Ravi speaks and speaks and speaks and speaks and speaks and speaks

Ravi Batra has asked if I could post his comment to my previous blog regarding JJOKE flak John Milgrams delay in providing me numerous document requests.

I've decided to offer Ravi a regular column if he wants it (there must be a market for long winded opinions, he is driving a Maybach after all)

So without further delay please find Ravi's comment below.

I'll respond Monday after I decipher what it is he is saying.



"My dear David,

John Milgram is a good and decent family man, and has always loyally and honestly served his principal, be it a newspaper or a high public official. He deserves to be treated with honor.

I have soulfully embraced Patrick Henry’s core and vital contribution to a then young nation, “I will fight to the death for your right to disagree with me,” for society cannot be free without harnessing the power of dissent and criticism that is the First Amendment, for it, much like the separation of powers regime within government, keeps our republic honest, real, transparent, strong and vibrant. Indeed, the American Dream and American exceptionalism exist due to the twin engines of welcome-dissent: one that empowers everyday citizens and the other, for those in power, by diluting it. America at its finest.

That said, I am compelled to post this personal plea, to your better judgment, and request that before the start of JCOPE’s June 26, 2012 meeting you delete your anatomical reference for John Milgram on your blog, and dare I wish for more... that you, instead, ignore any frustration you may feel, and post a gentle apology to a good and decent man, who has a spouse and kids, and a well earned bright future. In our digital world, with instantaneous access to information, a definite boon, yet there lurks an evil: perpetuity. News and opinions remain immortal, no matter the evolution of our positions, as we get older and find out that certainty is less certain, and comprehension of the incrementally elusive nuances more difficult as we doven through life.

Help our state and nation re-embrace “sacred honor” over life, liberty and property as our Founding Fathers did on July 4, 1776. US Attorney Preet Bharara has just concluded his “insider trading” prosecution against Rajat Gupta, because Wall Street forgot that it exists for the benefit of investors on Main Street, and not the other way around. In so doing, he has become a global hero as the EU and Asia slides and we are re-buffeted by the Great Recession. Lincoln understood that identical issue and promised to curb government’s inherent improprieties and make it work for the people.

So, please refrain from personal attacks, for it denigrates your value and hinders, rather than enhances, public confidence in government. New York and Albany is functioning better than ever before in recent memory. Help enhance integrity and restore our collective sacred honor of the Empire state; we are poised for greatness - maybe even a President soon. Help it unfold with integrity so that our hard pressed neighbors find relief and the American Dream is available to all.

While I reserve the right to disagree with you or to learn from critical dissent, I hope that you will permit me the occasional use of my limited First Amendment rights, as I do now.

Dated: 6/23/12
/s/
Ravi Batra
A fellow New Yorker"