Saving the Sinking Ship

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Monday October 23, 2006 · 8:02 AM PDT

2006/10/23 · 08:02

Imagine that you're on a cruise ship. Everyone is enjoying fun in the sun and evening parties, and life is good, until you learn that water is slowly coming in down below. As the ship gets lower and lower in the water, the passengers and crew decide to get rid of weight to make the ship float higher. First you throw luxury items overboard: the casino tables, the crystal chandeliers. Then you get more serious and start throwing out important items: passengers' luggage, the beds, the liquor. Each time you dump something, the ship rides a little higher, but then it continues to sink. After all, it isn't really excess weight that's sinking the ship, it's the leak. You can continue throwing things overboard - the food, the ship's navigation system, and finally each other - but none of that will keep the ship afloat unless someone goes looking for the leak and stops it. Lightening the ship might be a reasonable emergency measure but only to buy time while someone works on the real problem.

This is a metaphor for the County budget situation, Read More

Address to County Legislature on Katrina

Tim Joseph in Ithaca

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Saturday September 10, 2005 · 5:26 PM PDT

2005/09/10 · 17:26

The devastation of Hurricane Katrina is a monumental catastrophe. The response from our national government is a monumental disgrace. The people of New Orleans and other areas along the Gulf Coast called desperately for help and nothing came. I listened to a FEMA official deny that there were people in the New Orleans Convention Center without food or water, while a reporter stood in that hall and interviewed those people. I saw pictures of people standing on highway overpasses, on the tops of buildings or on any high spot they could find, waiting desperately to be rescued. And I heard a cabinet secretary declare that everything was under control, that rescue efforts were reaching those in need, that food, water and medical supplies had been delivered where they were needed, and that the evacuation was under way Read More

Social Security: Destroy it to Save it

Tim Joseph in Ithaca

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Tuesday May 17, 2005 · 12:36 PM PDT

2005/05/17 · 12:36

In 1982 Social Security was in crisis. The system had been paying out more than it was taking in and was projected to be unable to meet all of its obligations by the following year. A bipartisan commission headed by Alan Greenspan proposed, and Congress passed, a set of reform measures that put the system back on a secure basis for the long term. That was a real crisis and a real response designed to save the system for future generations.

By the early 1990s Republican leaders were again declaring that Social Security was in crisis. Read More

I always knew the FBI was out to get me.

Tim Joseph in Ithaca

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Sunday April 17, 2005 · 6:15 PM PDT

2005/04/17 · 18:15

The Republicans have announced their candidate for to take back Tompkins County from the evil tax and spend liberals and he's a retired FBI agent. http://ithacajournal.com/news/stories/20050416/localnews/2114659.html
Do you suppose he'll have access to FBI resources to dig up dirt on me?

My own first campaign mailing hit voters last Wed. so I have the jump on him, but it looks like things will begin to get nasty fast. Here's where I could use advice on how to use the internet as an effective campaign tool. How do I get through to voters in my district instead of just to all of you?

I have a friend who set up a website, electjoseph.org, but so far it just has a picture of a bunny with a pancake on it's head. Very cute but probably not the most effective campaign tool. So what do I put up here, who is it aimed at, and how do I use it?

Stopping jail construction.

Tim Joseph in Ithaca

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Wednesday April 13, 2005 · 12:04 PM PDT

2005/04/13 · 12:04

For those of you who asked to hear more about Tompkins County's efforts to shift from jailing people to helping them:

About 7 years ago our county was dealing with an overcrowded jail and boarding a lot of prisoners out to other counties. When some Legislators started talking about jail expansion, I formed a committee to look at the actual research on what works in crime prevention. It ain't jails. By the time a jail study committee was formed we were ready with alternative proposals that had real scientific backing. We were able to put forth a choice between spending $1million on new programming that would reduce jail populations or spending $20million for a bigger jail. We got a million for programs that would never have been supported if we weren't able to hold up the vastly more expensive alternative.
Read More

Bait and Switch Tax Cuts

Tim Joseph in Ithaca

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Tuesday April 12, 2005 · 12:44 PM PDT

2005/04/12 · 12:44

Wow! I certainly feel welcomed after the response to yesterday's diary, if perhaps a bit overwhelmed. Thank you all for the warm reception. Here's a guest editorial that I had in the local paper last week.

Bait and Switch Tax Cuts

For the last thirty years every President and every Governor has proclaimed new and bigger tax cuts. Governor Pataki claims that, under his administration, New York has cut taxes more than any other state in the union. With so much tax cutting going on for so long, it's a wonder that we're still paying any taxes at all. Yet most people will insist that their taxes keep on rising and the calls for tax cuts keep getting louder rather than fading away, as you might expect. What's really happening? Why do you feel like your taxes are going up in spite of all the tax cuts?
Read More

I'm Chair of the County Legislature in upstate NY

Tim Joseph in Ithaca

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Monday April 11, 2005 · 1:19 PM PDT

2005/04/11 · 13:19

I wanted to introduce myself since I'm new to Daily Kos. I'm the progrssive Democratic chair of the Tompkins County Legislature. Tompkins is the home to Ithaca and Cornell University.

I've led the county's efforts to institute reform and rehabilitation programs instead of expanding the county jail. As a result we are the first, and so far only, county to defy state pressure to expand our jail. Last year we cancelled construction plans, and have since been working with other counties facing state orders to build jail space. Read More

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