To Vax or
Not to Vax
Someone recently asked me if I had been vaccinated. My reply, of course, was, “what’s it to you?” Why, are you?” It seems that everywhere you look some organization or celebrity, or politician is pushing the “vaccine”. Get vaccinated has become the mantra not only from the left but from some of the more prominent members of the right also. They are trying everything and anything they can to get everyone to get vaccinated. My favorite thing is “Herd Immunity”. Why don’t they just replace the word herd with the word sheep, you know as in herd of sheep.
I’ve always hated being pushed into anything my whole life. I was taught to not follow the leader and to question everything. My mother’s favorite phrase seemed to be, “if your friends decided to jump off of a bridge, would you follow them?”
To be fair I’ll get the vaccine from my doctor. What’s that you say, I can’t, why not? Well, let’s go over some of the reasoning for that.
1. Doctors don’t have the facilities to store the vaccine.
Not true. While it is true that most do not for two of the vaccines, they do have the facilities for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The only problem is the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is the least expensive of the three that have EUA from the FDA. Although the cost of the vaccine is nothing to all of us sheep for now, someone is paying for it. These companies are not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts.
2. Doctors don’t have the expertise required to prepare and administer the vaccine.
But drugstore employees do, yea right.
3. Doctors can’t immunize thousands of people per week.
That is true, a doctor can only immunize a hundred or so per week, but that is a hundred or so less that you have to immunize, times how many doctors?
To be honest, I think there might be a liability issue at play here. If a doctor gives you an unapproved vaccine, he/she is liable if something goes wrong but if it is approved then the drug company is liable. And according to the FDA none of the vaccines are “Approved” they just have “Emergency Use Authorization”, big difference.
If you want to get into a confusing quagmire of facts just go to the CDC and FDA websites. That will keep you busy for months, and that is just their explanations. That does not include worldwide facts and let us not forget the drug companies’ websites.
The bottom line here is that if you choose to get vaccinated that’s fine, just don’t point a finger at those who choose not to. After all we are no threat to those who are vaccinated, right.
Joe Bayona
Quiet the Clock
At the end of April, after almost 18 months of repair, the city clock began to gong again. When we were quarantined in our homes during the lockdown, I was thankful for the blessing of not having the added anxiety of hearing the City Clock blaring every hour reminding us of the hours that were passing as we were stuck in our homes. Believe me, it was heaven not to know the time unless WE wanted to look at our home clock or cell phones. The city no longer had control over us with the constant reminder of time. No noise! We had never known how wonderful it was to live without the sound of the loud clock gong.
Since its recent return to order, I need to use ear plugs to sleep as soundly as during the year it did not work. It was so nice to have quiet evenings. Those of us who live in its shadows, cannot open our windows at night without feeling the gongs in our bedrooms. It’s a terrible abuse of our right to peace and quiet that I never realized that we were being robbed of. It is torture to have a restless night and hear the time being blared in our heads. Residents should not have to experience the intrusion of local government in their homes by imposing unwanted noise every hour. All residents of the city should enjoy a quality of life that include peace and quiet, not the sound of a clock.
What is the modern-day purpose for blaring the time? Perth Amboy’s mayor, 152 years ago, needed the clock to tell him the time. People boarding the ferry could see the clock because it was on the tallest building at the time. City dwellers didn’t have pocket watches, so a city clock was a useful time element while out and about. But why does it need to blare the time in 2021? Those of us who live in close proximity suffer from this clock. Having recently enjoyed an extended period of quiet, hearing it gong now is even more annoying. No one cares what time it is!! Please stop reminding us!
The majority of residents who do not live close to Simpson Methodist Church are blessed to live without this nuisance. They do not hear gongs, gongs, gongs every hour. They can enjoy peace and quiet in their homes. I ask for the silence of the historical city clock. The gongs are no longer useful. In addition, it’s a modern nuisance that is not necessary. It is unfair to those of us who live in the area to suffer from the anxiety that it brings. We cannot enjoy the night breeze with opened windows. In all, the city government shouldn’t impose noise on its citizens in the 21st century.
Having a working clock that tells the time is fine. I’m sure the city is proud of a beautiful historical clock that is still working. Just turn off the noisy gongs! It was silent for over a year, so we all know it can be silenced once more.
It is time to quiet the clock!
Anonymous
