After reading about his remarks during a speech on social security, I wrote the following letter to Congressman Hinchey. (Yeah, despite what I wrote about not being a letter-writing nutjob, lately, I have been writing a lot, haven't I?)

Thank you, or your staff, for reading my letter. I believe in complete disclosure. The above address and phone number are mine, but it is a weekend house. I am actually registered to vote not in Ulster County, but in Castleton, Rensselaer County, where I spend weekdays. (I teach at the University at Albany, SUNY.) I grew up in your district, in West Shokan in the Town of Olive, and most of my family still lives and works there. I don't actually receive mail at 20 Jomar Lane, but since everyone knows who I am, the postmaster will deliver any letters I receive to my parents.

I have been considering changing my voter enrollment to Olivebridge, because I would very much like to vote in the school board and school budget election (due to the large parcel which is devastating to Olive). However, although fighting for Olive's resources is vital to me, I am not sure changing my enrollment would be ethical, so I probably won't. I read on the earlier screen that you do not respond to non-constituents, but I believe as a 22nd district native and Ulster County taxpayer, I am a constituent. What I mean is that I am not some nutjob who is broadcasting letters all over the place.

Recently your name has been in the national news because of some remarks you made in Ithaca about the CBS News/Dan Rather debacle. Maybe I am sensitive because of the way the media and other towns in the school district and County have been victimizing Olive over the large parcel issue, and then the way Kingston and Ulster have been portrayed on TV because of the recent mall shooting, but I feel embarrassed for you, and for the 22nd district.

You are missing the point entirely, that a respectable network like CBS, the news division, one of America's most venerable programs, 60 Minutes, and Dan Rather did such shoddy research. 60 Minutes has always been one of my father's favorite programs, and we watched it since its inception in the 1970s. I hardly ever missed an episode until September, when they imploded.

If, as you suggest, they were fooled by someone (and to be honest the fakes were not very convincing to anyone who has ever used a computer or a typewriter) it shows incredibly poor powers of discernment for what is supposed to be an organization that prides itself on research. How could they be so gullible? Or did they want to believe the memos, and didn't care if they were faked? What else have they reported over the years that was based on faulty evidence, either because they were naive, or unethical? If your suspicion is incorrect, and they manufactured the memos internally the story is even more chilling.

Mr. Hinchey, I wrote above that I am not a nutjob broadcasting letters; I am not. I am concerned primarily with local issues that concern Olivebridge, the Ashokan Reservoir, Ulster County, Castleton, and Albany. My family is a mixture of Democrats and Republicans, and I am an independent. We don't argue politics that much (OK, my grandmother did, she worshipped FDR and was straight-ticket) but we all vote. In Olive, we all get along pretty well, and take pride in the endeavors of everyone in our community; in some ways that may be another legacy of the reservoir.

Whether I agreed or disagreed with you on an issue, over the years I have thought you are a bright person, admired your career through the Assembly to Congress, felt proud of your Saugerties roots, and believed you to be a worthy representative of my beloved hometown.

But right now I am feeling like you have taken leave of your senses. Having our Congressman make irresponsible and paranoid allegations of conspiracy theories does nothing to highlight our region in a positive way. Yes, some among the fringe elements may applaud you (in my mind's eye I see WDST, the Woodstock Times, and Alan Chartock giving you high fives), but I assure you, the plain folks I know will just shake their heads and think you are not the sharpest tool in the shed. Maybe you need a vacation? Why not go spend some time back in the beautiful Catskill Mountains and take pleasure in the beauty of nature. That grounds me when I am uptight. I call this the little picture focus, that is really the big picture. (Washington D.C. surely isn't.) It might bring you back to reality.