Ithaca: America’s Most Embarrassing City?

FrontPageMagazine.com | ^ | April 28, 2003 | By Jamie Weinstein

[Behind Liberal Lines]

In some circles the mere utterance of the terms “France” or “Chirac” are enough to elicit a contemptuous chuckle.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a conference in Washington, D.C. put on by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobby that supports a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. The main event of the conference was a huge dinner attended by all types of dignitaries. While listening to AIPAC officials announce all the big shots at the event—over half of the Senate and the House attended—they mentioned the French Ambassador to the United States. Of the several hundred dignitaries, the French Ambassador was the only dignitary to receive boos from the audience.

In this time where France is the bud of countless jokes and America is distancing itself from its not-so-great ally, activists in the town of Ithaca and the Cornell French Studies program are trying to ingratiate themselves with and show support for this shameless country in Old Europe.

Yes, coming April 30th to Ithaca is Franco-Ithacan Friendship Day. To many Ithacans, this will be a day to show support for a country that tried to stand in the way of the liberation of the Iraqi people and the disarmament of the dangerous Iraqi regime. Ithacans will celebrate the “great” French culture—the same “great” culture mind you that reveres American comedian Jerry Lewis—and indulge in delightful French pastries. While many Americans are boycotting French wine, you better believe that this festival will serve nothing other than Bordeaux’s cheapest. To most Americans like myself, though, this event is completely insulting and just adds to the long list of other absurdities that keeps Ithaca in the running year after year for America’s most embarrassing city.

Paul Glover, one of the leaders of Ithaca’s Green party and a main organizers of the festival, gave his reasoning for putting together the French fest in the Ithaca Times: "Cultural war is essential preparation for groundwork and forestalling further illegal invasions requires us to confront cultural messages of the anti-French kind.” First off, this war was not an illegal invasion. Secondly, I believe it is time for someone to inform Mr. Glover on why ill-feelings towards France are totally justified.

Recently, of course, the French government actively tried to sabotage U.S. efforts to defend the world from the Iraqi threat. It wasn’t enough for Jacques Chirac to merely state the French opinion on the situation, an opinion that would carry no weight if it were not for the charity of America and Britain back in 1945 when the U.N. was formed, but the French Prime Minister actually went from country to country trying to undermine the U.S. Some find France’s duplicity and disingenuousness offensive. Before the war began, the French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said this on ABC’s This Week: "Do you want me to tell you, really, what France is worried about? How many boys, American boys, are going to die in Iraq." Such an audacious attempt to pretend that France’s motivation in opposing the war lay not in its financial interests and not in its jealously of American power, but rather for its concern for the well-being of our soldiers is simply and utterly disgusting. Now after shedding no blood liberating Iraq, France is lobbying for an important role in post war reconstruction, something that I find simply unbelievable. Despite all this, Ithaca activists and the Cornell French Studies program want to show solidarity with such a country.

The truth is I could go on and on about why such a festival is offensive. I could discuss how in 1986 the French would not let us fly over their airspace to retaliate against Qadhafi's Libya for a terrorist attack that killed an American or how much of French society is becoming overtly anti-Semitic or how the French government smugly criticizes countries like the U.S. and Israel for supposedly breaking International Law yet opens its doors for such despotic thugs like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Yes, France may be an ally, but it is not a good one. And this festival celebrating France at a time when France tried to stab America in the back is sickening.

The fact that Mr. Glover is organizing such an outrageous festival is not surprising though. On a far left list serve, Mr. Glover posted a letter about the upcoming Franco-Ithacan Friendship Day. The letter contained the following text: “150,000 Moroccans (French-speaking) marched last week chanting ‘Suicide bombing is the path to liberation.’ We want to make sure they know Ithaca is against the war.” That’s right. Mr. Glover doesn’t want to condemn such vile statements; he wants to communicate to these terroristic thugs that Ithaca agrees with them and like them oppose the war. By not condemning these statements by the French speaking Moroccans, Mr. Glover is providing at the very least passive support for them. As a temporary member of Ithacan community, I repudiate Mr. Glover's sentiments. Anyone who supports terrorism, even passive support, is disgraceful in my opinion.

The Cornell French Studies people and the Ithaca townies organizing the rally should be embarrassed. France is not a country to look up to or celebrate. In this unabashedly ultra-liberal town and on this undeniably liberal campus turnout for this French fest will unfortunately probably be very high. Even more unfortunate is that some of those who attend will probably agree with the unbelievably outrageous statements that Mr. Glover posted on the list serve.

