Editorials

Impeachment ‘present’ readied by Democrats

As we approach the Christmas holiday, it seems the Democrats in Congress are going to give the American people a gift, but it is not one that seems to be very popular. The oldest political party in the world is going to gift-wrap an impeachment vote on the floor of the US House of Representatives this week. In fact, by the time this editorial is read, it might have been done already. The vote will be the culmination of a three-year temper tantrum by the Dems, who have proven nothing regarding impeachment, but everything regarding their ability – or suitability – to lead the nation.

To call the impeachment proceedings in both the Intelligence Committee of the House, run by California Rep. Adam Schiff, or that in the Judiciary Committee, run by New York Rep. Jerald Nadler, fair, proper and fact-driven, would be a mockery to terms. They have been nothing but a cavalcade of left-wing academics with axes to grind and professional bureaucrats looking to protect their turf. Nothing, absolutely nothing, has been factual.

But in the process we’ve learned something about so-called “progressive” governance, and the media that clamors for it.

As we’ve said before, the basis of Progressivism from the early 20th Century onward has been the distrust of the average voter, and the belief that a benign class of experts and operatives would rule the nation. After all, the rubes that vote can’t be trusted to do the right thing. In his early statements, for example, former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg has as much as said so, and anyone looking at his record while mayor will see a pattern of top-down governance “for their own good.”

Indeed, the socialist model that so many in the Democratic Party espouse is because the “deplorables” cannot be allowed to rule themselves. It takes a paternalistic group of politicians to show them the way. This will be done by taxation of things they shouldn’t have, control of health care, and divvying out “free stuff” in the form of education, child care, etc. No, Miss Ocasio-Cortez, these are not public goods.

The media, meanwhile, has shown that it has ceased to “speak truth to power” and did it long before Donald J. Trump was elected. We must remind our readers that for eight years anything negative about Barack Hussein Obama was as radioactive to the media as saying anything nice about Trump is now. Despite the obvious use of governmental authority against its enemies, incompetence in world affairs and wasting the government’s treasury, nothing got past the censors in the media.

The mainstream media is a propaganda arm of the Democratic Party because they espouse the same ideologies, attended the same schools, and live in the same neighborhoods.

The impeachment has set in aspic the facts that corruption in the Democratic Party, the federal bureaucracy and the media is working against the needs and desires of the electorate. Trump stands in the way of these actors to remake the nation, and set it into the machinery of a globalist, socialist solar system.

We are eerily reminded of the words of George H.W. Bush, a globalist, following the first Iraq War concerning the emergence of a “new world order.” That is, in fact, what we are seeing today unfold before our eyes.

The impeachment is part of that lurch to the left.

New term, same issues

As of noon Sunday, the city administration took its oath of office and begins the work of governing this city of more than 53,000 over the next two years. Mayor Nancy Rossi begins her second term in office, and a new City Council begins its own term.

This year, for the first time in recent memory, the city’s minority Republican Party, will have two members on the 13-member council. This is a major improvement over the past two decades, and allows debate of minority-generated issues to be discussed by the legislative panel.

With the new term, the administration must now formulate concrete programs to combat the city’s many issues. We, for our part, have a few hopes for the coming term, and hope they correspond with the desires and aspirations of the new administration:

Taxes, spending and staffing – When Mayor Rossi came into office, she entered with an admitted handicap. Unknown to her – or anyone except the former administration – the state had empaneled a review board to oversee city finances. The use of a bonding ordinance to cover a $17 million deficit triggered the action under what was then new legislation. Over the last two years, Rossi and the Municipal Accountability Review Board (MARB) have navigated some treacherous waters with not a little controversy.

As far as taxes are concerned, the die is cast. The MARB has dictated that taxes must go up over the term of the five-year plan to 40 mills. Spending is low, and has been cut by the administration to correspond with MARB’s desires. It is in the matter of staffing that we have, many times, asked for study.

The city is in need of a complete audit of staffing and needs. Personnel are the largest line item in the budget. The city should have a study on its needs, and the number of people working for it. Some of this has taken place via necessity with budget cuts, but this has been more of an activity of necessity, rather than a willful understanding of where personnel are needed. We hope to see something of this nature in the next two years.

Blight – The city has become, for better or worse, one of absentee ownership. This has led to a careless attitude on the parts of many property owners when it comes to upkeep. Meanwhile, on those properties owned by residents, we have seen deterioration, parking of autos on lawns, and other such nuisances. We hope in the next two years a comprehensive plan is laid out to combat this matter.

Redevelopment/Economic Development – During the campaign this issue came up as a matter of course, and, as a matter of course, generalities were used. Over the next two years we hope a plan of development can be issued by the city that will address several key areas: Allingtown and its continued upgrade, the Center and the use of empty properties or storefronts, and the shore (particularly Beach Street), where empty properties are hurting neighborhoods.

