Why do we Absolutely Need the Electoral College? 

Ben Vitale

Our forefathers were by no means stupid… In fact they showed exactly how intelligent that they were by creating the Electoral College! Sheer genius! They knew that a presidential election built around the popular vote would create a disaster!

States like Wyoming, Alaska, Delaware, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Vermont would be considered to be a joke!  Yep! They all have less than 1,000,000 residents. Without the Electoral College they wouldn’t even receive the crumbs! Even the birds receive the crumbs! LOL!

If the criteria for winning a presidential election was “the popular vote, all a politician had to do is pander to the residents of NY, Florida, California, and Texas, and he would win the election. There is no reason to give anything to the remaining 44 states… Zero! Nada! They just don’t count under this system! The presidential candidate did not need them in order to get elected!

Hummm… 44 states that were totally pissed off at a president for ignoring them could cause massive damage to the United States! The United States is not really one country, but a union of 48 states that have agreed to create a Federal government for the common protection. As we all have observed, this has gotten out of control!

You might also want to read a wonderful article by Mackenzie Eaglen, which explains the concerns about the common defense of our country! http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/01/why-provide-for-the-common-defense

Guess what! We are not stupid! A casual consideration of a popular vote presidential election does indeed reveal the possibility of massive abuse, and a possible catastrophe for our country! Unfortunately the internet has brainwashed most of us to respond to “one liners,” without even thinking that we were not given enough information to enable an intelligent decision! If a person really expects you to accept the idea of changing our country’s electoral process to a popular vote system, on the basis of a one liner, they are really and intentionally insulting your intelligence!  It is time to revolt against the internet indoctrination and start thinking for ourselves!

Also Published on: http://patch.com/new-york/patchogue/why-do-we-absolutely-need-electoral-college

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Stranded Whale Rescue East Moriches, NY 

Ben Vitale

As reported yesterday, a Whale went aground in East Moriches, NY, near the Coast Guard station. I went down to EM to see if the whale was extricated… No such luck!

By chance I met two people near the water who were very upset because the whale has not received adequate help within 24 hours! I advised the couple to remain anonymous, in lieu of the current atmosphere of fines, for getting closer than 200 yards to the whale! Let’s call this couple John and Janet!

John who appeared to be a naturalist had resources such as a dredge and a helicopter, available to him to possibly help extricate the whale.

The DEC, and the Coast Guard advised of severe fines for going closer than 200 yard from the whale! The riverhead foundation advised that you should not go close to the whale because you would only get him upset! Upset hummm! Janet told me that the whale was actually exhibiting behavior that she considered to be “crying!” Is it possible that the whale was actually crying! OK! All of the above agencies are waiting for a Marine scientist to arrive from Massachusetts, to survey the situation! 

Newsday reports that the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation was out in boats that were intentionally making waves hoping that they could move the whale off of the sand bar! 

John and Janet had heavy equipment that was available to them, but were forbidden to use it!

It has become obvious to me that all of the above agencies were totally unprepared to deal with an emergency of this type! All of the above agencies should have had regular disaster preparedness drills so that they would not flounder when a real emergency occurred!  Whales do not normally appear in Moriches Bay, but they do appear in the waters west of the Verrazano Bridge in Brooklyn, NY. I believe that as we speak, a whale is indeed in the water east of the bridge! In the absence of a disaster preparedness drill, all of the above agencies are forced to respond with the only tool that they have… Fines!

I do not believe in writing an article that is critical of an agency, without making a suggestion that might help the situation! I have navigated the waters in Moriches Bay, with my 30 foot Reliance cruiser that is bigger than the whale that is currently stranded! A boat or a whale must stay in the Moriches bay channel! I have managed to get my boat stuck on sandbars in Moriches bay twice, while traveling at a speed of about Five miles per hour! In both cases, it took me Two minutes to extricate my boat from the sandbars, using the 90 horsepower engine at about 500 RPM.  What if a Bunge cord were temporarily attached to the whale’s tail? The ground in Moriches bay is not rocky, but slippery! A small boat may be able to help this whale by slowly pulling the bungee cord! It is not that difficult to get off of a sandbar, when you got stuck at a speed of only 5 miles per hour! I’ve been there!  Just a thought! The whale could not be very far from the channel because the tides are not very high!

Also… If you drop 30 people with shovels into the water, they may be able to clear enough sand to help extricate the whale. You might also make a call to Stony Brook university Marine Sciences department, and ask them if they may be able to help!  In the past they have been doing research on Whales; I have spoken to a few of the graduate students in the past! The Marine Sciences department does have a boat, and I would bet that they would be available to help! 

