Venditto the Tax Increaser Shows Nerve Speaking at Anti-Tax Rally

TOBAY Supervisor John Venditto was one of the few local elected officials to speak at the Nassau Young Republican Tea Party. The rally with puportedly was about how we are being taxed too much is an odd place for Venditto to speak considering he increased taxes in the Town of Oyster Bay by 11%.
Venditto has an odd rationalization for raising taxes as he told the Massapequa Post "We all hate taxes but I think residents understand that the we've been mindful at a local level," said Venditto who added that the budget maintains the status quo on all of the Town's programs and projects"

What does Venditto mean by "status quo?" According to the budget, there is only a 2.8% spending increase. How does a 2.8% spending increase equal an 11% tax increase?

Venditto continues "The success of this Town isn't measured in budget tables but how well it serves its people," the Supervisor said. "When I start to work on a budget I think of about our young people, who may now be able to buy their first home or senior citizens who can now remain here," said the Supervisor."

But what Venditto isn't thinking much about or even talking about is the $400million in debt the Town has. And how does the Town "serve it's people?" By Bonding over $54million to make up fro lack of funds. Venditto and the all-republican Town Board borrows heavily on the backs of the young people who want to buy their first home.

The Post article continuies "Venditto called the budget lean, cost efficient and financially responsible.
"When we took over in the late 90's the Town was in dire financial straights with a $30-million deficit. I don't want to undo any of the good work we've done," said Venditto. "I think this budget is a fiscally responsible one that still allows the Town to continue its programs and services that make Oyster Bay a desirable place to live."

WHAT?????
I would call being $454million in the hole somewhat dire considering the downturn in local revenues. And again, it is the constant Bonding that allows the Town to continue it's programs and services. Without those bonds, there would be a deficit higher than the one Venditto says he inherited.

Venditto has real balls to stand up and speak at an anti-tax rally when he is taxing the TOBAY residents more and borrowing more money to keep his "status quo."

Venditto can't stand higher taxes unless he is the one raising them!

Nassau Young Republican Tea Party Draws One's of People

The belated tea bagging by the Young Reps brought out a crowd that could fit in a booth at Friendly's. Not counting the Young Rep organizers and the speakers, the crowd ballooned to about 35-40. The speakers spoke from atop a flat-bed truck which provided an empty stage for the basically unknown featured speakers.

Brett Joshpe? Who the hell was he?

David Webb? Another unknown. And like Joshpe, from reading the hype on their websites you would think they were household names.

And then there was KT McFarland. You may remember her as being a possible candidate to challenge then-Senator Clinton back in 2006. McFarland gained some attention when she said that "Hillary Clinton is really worried about me, and is so worried, in fact, that she had helicopters flying over my house in Southampton today taking pictures."

I'd fire whoever booked the speakers.

Then there were a few elected officials like Assemblyman Dave McDonough, TOBAY Supervisor John Venditto and TOBAY Coucilwoman and photo-op queen Rose Walker.

The day was a rousing success if you measure success on a huge curve.

More Massapequa Tea Bag Party Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from the republican tea bag party....
(click pictures to enlarge)

This guy was manning a microphone and trying his best at arousing the tea baggers. He had a simple schtick in-between bad quasi-patriotic country music. At one point this guy says we have to "get rid of Nancy Pelosi" and either "send her TO China" or "send her BACK TO China." I'm correct in saying that Nancy Pelosi is a citizen of the country and born of Italian descent which makes it odd that she should go "back to" China where she was never from in the first place.
Then of course he gave us the "No Taxation Without Representation" rally cry. Again, I am correct in saying that we have duly elected representatives covering every inch of these United States. Maybe the genius missed the election last november.


Speaking of Nancy Pelosi, this poor soul seems to have missed the election too and assumes that Speaker of the House Pelosi ascended to the presidency.


And speaking of last november's elections, this poor dear believes that she is in the "majority." If she were, there would not be a President Obama and an overwhelming Democratic congress.


I wanted to ask this person who he/she (couldn't tell) believes is in congress and does not "Love the USA."


Here is a classic. "Abolish the FED!" Exactly what would replace the central banking system of the United States? Who will be a stop-gap for bank panics? Who will protect consumer bank users? I will assume the person holding the sign 1) knows what the "FED" is and 2) has a reasonable replacement in mind.


This guy wants to "save the children." And of course he missed the part where stimulus money was going to education and would save the schools from cutting programs.


And last but not least here is republican legislature candidate Joe Belesi in the suit, not the stupid hat. Joe here was a police union boss who retired from the county with a $400,000 pay-out and a $100,000+ pension and medical coverage for him and his family. He is now working for the drunk driver Minority Leader Peter Schmitt taking more money from county taxpayers.

Massapequa Tea Bagger Brings the Crazy

Here is a sign I pretty much expected to see....



This loon still believes that there is a grand conspiracy to hide the "fact" that President Obama was not born in Hawaii but in Kenya and is ineligible to be President.

The grand conspiracy involved the REPUBLICAN Governor of Hawaii who is keeping Obama's "real" birth certificate hidden, the Clinton campaign who had the money and the connections to dig up any dirt on Obama, and the State of Hawaii which does the bidding of a junior senator from Illinois, and the Department of State which issues Obama a passport and a whole host of other agencies.

Obama was born in Hawaii, you nut.

There is another nut job in Massapequa who spews forth on a local website who still clings to the birth certificate conspiracy among other things. It wasn't him holding the sign.. maybe just a fan. We'll get to him in a future post.

Massapequa Tea Bag Party Pictures

I went to the Massapequa Tea Bag Party this afternoon. The Tea baggers were lined up on Sunrise Highway (some on the south side) with their signs causing traffic to slow to a crawl.
I wade into the crowd of about 150-200 to take some pictures and see what was up. The snippets of conversations I heard made my ears bleed. They might not be indicative of the whole crowd but what I heard was a lack of understanding of the issues. Then I heard "... FOX News..." and "... 770AM..." and that pretty much explained the lack of knowledge.

Here are a few pictures of the crowd.


These two seem to have forgotten that the economic mess we are in was caused by 8 years of George W. Bush and 6 of those years with a republican congress. Actually, the whole crowd seems to have developed selective amnesia, blocking Jan. 2001 to Jan. 2009.
I'd like to point out to these two mouth breathers the illegal wiretaps that were unconstitutional. Who did that again, guys?



Here is someone who believes that access to healthcare for all Americans will cause death. Universal Healthcare means access. It means healthier citizens. It means insurance companies can't deny treatment as they do every single day.
Universal Healthcare works fine elsewhere. Why not here?




I wonder if this fine fellow voted for George W. Bush. I bet he did.
Now I wonder if he was just as upset and took to the street when the debt increased 71% under Bush. That is a $10trillion debt President Obama INHERITED.
Does it matter that Bush inherited an annual federal budget surplus of $230 billion from Clinton and in just three short years turned it into a $500+ billion deficit? This negative turnaround of three-quarters of a trillion dollars.

More pictures later....