaded the entire area of Palestine in an attempt to destroy the new Jewish home land. During the fighting, many of the refugees had fled the inroads of the Arab armies. None were truly welcomed by the Arab Nations who had invaded the partition lands. Israel did not prohibit those who had fled from returning.

Jordan in 1948 annexed what was referred to by the British as Trans Jordan, alluded to after the 6 day war as the West Bank, and seized Jerusalem destroying Jewish property and defiling their houses of worship. The Arabs denied the holy site of the Western Wall to Jewish worshipers. It was not until after the 6 day war and reinforced by the Yum Kippur War that Israel’s control of the Holy City made it possible for all faiths to freely worship at their religious sites. It did not need UN Sanctions or Resolutions to make Jerusalem an open city.

The UN never passed a single resolution during the Jordanian occupation demanding that Jews be given their right to worship in Jerusalem. Indeed if the record is checked to date there are about 60 UN resolutions condemning Israel and not a single one against Syria, Iran, Hezbollah or Hamas for acts of terrorism against the people of Israel.

Yes there is a crime against humanity in the continual conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. But face facts; the PLO supported by Syria and Iran, sworn to the destruction of Israel, did everything in its power to abort any peacemaking efforts. At the same time it always tried to implicate Israel as the culprit and would find willing receptors in the West. It is now Hamas, the militant part of the PLO, who seized control of the Gaza strip in bloody fighting from the moderate elements who are shooting rockets at random civilian targets.

Jordan and Egypt ultimately made peace with Israel and both profited from the relationship. On the negative side; it cost Sadat his life, murdered by members of an Islamic extremist group, perhaps Al Qaida itself. The PLO tried to take over control of Jordan.

Thompson refers to Rick Malwitz’s column as “cold, compassionless, insensitive, and even inaccurate (false witnessing). Each to his own, however I found that article to be a report on impressions from a personal visit to a town where people live under constant fear of death from rockets fired by a terrorist organization that has seized control of the Gaza Strip from the legitimate Palestinian “government”. Hamas is an organization that has never rescinded its vow to destroy Israel.

Mozda parrots the old saw that it doesn’t matter if a few Israelis die from rocket attacks. After all the strict control over the borders between Palestinian and Israel lands has almost completely stopped suicide bombings that only killed each time a few score women and children going about their daily life. The reduction in those bombings has not been as a result of Hamas good will.

I wonder if either or both letter writers would demand preventive action or instead be comfortable if, in their own daily activities, someone might drop a rocket on them from Washington Rock (the Golan) or Edison (Gaza). Would they be concerned that some fanatic loaded with shrapnel could seize an opportunity to blow him/her self up in the restaurant where they were dining?

I cannot conceive that either one would not insist that our government take action against those responsible. Nor would they insist in sparing a church or school if it were being used to store weapons or as a rocket launch site. If the Islamic terrorists install their military facilities among the civilian population, they must bear the greater responsibility for so many civilian casualties."

Tomorow I shall go back to pretty pictures.