The Haven is a matter that, if it is ever begun and finished, would serve as an anchor for future actions, but outside that area of the city, more must be done. To say that areas of town are languishing is to understate the case. We hope that some type of coalition including the city, the business community, and representatives of the three major sections of town can work together to get some type of plan that will attempt to move the city forward.

Thanksgiving 2019

When Puritans left England in May of 1620, they were unsure what lay ahead for them, knowing they had to endure months at sea making the crossing. They were looking to create a “Shining City on a Hill” filled with believers in the Calvinist Christianity they had come to confess. They hoped when they landed in the New World, they would be able to create the type of civil and religious atmosphere that would make them prosper and, as was the case for all Puritans, get a sign they were, indeed, the elect.

Their brand of Calvinism was “covenant” centered. Throughout the Old Testament, God had made a covenant with men. This “Covenant Theology” prompted them to bind themselves into a civil body under a covenant. That document, signed before they landed to form the Plymouth Colony, was given the name, “The Mayflower Compact.”

Under this document, the first colony in Massachusetts Bay was established, and was to be the prototype of other covenants and constitutions that were to follow.

Later, decimated by exposure and famine, many of the signers never made it through the first winter. Those that did declared a day of Thanksgiving, which served as the point of origination for the New England holiday that was to follow well beyond 1620, into the 19th Century.