Speaking to the Ithaca Times, Tompkins County Republicans Chairman Mark Finkelstein summed up the situation perfectly: “I don't think the people of Iraq are going to be throwing a French festival any time soon...If it was up to the French, (the Iraqis) would still be suffering under the brutal dictatorship of Saddam Hussein."

So true. It is not to France that Iraqis owe their freedom, but to the United States and its coalition allies.

Here is an interesting question, though, that I would like to ask Mr. Glover and the others who are organizaing the French fest: "Would you ever consider throwing a festival celebrating the greatnesss that is America?" Probably not!

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Ithaca: America’s Most Embarrassing City?

No, Ithaca is the City of Evil.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

City of Evil. Bump

[TLBSHOW]

City of Evil. Bump
back at ya!

but at least we have you and Joe Sabia (cornell review)there fighting the battle against liberal rats!

[OPS4]

How many Middle Eastern and French breeds are living in Ithaca?

OPs4 God Bless America!

[Behind Liberal Lines]

How many Middle Eastern and French breeds are living in Ithaca?

I don't know, but there are a lot of Jews who should know better but instead fall for the socialist peacenik line.

[Soaring Feather]

Even more unfortunate is that some of those who attend will probably agree with the unbelievably outrageous statements that Mr. Glover posted on the list serve.

I would add, Mr. Glover is equally an embarrassment to more than a few of us.

[Russ]

"Ithaca: America's Most Embarrassing City?"

It's not even a contest! They really need some shock and awe heaped on them.

[St.Chuck]

Well of course the French ambassador was booed at an Israeli lobby dinner. I imagine the author, Mr. Weinstein, led the booing. Congratulations on your cottage industry concerning Ithaca's moral state.

[Conservative4Ever]

Sorry...to all Ithacaians...Ithaciaons...all h@ll...you guys who live in Ithaca...the name Ithaca alone should give you that title.

Red

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Thank you. Good luck to you and your FR-based cottage industry of isolationism and religious sanctimony.

[Scothia]

PAUL GLOVER CELEBRATES FRANCO-ITHACAN FRIENDSHIP DAY

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Someone ought to send him a free bumper sticker.

Ithaca is the City of Evil.

[AgThorn]

Love it ... but isn't Berkely ahead of Ithaca in "evilness"? I mean, where is the survey for city nominations? I want to compare ballots!!

[Mister Baredog]

"Would you ever consider throwing a festival celebrating the greatnesss that is America?"

LOL! That's a good one. Guys like this spend their entire lives pointing out all the things that are wrong with America, they will never relent.

[codercpc]

I dont know but a couple of weeks ago Madison, Wisconsin was going to invite the Dixie Chicks to town and give them a key to the city.

I am not sure what happened but I think it got cancelled.

[Chewbacca]

Sounds like the festival is in need of a good drive by egging!

[Behind Liberal Lines]

but isn't Berkely ahead of Ithaca in "evilness"?

Nope. Ithaca surpassed Berkely a few years ago.

The September 2002 issue of American Enterprise had an article about how the nation’s colleges are not merely overrun by liberals, but that there are so many liberals on campus that conservatives are virtually non-existent.

And one of the worst offenders? You guessed it: Cornell University (no wonder they call it “the Big Red”), of which only approximately three percent of its professors are “republican” or “conservative.”

How bad is three percent compared to other colleges of note? Let’s put it this way: not only is it lower than Harvard (recently in the news for ITS skewed faculty population), but is even lower than Berkeley, long considered the most liberal campus anywhere in America!

As a result of its unfettered liberalism, Ithaca was voted most enlightened (ie, liberal) city in America by the ultra left Utne Reader. As a good, conservative Freeper, I'm sure you'll agree that, contrary to what Utne says, "liberal" is not "enlightened." Unfettered liberalism is, well, evil.

As the most liberal city in America,"Ithaca is the City of Evil."

[Scothia]

My father's wife used to work in the Interfaith office at Anabel Taylor Hall on the Conell campus, as did a young woman I know. Both of them were constantly treated badly (mocked, ignored, etc.) because the faith they represented was the only one not eligible for "approved" status: Christianity.

Ickatha is the City of Evil.

[Fixit]

Done!

Sent with this message:

I enjoyed your article in Front Page
Magazine entitled "Ithaca: America’s Most Embarrassing 
City?" and I thought that you might enjoy this sticker. 
Good luck on your final exams!

[SoDak]

Madison is among the most evil cities the midwest has to offer. Iowa City would be a close second though.

