STOP THE PRESSES ! ! ! !

From the Mineola Scallion (a little Onion):

                       JACK MARTINS INVENTS FIRE !!!

                                 "It was nothing," said the ever-modest
                                  senator from NY's 7th Senate District.
                                 "I was just rubbing some sticks together
                                  to kill time between photo ops and
                                  what do you know!!  Weenie roast at
                                  my place!!" 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh Jack Martins!!!  Is there nothing you CAN'T do ? ? ? ?  It certainly seems that way according to the Mineola American.  Week after week we are barraged with photos of you unlike ever before.  When you were mayor of our "Friendly" little Village there was an occasional picture of you at a Veteran's Day ceremony or handing a proclamation to a century-old resident.  Now your face is all over the place.  They devote more space to your face than to news or advertising.  That's fer sure!

The Mineola American has become the TIGER BEAT of the 7th S.D. and Jack Martins is a "Fan Fave."  So we here at MNYT would like to issue a little challenge to all our readers out there, and friends of readers, and friends of friends of readers:  let's do a weekly count of how many pictures of Jack appear in each edition of Mineola's "official" publication, shall we?  The weekly prize is nothing but Bragging Rights but you can think of this as preparation for the upcoming election.  After the November debacle, we know how important counting ability can be!

So each Wednesday, be sure to run out to your mailbox or to your local news stand before all the issues are scooped up.  Sit down in your favorite big comfy chair with a hot cuppa joe and start circling those photos.  Then you log on to http://11501truth.blogspot.com where you can click "Post Comment" and enter your tally.  We can do this every week for as long as Jack is in office.  It doesn't matter how long this goes on because the comments box is just waiting for your numbers.  Just be sure to count carefully!  Only the most accurate participant gets to boast.  We want to keep things honest after all! 

BREAKING NEWS ! ! ! ! !

Headline from the Mineola Scallion (a little Onion):

                              JACK MARTINS WALKS, 
                        CHEWS GUM AT SAME TIME ! ! !
                                          ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
                                  Amazing development for constituents
                                         of NY's 7th Senate District !!!
                                          ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

                                        Mineola residents not surprised.
                                                     "I knew he could talk out both
                                                     sides of his mouth," said one man.
                                                     "And out his behind as well," said
                                                     another, who added, "but his best
                                                     trick is blowing sunshine up your ass."


OK guys.  How much more ass-kissing do you figure the Mineola American can do towards Jack Martins?  When Joe Rizza was editor there was at least some semblance of even-handedness in their reporting, but since he's been gone, the cracker-jack newshounds over at MinAm headquarters can't stop puckering up.  Seems it's All Jack All The Time.  Civil rights being stomped on?  Don't write about that!  Questionable hiring/firing practices?  Sweep that under the rug!  If it doesn't burnish Jack's image, it doesn't get printed. But some how, amazingly enough, they have enough room to print two pages of pictures of the Martins caravan to Albany.

Journalistic integrity of the Mineola American?  About 1/2 a notch above the National Enquirer in MNYT's humble opinion.  Old Joe Pulitzer would be proud!

A BIGOT BY ANY OTHER NAME

Overhead at the recent Senior Appreciation Day, held at Mineola's Village Hall on Monday, November 22nd:

 "No more Portuguese for Mayor!"

And who was the expounder of this pearl of wisdom?  You might think it was some big beefy white guy dressed in a white sheet, with a pointy white hat on his pointy white head.  Maybe with swastikas tattooed on his big beefy biceps.

Well you would be thinkin' wrong.

Rather, the Erudite in question was one of the blue-haired little old ladies being "appreciated" that day.

Now, MNYT has made no bones about it's disdain for Mayor Martins and his minions on the Board of Trustees.  Jack Martins has lied to the people who pay his salary.  Repeatedly.  And if the 7th Senate District race does end up going his way, he will continue to lie ~ only to a wider audience.  But don't bring his Portuguese heritage into it.  That's just nasty.  AND ignorant.  And it doesn't say much about your own upbringing.

