We are bushed from Bushes
Bush Jr. looked into Puty Poo's eyes and soul and saw a trustworthy man. Senior Bush said Saddam Hussein was our friend and Saddam gave his word that he would not invade Kuwait. After Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, Bush Sr. said Saddam was a tyrant.
Bush Jr. said if anyone leaked a covert CIA agent's name, he would be punished to the fullest extent of the law, then commuted his sentence. Bush Sr. said, while head of the CIA, that giving out a covert CIA agent's name was being a traitor and was an act of treason.
Bush Jr. said Clinton was wrong for making deals with North Korea, then he made deals with North Korea.
When Bush Jr.'s brother was governor of Florida, he said no drilling for oil in the Gulf. Now Bush Jr. says it's OK.
When Clinton made a trip to Europe near the end of his term, Republicans said he was taking advantage of the presidency. Bush Jr. has made nine trips to Asia. He has taken almost 21/2 years of vacation time while in office. The government audit office will not release the amounts he has spent traveling while he tells us to conserve.
Laura Bush says we should rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, while Iraq has a $79 billion oil-money surplus. What about our infrastructure? Bush started the Cold War all over again by putting a missile defense system in Poland. We did not stand for it when Russia put missiles in Cuba.
Cheney wants to pull the trigger, and Condi Rice just smiles and does nothing. Too many Bushes. No wonder our country is in a mess. Almost $10 trillion in debt, home foreclosures, inflation, high energy prices, high food prices. They call this "Bushed."
William E. Agnew
Norwich
Big-box stores aren't a benefit
I feel the city and town need to address the fact that we are losing our identity, which drew many of us, replacing local icons with ubiquitous national chains. We already have lost some of our identity with an increasingly blighted, vacant downtown and a vacant Ames Plaza on the West End.
The only additions are dollar stores and redundant national chains, which are, I am sure, lured by subsidies paid by taxpayers, only to lower our quality of life.
Other cities that would like to maintain quality of life and remain viable now require big-box stores to be accountable. In one example from the Midwest, retail projects of more than 50,000 square feet must pay 20 cents per foot to a conservation account that can be later spent on demolition. This can add tens of thousands of dollars to project costs, but cities say it is worth it. Many times, big-box stores are built to the specifications of the business that occupies it. The tax encourages both more-careful planning as well as better building design so that the building may be suitable for other businesses should the developing business leave. Cities have also altered contracts to make renting to other businesses easier and requiring developers to finance demolition bonds.
Big-box stores are not profitable for any town, despite some mythology still believed by supervisors. Assumed sales taxes have never replaced the loss of high-quality jobs and decreased property taxes, not to mention added infrastructure costs, which are never borne by the corporations.
This is just a warning from an ordinary citizen to take pre-emptive measures, based on firsthand experience of having lived in former depopulated cities ravaged by corporations and then left to die.
Jason Smith
Oneonta
Yoga often misunderstood
I thank Rita Armstrong of Oneonta for taking the time to read and reply to the interview regarding the Prana Yoga Studio published in The Daily Star's Shop Talk in April. Unfortunately, her conclusions reveal a misunderstanding of the practice of yoga.
Rita states that yoga is part of the Hindu religion, and she defines yoga as unity. Her definition is close. Yoga can be defined as union; the process of working with the senses, the body, breath and mind to find a wholeness so often lacking in our day-to-day lives. But yoga is not, nor has it ever been, part of any religion. It has no creeds, institutional structure, clergy or ritual. Many of my students have told me that their practice of yoga, with its emphasis on self-knowledge, allows a deeper personal experience of their own beliefs. They often say they have found the heart of what they all along believed to be true.
Yoga as therapy is not new, though it is new to this country. It has nothing to do with trance states, psychic healing or "Reiki," as Rita states. (Reiki originated in Japan and is unrelated to yoga.) Yoga therapy, through the practice of physical movement and breathing techniques, strengthens and realigns the body, encouraging the body's own immune system to function in a balanced way. This allows the body to repair itself just as a cut in the skin repairs itself. When medical intervention is needed, yoga can serve as an effective adjunct. Yoga therapy is subject to vigorous investigation, as all valid health care modalities must be. I encourage anyone interested in yoga therapy to refer to the resources available on the IAYT (International Association of Yoga Therapists) website, or to contact me through my website for more information.
Anna Siudy
Oneonta
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