[Atticus]

BLL-You'll probably recall I went to graduate school in Ithaca for three years. That is not the same as being a permanent resident, but I did get a glimpse of how Evil and Embarassing the city could be. I have no first-hand experience with Berkeley, California, but somehow it strikes me as being just as evil, if not more evil, than Ithaca. It is as is Ithacans are for the most part misguided, but Berkeley-ites are malicious and mean-spirited. Also, a conservative classmate of mine who went to the University of Wisconsin as an undergrad swore that Madison, WI was worse than Ithaca. I'll give the nod to Ithaca as far as evil cities go, but I'd like to hear from the competition.

P.S. -Have you ever considered writing a book on Ithaca?

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Atticus, see post #17. I didn't declare Ithaca most liberal, the liberals did.

I've posted some examples of Ithacan mean-spiritedness over the years, from threatening the business of the owners of conservative webzine, to students being made actively afraid to express conservative thought to a local paper printing what amounted to a "no republicans allowed" article.

IMHO, Berkeley simply gets more press due to its proximity to a major city (Frisco) and its lingering rep from the 60s.

[Publicus]

! ! ! CALLING ALL FREEPERS - CALLING ALL FREEPERS ! ! !

Last week, you were told about a scam where certain Ithaca officials are using taxpayer- i.e. YOUR- money to harm a productive, law-abiding citizen (Tom Pine/tel: 607-273-1011).

They want Pine to clear out his office supply business (Race Office Supply) that he has painstakingly built over the past decade and sell his property to a friend of theirs'- Frank Ciminelli- or else they would use eminent domain proceeding to take Pine's property and hand it over to Ciminelli themselves!

Ciminelli apparently wants to build an office and hotel on the property and then lease the new buildings himself. The fact these projects are not even commercially viable on their own is one of several red-flags.

The scam also involves ignoring a widow's co-ownership share in the property, as well as, the use of taxpayer- i.e. YOUR- money to fund kickbacks with the proposed construction projects!

You were asked that- if you object to what these Ithaca officials are doing with YOUR hard earned taxmoney- to take a few minutes and call the officials involved and make sure they clearly understood your objections across their monstrous behavior and their misuse of YOUR hard earned taxmonies in such a fashion.

Well FREEPERS, your telephone calls to the officials involved are WORKING!

The Ithaca officials have suddenly changed their tactics. Rather than having open meetings and publishing how they vote on the matter- like they are SUPPOSED to- they have instead decided to now be sneaky about it and NOT tell the American people how they are voting or what they planning to do with YOUR taxmoney.

In other words, the Ithaca officials are aware of FREEPER objections. They apparently just didn't hear you very well or perhaps figured they could avoid your "annoying" demands for civil servants to serve the public. (How dare those FREEPERS try to stop our gravy train. So what if it's their money, we want our gravy-train!)

Perhaps Ithaca officials thought you were just kidding.

Let's turn up the volume so that these Ithaca officials can CLEARLY hear you and CLEARLY understand that your No Means NO!- not maybe.

FYI: Gary Ferguson is another one of the local parasites pushing for the handover of Pine's and the widow's property to Ciminelli- even if it means doing so against their will!

Without question, he stands to financially gain from the scam too, THAT's why he is promoting it without regard to any moral, legal, or commercial sensibilities.

Ferguson KNOWS that the actual cost to build the proposed construction projects is not anywhere near the $26,000,000 quoted. He also KNOWS that the proposed parking garage related to the project does not require $3,000,000 to cover "soft legal fees".

Ferguson also KNOWS that the projects are not even commercially viable in their own right and will result in continuous subsidies and abatements saddled upon the taxpayers of this country for YEARS to come.

He doesn't care because as long as he personally benefits, that's good enough for him. (What a trooper!)

Ferguson has wormed himself into an organization that ostensibly "promotes business" in Ithaca. He doesn't seem to understand the simple fact heavy tax and regulatory burdens, as well as, egregious mismanagement of public funds by Ithaca officials is NOT the way to attract businesses nor foster a healthy commercial marketplace.

Of course by keeping taxes high and regulations invasive, Ferguson and others can then arrange sleazy side-deals that avail tax "discounts" to certain select individuals who would "take care of them"- at everyone else's expense, of course.

Ferguson "works" closely with the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency (another useless, parasitic bureaucracy set up by certain individuals in the 1970's as part of a corrupt patronage system and does little more than waste taxpayer funds on pork-barrel projects that do nothing of any real or lasting consequence but enrich a handful of select political beneficiaries- at EVERYONE else's expense while also spurring on inceasingly higher taxes to fund generous salaries and benefits packages for the administrators of these programs and their cronies.)

Ferguson has shown his stripes with his prosposterous public remarks that completely disregard Pine's and the widow's interests as productive, law-abiding citizens.