John F. Kennedy

For those old enough to remember, November 22nd was also the anniversary of one of this country's great tragedies:  the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  JFK was our nation's first, and to date it's only Roman Catholic President.  He was a champion of the nascent Civil Rights movement who was himself the subject of religious bigotry.  It is indeed ironic to MNYT that on the anniversary of a day which united people of all colors, creeds and ethnicities in grief and horror, bigotry is still able to raise its ugly head when an entire group of Mineola's citizenry can be denigrated by one ignorant individual ~ whatever her rationale might be.

Does she distrust Jack Martins?  Well, she's in good company.  Lots of people don't trust him and for very good reasons.  But none of those have to do with his ethnic background, nor should they.

Maybe this woman has forgotten that Mr. Martins' predecessor was not Portuguese, nor was he the paradigm of integrity.  Yet there is talk about the possibility that this individual will run for Mayor in 2012 - eight years after he was voted out. 

Perhaps for some folks lack of integrity is more tolerable when the "Playa" is of Northern European extraction (i.e. "Lily White" to use the vernacular).

Let's keep the criteria regarding our political leaders focused where it belongs - on their honesty, integrity and leadership skills.  Keep skin color, sexual orientation, ethnic heritage, gender, and religious practices out of it, shall we?

For more information on JFK's defense of his ability to lead despite the perceived "handicap" of his religious upbringing, or if you're just in the mood for a damn good speech, click on the following link:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16920600

BRING OUT YOUR TRASH !!!!

If you watched the most recent work session and public meeting held by Mineola's Board of Trustees (Wednesday, November 3rd) you probably caught the fireworks set off by Sal Cataldo.  Mr. Cataldo was upset by the Board's over sight in not mentioning Veteran's Day and the commemorative ceremonies that take place every year in the Village.

But in case you didn't catch the broadcast, it was quite the shouting match.  The mayor disputed Mr. Cataldo's allegation as did his toady, Larry Werther.  Even Paul Cusato got in on the act.

But Sal was absolutely correct.  The trustees spent most of their speaking time during the public session waxing rhapsodic over the recent Halloween party and the wonderful job the recreation staff did in planning it. (Wouldn't you LOVE that gig?)  They spent the rest of their time congratulating Jack Martins on his as-yet-unofficial election to state senate.

Yo!!!  PUCKER up those lips and KISS that butt!!!

You could hear the catch in Mr. Werther's throat as he went on about Jack's love for VOM.  Larry's eyes glistened with tears as he pictured, in his mind's eye, his own rear end ensconced in that cushy center chair on the dias.

But NO mention was made of Veteran's Day at the public meeting and the ONLY reference to November 11th was at the work session when Tom Rini reviewed the garbage collection schedule.  Since the Village is closed that day, trash collection will be impacted.  (November is a crazy month for garbage in Mineola what with Election Day, Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving.  Hard to keep track of those pails!!!)

So it's no wonder Mr. Cataldo was insulted.  And then the Mayor defended the gaff by telling Sal he missed the mention of Veteran's Day during the work session.  In other words, "Beh, Sal!  Ashspet!  After all, we're reworking the garbage pickup around youse guys.  What more do ya want?"

Now if you've been following the meetings or if you have lived in Mineola a while, you know Mr. Cataldo can be a bit quick tempered on occasion.  But he's a good man who served his country in Korea (aka The Forgotten War) and who has been active in the community for years.  And he continues to be active.  What's more, he's not one of those people who parks his ass on the sofa and bitches about what he doesn't like.  Cataldo gets up and talks publicly and subjects himself to ridicule by the many small-minded individuals in Mineola who don't have one quarter the coglioni that he does.  He was absolutely correct in his statement that if it wasn't for our past and present members of the military, we wouldn't enjoy the right to gather and voice our opinions at a public forum. Although in Mineola, your right to opine can be aborted on a whim.