Also published at: http://patch.com/new-york/patchogue/stranded-whale-rescue-east-moriches-ny

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Patchogue Knights of Columbus Will Collect Food Items at our Christmas Parade

Ben Vitale

On Saturday November 26, 2016, Patchogue village will be having its annual Christmas parade, starting at 6pm. The Patchogue Knights of Columbus will be collecting food and non-perishable items for our local food pantries. The K of C will be collecting these food items along the parade route.  Please bring these food items with you to the parade! 

Also published on:
  http://patch.com/new-york/patchogue/patchogue-knights-columbus-will-collect-food-items-our-christmas-parade

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Clickbait Journalism and Fake News Sites

Ben Vitale

(This article represents the opinion of the author, and does not in any way represent the opinion of this news media site or its affiliates)

College students crying in the streets over this presidential election… Perfectly justified!

A clickbait journalist receives money from his sponsors, every time someone clicks on his headline! So… The tendency is to promise the world in the headline, and only deliver one piece of popcorn as a reward for reading his article!  Only one piece of popcorn… Frustration!

You might want to read an article written by  Madison Malone Kircher, which features a list of Fake Facebook and Social media news sites. The following list of questionable news sites was compiled by Melissa Zimdars, a communication and media professor from Merrimack College in Massachusetts.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10eA5-mCZLSS4MQY5QGb5ewC3VAL6pLkT53V_81ZyitM/preview

Clickbait type headlines, that contain false information, have the same effect on an adult as holding an ice cream bar in front of a child, but just out of reach! Yes absolute frustration and damaging to his mental well-being! I see college students crying in the streets! Some see this as a weakness with this new generation; I see this as a generation that has not yet realized that they must protect themselves from Baitclick type news sites. In actuality, these sites have the effect of waging mental warfare on the readers mind! Crying in the streets… Perfectly valid after being attacked by a subliminal emotional demolition campaign! This election campaign actually made me physically and emotionally sick! Yep, I am almost as old as Moses, so emotional damage is not limited to college students! LOL!

Madison Malone Kircher, gets his news from some mainstream news sites but also advises that… “The best thing to do in our contemporary media environment is to read/watch/listen widely and often, and to be critical of the sources we share and engage with on social media.”

If you click on an online news site headline, believing that the article is about to bring the news that you have been waiting for, but are disappointed when you read it… You have just been taken as a victim to clickbait journalism! 

Kudos to both Madison Malone Kircher, and Melissa Zimdars, for an article that is so profound, that it should absolutely be read by every college student, even if they are not studying journalism!

Also published at: 
http://patch.com/new-york/patchogue/clickbait-journalism-fake-news-sites

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I Hope that the Democratic Party Re-groups 

Photo Credit: Google

Ben Vitale

I published parts of the following article to multiple sites, including a Democratic Party Facebook site.  I was very surprised with some of the replies that I received! Please read the following text:

I believe in a two party system! The Democrats destroyed their image by participating in a "Tabloid style” election campaign!" Study "propaganda and you will discover that it is not a good idea to allow your political party to present itself as being synonymous, with a "Tabloid." This is like demoting the CEO of a company, to a “rank and file, low paying position, in the company. 

Your publicity people should be fired! They really screwed up the election! I do not want to see our two party system, become a one party system! You as a political party have just hours to salvage the future of your party! Immediately at the speed of light, demand that Democrats stop rioting, immediately! You must "come-on" as if the world is coming to an end! Now, not later! You must show that the Democrats are human beings, not rioting criminals, who don't give a s(expletive)  for our laws, and our constitution!

I am no longer politically correct because of your Tabloid campaign, so... Your leadership is too f(expletive)  stupid to see that the boat is sinking, and too intimidated to turn on the bilge pump! A sad day for our country!

I received five replies from Democrats telling me that they do not know of any Democrat that is rioting in response to the election! They essentially said that they are descent people and absolutely will not get involved with, or condone rioting! They were surprised that Democrats are rioting! Actually the people that are rioting are being bused- in, and in some cases actually being paid to riot! This premise needs to be investigated!

I believe that the Democrats that I spoke to are indeed descent people. I really hope that the Democrats re-group and stop the rioting! If they don’t, the Democratic Party will be forever doomed! We must return to the two party system! A one party system is called a dictatorship!

I am hoping that a Democrat, in this case President Obama, will get on the TV and demand that the rioting stop immediately, because it is doing insurmountable damage! The party of peaceful academics is now flying the battle flag of violence! There is no possibility of recovery unless the Democratic Party finds a way of disassociating their traditional good name, from an army of rioting cowards!

Also published on: 
http://patch.com/new-york/patchogue/i-hope-democratic-party-re-groups

DO IT! (This is the premise that defines my life!)

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