the Bleeding Heart Capitalist

One of the unique pieces of local lore attached to Ossining is the Leatherman, a well known drifter seen for decades around Westchester and Fairfield counties in the late 1800s who is buried in Sparta cemetery.

His origins were largely unknown. He was unique: a quiet, itinerant wanderer who walked a 365 mile loop through the Hudson Valley and Connecticut clad entirely in leather, slept in outdoor shelters of his own making, he seldom spoke (and when he did, it was often in French) and revealed little about himself. What we do know of him is largely derived from old newspaper records mentioning his comings and goings, and the odd word of mouth stories passed through the generations. I learned of the Leatherman in the late 1970′s from my scoutmaster.

He was kindly and helpful but immensely private. While a vagabond, he was well regarded enough for many towns to exempt him from local vagrant statutes, and he came and went freely. He died in 1889 near Ossining, and was buried in a pauper’s grave in Sparta Cemetery on Route 9. Recently, the Ossining Historical Society petitioned the court to move the grave due to its close proximity to the widening highway, and to exhume and study his remains for any forensic DNA evidence of his true ethnicity and perhaps his medical condition.

Over the protests of some, the exhumation took place May 25, 2011 and his grave was dug up and relocated to higher ground on the small, historic cemetery, further in from the road. The Leatherman had the last say in the exhumation. The fiercely private, enigmatic old soul will remain a mystery- all that remained of his corporeal form was the soil and a few coffin nails.

Awful.

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” Teddy Roosevelt

This hung in the boathouse of the Villanova Crew when I was on the rowing team. 

Today’s Journal News editorial favoring gay marriage allows comments, and of course the first guy has to say “Rome is upon us.” Yes, bestowing civil rights is what caused the Roman Empire to decline. I remember that well from history class. Rome was overrun by the more civilized Huns and collapsed from within because personal liberty and freedom ran amok. Sodomy caused the dark ages. I totally forgot that. 

Gay marriage won’t make us Rome. Gay Marriage will make us New York, the state that gave the USA Susan B Anthony, the Roosevelts, and played a huge part in the Underground Railroad. Gay marriage puts us on the right side of human rights. 

No true fiscal conservative should oppose gay marriage. It is good for the economy. 

No true pro life supporter should oppose gay adoption. It is a pro-life choice. 

Social conservatives seem more commited to the suicide pact of knee jerk orthodoxy instead of a reasoned, organic approach to growing the economy in a sustainable way. Take all those resources devoted to suppressing equal rights for gay Americans and gays in the military and harness their vast talents. Let gay folks walk in the sun with the rest of us. 

I have dozens of gay clients. They are all good, decent, honorable people and they have helped keep my business open through a really bad downturn in the industry. I am feeding my children and building my empire thank in significant part to gay people, not seeing my empire decline. 

This is the first time that the North has killed a S Korean civilian since 1953. Yet China can’t condemn the attack and can’t parse words enough to avoid ruffling feathers of a Kangaroo Country?  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/world/asia/29korea.html?_r=1&hp

Just posted Westchester Home Sales Down, but Better Than US Average By Far on Active Rain.