On this Thanksgiving Day, 2015, we present the Mayflower Compact and list its signers.

~~~

IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. 

IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620.

Mr. John Carver,

Mr. William Bradford,

Mr Edward Winslow,

Mr. William Brewster.

Isaac Allerton,

Myles Standish,

John Alden,

John Turner,

Francis Eaton,

James Chilton,

John Craxton,

John Billington,

Joses Fletcher,

John Goodman,

Mr. Samuel Fuller,

Mr. Christopher Martin,

Mr. William Mullins,

Mr. William White,

Mr. Richard Warren,

John Howland,

Mr. Steven Hopkins,

Digery Priest,

Thomas Williams,

Gilbert Winslow,

Edmund Margesson,

Peter Brown,

Richard Britteridge

George Soule,

Edward Tilly,

John Tilly, 

Francis Cooke, 

Thomas Rogers, 

Thomas Tinker, 

John Ridgdale 

Edward Fuller, 

Richard Clark, 

Richard Gardiner, 

Mr. John Allerton, 

Thomas English, 

Edward Doten, 

Edward Liester.

Impeachment charade

A Latin term needed for bribery is ditched for the term “bribery.” An accuser is “protected” by a Congressional resolution crafted specifically to hide the truth. The Speaker of the House now says that the accused must prove himself innocent. This is the topsy-turvy spectacle that has become impeachment. And, make no mistake, it was planned this way.

For more than three years – since Election Night, 2016 – impeachment has been talked about by Democrats who have never recovered from the shock of Hillary Clinton’s defeat. For three years they have put the nation, and its people, through the Hell of investigations. In all situations, whether it was Russia, Russia, Russia, or now Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine, we are told to believe them rather than our lying eyes.

Russia was used to get dirt not on Hillary Clinton, but on Donald Trump. It is without doubt that the bureaucracy, particularly the intelligence agencies and the FBI, were working with the Democrats in trying to foil Trump’s election, and then his administration. These are facts, not conspiracy theories. The Democratic Party, its members and the imbedded bureaucracy, now called the “Deep State,” worked in concert. They are working in concert now.

This Ukraine controversy would be laughable, but we’re dealing with actors who would rather tear the country apart than lose position and power. The impeachment “inquiry” is nothing more than an orchestrated Stalinesque show trial, used to mollify the base of the Democratic Party. It is fitting. The party is becoming less “democratic” and more “authoritarian.” It seeks to destroy those institutions and traditions that have made this nation great.

The politics of the proceedings is no more evident than the reports this past weekend that the Latin term, quid pro quo, was too exoteric for the average American, so “bribery,” is now the word being bandied about – except as legal analyst Greg Jarrett has pointed out, there is no bribery without a quid pro quo. The buzzword was changed via focus groups!! What more need do we have to see this has never been an inquiry, but a proceeding to write articles of impeachment.

Further, we cannot know the person who began this charade because it would undermine the predicate. There is sufficient evidence that a CIA operative originated the complaint and he did it with the aid of Rep. Adam Shiff’s office. Shiff is the new Joe McCarthy, and has shown, to quote Joseph Welch, he has “no decency.”

The rules of the “inquiry” were crafted so the name of the agent, erroneously called a “whistleblower,” cannot be said during the proceedings, nor can anything linking him to the complaint be used. Indeed, we are told his testimony is not needed at all. So, the complaint that started this proceeding is no longer part of it. Fancy that.

Then we have the Speaker of the House, the nation’s Theologian-in-chief, Nancy Pelosi, who when she isn’t praying for the nation, is telling the President if he has a way to prove his innocence he should present it. So the presumption of innocence is scuttled.

This is purely a political exercise. Rep. Al Green of Texas said so. Not to impeach Mr. Trump means he will be re-elected. Then, that perpetual indictment to American education, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that the impeachment is necessary to prevent a “catastrophe” for her party in 2020.

This entire charade is an embarrassment to the nation and should be a permanent mark against the Democratic Party and its leaders. The only impeachment article that need be written is: Donald Trump won in 2016.

Rossi has her mandate

When it was all over Nov. 5, the majority of the voters who came out determined “stay the course” was the best path for the city’s future. By a whopping 60 percent, the voters gave Mayor Nancy Rossi a second term, and with it a mandate to keep on the path set out two years ago.

Rossi now has the voters’ imprimatur to continue the cost-cutting, budget-trimming program that she ran on in 2017, and continued in the past campaign. But besides that, the voters have also, by extension, given her administration and the Municipal Accountability Review Board a thumbs-up to the five-year plan.

Realistically, the voters had no way of reversing that plan, but the administration’s cooperation with the MARB was an issue in the last campaign. Voters seemed to understand the necessity for the drastic measures, and, while they might not like it, they gave approval to the incremental mill-rate increases that come with the five-year plan. In some sense, that takes that issue off the table for the present time, allowing the Rossi administration some freedom to implement its austerity program.

While Michele Gregorio ran one of the best GOP campaigns in recent memory, history was on the side of Rossi. One-term mayors have only been turned out of office twice in the city’s short history: William Heffernan and Clemente Evangeliste, Democrat and Republican, respectively.

Heffernan was caught up in the sometimes Byzantine machinations of West Haven politics, and was supplanted by Robert Johnson, who had four terms. Evangeliste took the city by claiming to be a businessman, and oversaw a budget that put the city into the red by $17 million.

Rossi, while she lamented the oversight of the MARB, had, it must be admitted, political cover because of the review board. While much of what happened in the city’s budgetary crafting came from MARB, the practical effects, the taxes and cost-cuts, were put all at the state panel’s doorstep.

Mrs. Rossi now has two years to implement her vision for the future of the city, while doing so with the restrictions MARB has imposed. The voters gave her that opportunity. We wait to see what the future brings.

GOP: grasp opportunity

Meanwhile, the city’s GOP should take the opportunity of polling its best numbers in recent memory as a sign there is interest in a two-party system in West Haven. Michele Gregorio polled more than 4,000 votes, and in a city where the number of Democrats to Republicans is about 6:1, that is worth noting.

In fact, Barry L. Cohen won the 10th District seat as a Republican, giving the incoming City Council not only its minority seat as mandated under the charter, but another voice. For the first time in almost 30 years a motion made by a Republican can have a second, and discussion actually take place. With only one minority member in that time, many an issue fell for lack of a second.

But, the possibility of a party resurgence did not come without some cost. Reports talk of a split in the small ranks of the GOP hampered the campaign.

That is not a good sign among some encouraging ones. The Republican Party must seize the opportunity to become relevant again. It must do so with one voice, and with strong leadership. Whatever the split in the ranks, it is past time for the city’s minority party to get back into the mix and become a voice in city affairs.

Veterans Day 2019

Monday we celebrated Veterans Day, a commemoration of all those who served – and those who died – wearing the uniform of the nation. Originating as Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1918, it was dedicated to the end of what was then known as “The Great War.” On the eleventh day of the eleventh month at the eleventh hour, four years of bloodshed ceased in a conflagration that saw many millions die. In many European nations, Nov. 11 is known as “Remembrance Day,” and is marked by the tolling of bells at 11 o’clock.

Rudyard Kipling’s “Recessional,” known popularly as “Lest We Forget,” has been associated with this day and the devastation that occurred not only from 1914-1918, but in World War II and various other battles. It stands as a stark prayer for forgiveness and mercy even in those wars considered “just.”

It is a West Haven Voice tradition to present this hymn during the week of Veterans Day as a prayer for peace and for continued hope that wherever our armed forces are sent, they be on the side of what is moral and right.

God of our fathers, known of old—
Lord of our far-flung battle line—
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies—
The Captains and the Kings depart—
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Far-called our navies melt away—
On dune and headland sinks the fire—
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe—
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard—
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding calls not Thee to guard.
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy Mercy on Thy People, Lord!
Amen.