And perhaps that's what really has Mr. Cataldo upset.  MNYT isn't in the business of psychoanalysis, but we think he's probably frustrated with the Fascist inclinations of this Board:  like discontinuing coverage of public meetings for six months because the mayor didn't like being called to task about the behavior of certain Village employees.  Or the requirement that folks now have to fill out a form stating what they want to talk about.  (Mayor Jack doesn't like being "ambushed.")  Or better yet - when certain requests to speak are denied outright by the Board - as happened just a few weeks ago.  For this, Mr. Cataldo and the many other veterans of Korea, Vietnam, Bataan, Gettysburg, Iraq, Argonne, Afghanistan and Bunker Hill sacrificed their lives, limbs, mental health, and time away from their families and the comforts of their homes.

Flag Raising - Mt. Suribachi

Think about that the next time you bring out your trash. . . .

LYIN' BY THE SEAT OF HIS PANTS

Does Jack Martins actually write the emails he is posting on his NYS senate campaign site or does some other hack write them?  If the latter, does Jack READ and APPROVE them?

This is the guy who is going to bring INTEGRITY back to Albany.  So he takes the Newsday editorial that ENDORSES CRAIG JOHNSON FOR SENATE and selectively pulls the few sentences that refer to himself, puts them in bold face and presents it as if the paper is actually endorsing HIM.  He also stated in his "email 30"

"They know Craig Johnson's record as our Senator has been one of consistent failure."

So that's why Newsday endorsed Johnson - RIGHT, JACK????  Because he's a complete and utter failure?

Martins then goes on to point proudly to the blaring error on Newsday's part in stating that Jack " . . . believes in term limits and says he will limit himself to two terms as Mineola's mayor."  Now, we at MNYT know  Mineola is Nassau County's answer to Bizarro World on many levels, but they still operate under the Gregorian calendar.  By our computations Mayor Jack has been fiddling while the village has been burning for much longer than two terms.  Try four.  Eight years of him talking out both sides of his mouth AND his ass as well!  Eight years of him letting Attorney John Spellman call the shots.  Eight years of corruption in the Building Department.


This guy has integrity like George W. Bush has a long and distinguished military career.  So don't take his word for it.  Check out what Newsday actually said:

editorial

EDITORIAL: Newsday's endorsement in the 7th State Senate District

Originally published: October 19, 2010 7:59 PM
 

The contest between Democratic Sen. Craig Johnson of Port Washington and Mineola Mayor Jack Martins, a Republican, is difficult to call because both present strong candidacies.
Martins has been a very effective mayor, taking over in 2003 when the village had a $250,000 budget shortfall and a debt load of $33 million. Yes, he raised taxes to return the village to financial health, but he kept annual increases reasonable, below 4 percent. The debt has been whittled to $20 million. Also, he's accomplished one of the toughest tasks on NIMBY Long Island: approval of multistory housing near the train station with community support.
Martins levels his sharpest criticism at Johnson for his vote in favor of the reviled payroll tax supporting the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The mayor calls it a job-killing tax, a charge this page has wielded from the start.
But Johnson defends his vote without flinching, and we like that he stands by his convictions - too rare a quality in politics. Johnson points out that, in early 2009, the MTA was preparing to hike fares by 40 percent. "I was not going to play chicken with my constituents' lives," he says. To his credit, he leveraged the vote to win himself an influential seat on the MTA Capital Program Review Board, one of only four voting members.
Johnson now needs to do more to fund the latter three years of the MTA's 5-year capital plan, and to restore road and bridge funding as part of New York's overall commitment to transportation. He should continue to explore tolling the East River bridges to Manhattan and allowing lone drivers to use HOV lanes for a fee.
The incumbent also stood up to peer pressure early this year, as one of just two Democrats to break with Senate colleagues to defeat a bill that would have quashed New York's charter school movement, ruining the state's chances to win a $700-million federal grant under the Race to the Top program. In so doing, Johnson earned the enmity of the New York State United Teachers, which tried unsuccessfully to field a primary challenger against him.
Martins believes in term limits and says he will limit himself to two terms as Mineola mayor, meaning he'll leave next year. But his effectiveness presents one of the best arguments against term limits. His next post, wherever he sets his sights, should capitalize on his proven executive abilities.
Johnson should continue to push for better public schools. His ideas on merit pay and reworking the tenure system deserve more attention. He should also give more thought to the urgent issue of pension reform.
Newsday endorses Johnson.

Thems the facts.  Now work it out for yourself.