Whew, that was close. Hawking warned his followers the earth is heating to 860 degrees Fahrenheit because of something that’s never happened before. In college he joined the University College Boat Club, where he coxed a rowing crew. The rowing coach at the time noted that Hawking cultivated a daredevil image, steering his crew on risky courses that led to damaged boats. He drove his wheelchair the same way and had many close calls and crashes.

He lived in Cambridge, England and many thought he might leave the United Kingdom as a protest against public funding cuts to basic scientific research. That’s the essence of a Socialist mindset, not a freedom loving physicist.
Hawking was a man of fantastic ideas but with little practical value. His ideas about global warming are an example. He wanted all humans to leave the earth within 200 years and go to another planet. Practical? Of course not.
Nevertheless, Hawking was a renowned physicist. He outlived all of the medical predictions; had a few wives,, three children and some pretty unusual romances. He had a very successful life by all accounts. In sum, he was a really great man. 

Time reported: It’s undeniable Hawking made key contributions to both relativity and quantum physics. He came up with the insight that the Big Bang emerged from a singularity, a point so small and dense that the very laws of physics can’t describe it. He couldn’t either.
He figured out what happened when black holes merge. He also came up with the startling and counter-intuitive notion that black holes can evaporate, slowly at first, then faster and faster until they explode—an idea that was at first ridiculed, but which is now mainstream. “This result,” says Bernard Carr, one of Hawking’s former PhD students, “unified relativity and quantum theory and thermodynamics.”

That would be positively mind-blowing—if true. But it’s really not: the so-called “Hawking radiation” that should emerge from black holes draws on those disparate areas of physics, but “unify” means something else entirely. Unifying relativity and quantum physics is something Einstein tried to do for the last two decades of his life, and failed. The best bet for unification these days is string theory—assuming it turns out to be correct, which we may never know.

You can’t blame Hawking for that over-the-top quote, but Hawking himself talks about the honor he felt being inducted into the Royal Society. “My name,” he says “sat alongside Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. Well, yeah, and also along a lengthy list of other scientists you’ve never heard of.”
He had no belief in God which he explained was invented by man.
He took a pragmatic view of what happens to the brain and body after death.
“I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail,” he told the Guardian. “There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”

Hawking spoke more plainly about his thoughts on God in an interview saying: “Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation,” he said. “What I meant by ‘we would know the mind of God’ is, we would know everything that God would know, if there were a God, which there isn’t. I’m an atheist.”
he fundamentally believed that the universe and life have meaning, according to the New York Times.

He said: “Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist,” Hawking said of the meaning of life. “Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.”
He supported Al Gore which proved Hawking got some very important things wrong but he got so much right and it made a difference because we need people who get things right. For all that he got right, nice going. We are all a bit better off because Stephen was here and a bit worse because he’s gone. .

The man who received the highest number of votes for Supervisor ever, Larry Weinstein, was passed over by the Northampton Board of Supervisors in favor of a supervisor who is selling electricity to the Sewage Board. Weinstein was not voted to be Chairman or Vice Chairman. He has the same status on the board as the minority supervisor, Dr. Kim Rose. (See Footnotes #1 and #2). That would be none. The three rulers, Komelasky, Silver and Moore, the Northampton Troika, constitute a majority. They don’t need Larry Weinstein and they just advised him they don’t by not appointing him Chairman or Vice Chairman.

Being chairman is difficult you say? Think again. Come to or watch a Supervisor meeting. See the involvement of the Township Attorney with the chairman. The attorney gives the answers unless the Township Manager does. The Chairman is the person with the gavel but the power may or does lie elsewhere.  

The suspicious votes which shoved Weinstein’s record-breaking number of votes aside, happened less than three weeks after the politicians who run Northampton refused to honor an agreement to sell the old Richboro Schoolhouse to the Community Torah Center. The details are simple. When the time to bid expired only one bidder had submitted a bid.  The successful bid was ignored and another bidder “appeared”. Shortly after the first bid it was increased $50,000 because, apparently, someone reveled their first bid was too low. Is Northampton Corrupt? Is Rice White?

Political Bias Against Weinstein? Crony Appointments? How obvious must Corruption be for the community to holler Enough!

