Several days ago I sent out an announcement of my upcoming appearance before a hearing to be conducted by the New York State Senate’s Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs.
I am once again providing you with the information about the hearing that will be conducted today, Friday, April 8th and feature a number of prominent witnesses, most notably Rep. Peter King, the Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and Ray Kelly, the Commissioner of the NYPD and Charles Faddis, Retired CIA Operations Officer / Head of Counterterrorism Unit (WMD) among others. I have provided you, at the bottom of this e-mail, with a schedule of the witnesses including the time they are to testify and the topics they will cover.
The hearing will seek to determine what progress has been made since September 11, 2001 to protect our nation and New York State.
The information about the hearing includes a link to the streaming video of the hearing.
I hope you will be able to attend if you are in New York or, at the least, watch the streaming video.
You should know that there has been a change in the “batting order.” I was originally scheduled to be the fourth witness at this hearing- I have been bumped up to testify as the third witness at the hearing immediately after Rep. Peter King and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly. I now scheduled to begin my testimony at about 10:45 AM Eastern Daylight Savings Time (of course the exact time is tentative).
I am also providing you with a copy of my prepared testimony for the hearing here:
If you have any problem opening this document, I have also provided you with the opened version of the document at the end of this e-mail. PLease feel free to share this material with as many folks as you like.
We the People must be the best citizens we can be, citizens who are worthy of the gallantry demonstrated by our valiant men and women in the military, law enforcement and firefighters, who routinely go in harm’s way in defense of this nation and our citizens.
My goal is to point out our nations many failings before more victims pay the ultimate price for the incompetence and ineptitude of our government.
The first step in problem-solving is to first identify the problems and vulnerabilities and then devise strategies to overcome them.
If you find yourself to be in agreement with this commentary, I ask that you forward it to as many of your friends and family members as possible and encourage them to do the same. We need to create a “Bucket Brigade of Truth!”
The practice of good citizenship does not end in the voting booth, it only begins there.
The large scale apathy demonstrated by citizens of this nation has emboldened elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the average American citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the promises of votes to be ostensibly delivered by special interest groups. There is much that we cannot do but there is one thing that We the People absolutely must do- we must stop sitting on the sidelines!
The collective failure of We the People to get involved in make our concerns known to our politicians have nearly made the concerns of the great majority of the citizens of this nation all but irrelevant to the politicians. I implore you to get involved!
I believe our nation’s is greatly benefited by the rich diversity of our people which is why I could never imagine living anywhere except New York City, arguably the most diverse city in our nation if not, in fact, the world. However, my idea of diversity most certainly does not include members of MS-13, the Mexican drug cartels or members of other transnational gangs or members of al-Qaeda!
If tour nation’s continuing failures to secure its borders and create an immigration system with real integrity concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation!
All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!
We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.
This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!
You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs Next committee event
