Buffalo Dave

We are off to another early start on Christmas this year I see. A lot of people already have their Christmas decorations put up and turned on. I suppose it helps that the weather has been so nice. I think everyone is tryting to get them done before we get hit with some kind of arctic blast that everyone knows is just waiting to catch us off guard.

The radio stations, more specifically WJYE and Star102, are playing Christmas music already. It’s not even Thanksgiving yet. Every year when this happens you start to hear a few people grumble and mumble about it being too early to start with all of this.

I for one applaud the early Christmas mood. Christmas is by far my favorite holiday. When I hear a good classic Christmas song from Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Andy Williams or Johnny Mathis it just causes a little stir in my stomach that reminds me to be nice to people and be happy. For Christmas is coming and all is right with the world at least for a few days.

I can’t help but think back to my childhood when I would be out building an igloo with my brothers in the snow. We used to dig tunnels in the snow in the sides of snowbanks. Then we would take buckets of crabapples and throw them at each other like it was some kind of war zone. If only it was possible to return to a time when our biggest concern was whether or not school was going to be closed for the day so we could go play in the snow. What a great childhood it was.

When you look at the happy little kids around you have to envy them. There is bliss in ignorance. They haven’t the slightest care in the world about the economy, the war in the middle east or terrorists. Nope. They worry about things like how bad it is going to hurt when they have to go to the doctor tomorrow and get their swine flu vaccination. They worry about when it is time to leave their grandpa’s house on Sunday because they are having too much fun playing with cousins and their uncles. Ahh, to be that young and care free again. Then they get to look forward to Santa Claus.

I just love the holidays. I can’t imagine them being the same if we were to move out of western NY. This is home and holidays remind us of that. With all of its baggage, this is still the place that we were born and raised. In the words of the great Marv Levy “Where would you rather be than right here right now?”

Apparently governor Paterson is the only Democrat in Albany who realizes how the policies this state has adopted over the last several decades is driving people, especially educated people, out of the state. Say what you want about Paterson. People love to bash the guy. Yet, I find it funny that he is the only vocal Democrat who stands up against the rest of the New York state democrats by insisting that the residents of New York State have been taxed to death.

People are leaving this state in droves. They are leaving for jobs. They are leaving because New York is so unfriendly to business that big businesses do not want to operate here. The only way we can get a real fortune 500 company to expand operations in Western NY is to bribe them with some kind of tax breaks or other incentive. How ridiculous is that?

The funny thing is that corporate America knows that the population of New York State is a highly educated one with plenty of skills. Yet this obvious advantage is not enough to overcome the red tape and other baggage that comes along with a New York State corporate address. That is a damn shame.

I can’t count how many people I graduated high school with who have uprooted their families for greener financial pastures in places like North and South Carolina. We were reminded of how many people have left Buffalo when we saw the thousands of Buffalo Bills fans at the Carolina Panthers game a couple weeks ago. That is downright embarrassing.

These damn politicians (Paterson excluded) just don’t realize what they have done. Instead they keep raising taxes on the people who remain here to make up for the shortfall from the ones who left. They are dreaming up ways of collecting new revenue. Instead of altering the tax and spend policies that are at the root of the problem the exacerbate the problem even more. Political genius at its best.

When is there going to be a state constitutional convention for voters to vote on in the ballet box? Isn’t it about time we had one?