NIAGARA TIMES CAVES TO CWM

It’s very sad but possibly predictable to see the anonymous administrator, Hobbes, at the Niagara Times blog caving in to a business that is not in any way in the long term interests of Niagara County. If I were Hobbes I wouldn't use my real name either.

With highly suspect distorted logic “Hobbes” tries to guilt-trip our citizens into believing that our attitude of vehemently opposing CWM expansion and “business as usual” is some kind of selfish, self-centered if not provincial “not in my backyard” no-nothingism. This is despicable and arrogant. Here is another piece of evidence that the crowd over at Niagara Times is pro-Republican big business as usual elitists. One would hope such bald faced rationalization is not preparation to excuse the system of governmental representation if they should fail in stopping this egregious insult to our communities.

Hobbes goes on to claim that “They (CWM) need to do what they are in business to do.” What kind of ridiculous empty claim is this? No, they don’t “need” to do anything. They “need” to not hide behind the façade of “corporation” and act like a responsible citizen, become conscious in a moral sense of our history of being exploited, and join the really responsible citizens who courageously are fighting further desecration of our communities. Anything less is heinous and reprehensible propaganda to stop social, technological and environmental progress.

Really warming up now Hobbes continues “Again, we must wonder why the opposition?” What bullshit! CWM is ‘just doing their job.’ Then he blames the people of Porter who he assumes all knew what was going on when they moved there. Yeh, even all the children who were born there were given a seminar at birth about the fact that their community is a hazardous waste dump.

The point is that when people become conscious of their own history and irresponsibility if not ignorance, even if late in the game, that does not disqualify them from critically taking a political position to change their future. Hobbes’ il-logic seems to require all people to always already have known what they are getting themselves into even before they are born. Well life doesn’t work that way does it. Hobbes needs my philosophy classes more than I realized. If corporations were not so blatantly surreptitious in doing business and hiding their activities from the public such transparency may someday be possible.

Hobbes even trashes the Erie County Legislature. But the situation is the same with the Erie County Legislature as with the people of Porter or elsewhere who are just waking up politically. Just because Erie has ignorantly participated in the self-abuse of our own land, to Hobbes they don’t have the right to wake up and see the errors of their ways as they apparently have. This is Hobbesian idiocy and complicity in defending big businesses’ abuse of people for the sake of profit and, yes you guessed it, business as usual.

Hobbes unabashedly continues to justify maintaining our community as the dumping ground of the Northeast by complaining that new businesses at the Brownfield sites would have increased costs of dumping “materials” out of state. But isn’t the Brownfields project supposed to be taking care of that in the first place independent of any start up cost for potentially incoming business? Hobbes is just muddying the waters trying to get us to succumb to our virtually morbid state of environmental desecration. He unconsciously reduces all values to "the cost of doing business and profiting." Such nihilistic philosophy is the end of politics and critical thinking. It simply reduces all self-evaluation to economic values. This is a pathetic and dangerous leveling of all critical distinctions of political thought.

Hobbes further, embarrassingly enough, rationalizes CWM as a business whose only concern should be to “conduct business in a responsible manner.” He sees them as a ‘good responsible’ “neighbor”, a “NEIGHBOR!” What manipulative sophistical and insidious logical nonsense. In short and to the point what vicious bullshit this is.

And finally good ol’ Hobbes does what the power elite mindset does so well. He attempts to just “normalize” the situation with “Until that day (when CWM are no longer responsible neighbors) they are simply another business in Niagara County and should be treated as such."

Excuse me while I go throw up. It’s a good thing I’ll be going away for several days. I’ve got to get as far away from this self-serving politically manipulative and regressive ignorance as possible.

I hope the gang at Niagara Times blog attack this crap with no holds barred. And, yes, Hobbes, I understand now why you stay anonymous.

See you all next week!