Corruption includes but is not limited to: bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement. All seem to be happening in Northampton. Northampton is close to Philly and other known sources of corrupt politicians so Northampton is not unique but when politicians don’t follow or break the rules the community is at risk. With the recent history of physical assaults during and after Northampton Government meetings, with the un-announced assignment of a plain clothes detective to government meetings, Northampton is further along the Corruption Trail than is evident to a casual observer. All’s well ’til the hurricane hits.

The appearance of impropriety is often like seeing only the tip of an iceberg. Repression of political opponents is another sign there’s more to Northampton Politics than meets the eye. Overlooking Larry Weinstein is a blatant slap in the face to the citizens of Northampotn who turned out and voted for Larry. What does that mean to you? More important, what are you going to do about it?

If history is a guide, very little. There are no more than 10 Northampton citizens at large interested enough in the township to follow the issues. The record setting budget was presented by the township manager. Robert Pellegrino and there was only one  dissenter, Democrat Supervisor Frank Rothermel. How little and how ineffective is the Board of Supervisors when one lone supervisor reads and comments on the record busting budget? How pathetic when so few Northampton citizens show up at the Supervisor Meetings.   

Who’s in charge of Northampton? (Hint: his initials are: George Komelasky). It’s sure not Larry Weinstein, the top vote getter who should do something about it like change his political party. Why be loyal to people who dream up ways to poke their finger in your eye and get away with it? Why support the ruling elite when it’s all one way against you. A moment when you are tested may go un-noticed but when the snakes are out in the open the test is as clear as can be.  

Footnote #1. Democratic Bucks County Commissioner Diane Marseglia is going to run against Republican State Senator “Tommy” Tomlinson per the December 10, 2013 report in the Courier. Rumor is Supervisor Dr. Kim Rose wanted to run for State Senate.

#2. Dr Kim Rose may be gearing up to run for Commissioner Diane Marseglia’s seat as Commissioner.

Will the new Republican administration stand up for the public and continue to show video’s of the Sewage Board Meetings? No. Why Not? Because it’s harder to continue the corruption when the public can see what’s going on.

There’s also the idea of the First Amendment’s Right to Free Speech. The previous Republican administration supported just enough speaking by the citizens to get past a political Bucks County Judge.  During the past two years the amount of free speech in Northampton was greatly increased. Two Citizens Comment periods were included at every Supervisor’s meeting, thanks to the efforts of Supervisor Frank Rothermel. A video camera was installed at the Sewage Board over the fierce opposition of the Chairman. Also included by supervisor Rothermel was his request that citizens comment on Motions after they were proposed and discussed by the board. I’d go further. I’d ask for a show of hands of those present to approve or disapprove of the motion before the vote but I’m more Libertarian on Free Speech, having sued Northampton Township AND WON twice for restricting Free Speech.

There are many reasons government doesn’t want to hear from the people but the most important is the people can speak truth to power. The most dependable attribute of a politician is prevarication. Most of the time the public doesn’t like to hear lies but some politicians have been very successful doing it. Northampton has proven that many times and if history is a guide will continue to shut out and shut up the  public.

But in Northampton the video recording of the sewage board meetings will be stopped because the incoming administration won’t support it. Lights Out at the Sewage Board, Northampton unless more people speak out against it. 

The Northampton Township GOP, that means the elected officials, those appointed by them and the Republican Committee can provide a great service to the people of Northampton. They have within their power the choice to change their behaviors from being aggravating to being normal people. The NGOP changed for the worse several decades ago when they began to play dirty politics. Many of their illicit activities are chronicled on this website. Specifically they targeted individuals instead of trying to broaden their ideas. They sued Northampton citizens for purely political reasons. They violated the rules of the Republican party. They violated the rules of decency and they engaged in criminal activities to promote their political agenda.

The Northampton GOP does not represent “Republicans”. While they benefit from the party label, they add nothing to the party. As Tip O’Neill famously said: “all politics are local” but they aren’t. Politics are local, regional, county wide, state-wide and national. The issues of today have become more important because they are known by more people and the issues are known faster than ever because of the Internet. The success of the Democratic party on the national level happened partly because of the higher use of the internet and of internet savvy people and mostly because the Democratic Party saw the potential and used it. the Republicans fell behind but that’s changing.

The Northampton GOP can once again play by the rules. If they do the people of Northampton will benefit. If not the level of discourse will get even more crude. The choice is with the NGOP.