Let's also remind this bozo Ferguson (Phone:607-277-8679 Fax:607-277-8691, E-Mail:IDP@downtownithaca.com ) and the other characters that:

-NO! You do NOT want Ithaca officials using YOUR taxpayer monies to in ANY way support the private development of the proposed office/hotel- it is a private development NOT a public works project;

-NO! You do NOT want Ithaca officials using YOUR taxpayer monies to in any way threaten, harass, intimidate, or forcibly expel the co-owner of the property Tom Pine- a productive, law-abiding citizen- and his business (Race Office Supply) from his property- this is a free country and the price of something is determined on the basis of what the interested buyer and seller freely agree to- NOT what Ferguson or any other Ithaca official decides is a “fair” price.

-NO! You do NOT want Ithaca officials using YOUR taxpayer monies to in any way pressure and basically extort one side to enrich the other- this is barbaric and also completely unacceptable;

-NO! You do NOT want Ithaca officials using YOUR taxpayer monies to in any way execute an eminent domain proceeding to seize the property from Pine and the widow against their will and hand it over to another private party (Ciminelli)- This is a free country and we just got rid of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Baathists in Iraq- you do NOT tolerate tyranny, theft, and extortion carried out by Ithaca officials with YOUR taxmoney here in the USA;

-NO! You do NOT want Ithaca officials using YOUR taxpayer monies to convey the woman's ownership interest without any compensation to her- this is the land of the free NOT the land of the thieves and American citizens are NOT entitled to being embezzled- INCLUDING widows.

-NO! You do NOT want Ithaca officials using YOUR taxpayer monies to fund kickbacks of ANY kind- we are NOT interested in having local officials practice Taliban and Baathist economics.

BTW Freepers, Ferguson also KNOWS Ithaca officials secretly used taxpayer- i.e. YOUR- money to hire an attorney to show them how to execute an eminent domain proceeding to "legally" expropriate the property from Pine and the widow and hand it over to Ciminelli. Adding insult to injury, said attorney is connected to...Ciminelli!

FREEPERS, I ask you again to take a few minutes to consider the threat this situation poses to ALL Americans because the crooked lawyers and corrupt officials involved are sharing their techniques with others around the country.

This case could set a precedent where eminent domain is used to extort concessions from one party of a private commercial transaction to the benefit of another and DIRECTLY at taxpayer expense to boot!

VERY ominous indeed!

NOTE: HUD's Inspector General (tel: 202-708-0430) cited Ithaca agencies as lacking the controls necessary to properly administer taxmonies given to them. In fact, when HUD's Inspector General discovered monies had not actually been spent in the manner specified and asked for the whereabouts of these monies, these Ithaca officials involved simply took monies from another taxpayer funded account and replenished the funds missing from the other! In other words they took money from one taxpayer funded account to cover their embezzlement from the other and, thusly, also continue to keep a few steps ahead of the United States Attorney's Office too.

If you share concern across this threat to our great Republic and all of her productive, law-abiding citizens, call Gary Ferguson (Tel: 607-277-8679) and the other Ithaca officials involved (See Below) and let them know No Means NO!

Ithaca Mayor Alan J. Cohen Phone: (607)274-6501 Email: mayor@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member Paulette Manos Phone: (607) 273-4170 Email: paulettem@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member Susan Blumenthal Phone: (607) 272-3931 Email: susanb@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member Patricia Pryor Phone: (607) 273-1741 Email: patp@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member David Whitmore Phone: (607) 273-1254 Email: davidw@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member Diann Sams Phone: (607) 277-8188 Email: dianns@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member Patricia Vaughan Phone: (607) 273-3870 Email: patv@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member Carolyn Peterson Phone: (607) 272-8129 Email: carolynp@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member Peter Mack Phone: (607) 253-7070 Email: peterm@cityofithaca.org

Ithaca Common Council Member Daniel Cogan Phone: (607) 273-2076 Email: dcogan@cityofithaca.org

[Soaring Feather]

bump

[Behind Liberal Lines]

You know whats funny? All of the most educated people in America, teaching at all of the most prestigious schools in America are....*gasp* predominantly Liberal..... maybe thats because it takes an educated person to see things from the liberal POV, whereas any country bumpkin can turn into a flag totin', Toby Keith listenin' "super patriot" who's only interest is in preserving the illusion that we as Americans are looked up to by the rest of the world. While you fellers do that, Us 'evil' Liberals will try to keep our nation from losing all credit with the rest of the world.

Since many, if not most, of the people here who follow the exploits of the "City of Evil" are themselves Cornell graduates, your theory can be shot down pretty easily.

Oh, and speaking of getting shot down...YOU'VE BEEN BANNED