Have you heard about this new biography of our Governor? Seems it describes a mean and often scary man who has a bent for minute details and revenge, often for minor slights.

Looking over the state executive division's latest press releases this week this all falls into place. On the one hand there's a lot of trumpeting... of successful solar and other clean energy projects, of monies saved through the cutting of red-tape charges. On the other, the Governor put out a list of some 162 vetoes he's made since the budget passed a few weeks ago. Natural stuff, some of us could say, were it not so much minutiae and if we didn't know how an excuse such as "adequate funding already provided for," or an amount being too minimal to matter, means so much more on the receiving end.

Just because something is government-funded, is it bad? A few years ago everyone was rushing to say yes. But then the flurry of cuts started to hit elements of everyday life, or people we knew... our kids' education. Now not everyone's ready to rush to steal pennies.

Consider, if you will, how these things play out in our local scene. You cut a highway worker and someone loses a job. That's less money spent at the local stores. Less taxes collected to cover public programs. Less people to do a job that doesn't necessarily get easier because someone wills it so.

Or what the education cuts have done to us all over these recent years, including how much fun they've ripped from our schools. Don't see it? Probably means you don't have kids complaining about the lack of cool programs, drops in field trips, more tests (another subject all its own, what with the new "sit and stare" alternative being suggested for parents who want their kids to "opt out"). Or you're stuck in some time warp belief that what worked half a century ago, before computers and entertainment's rise into predominance over civic engagement and everything else, could possibly work now.

But back to the governor... Does it really matter how he acts, beyond the effects he has on the minutiae of all our lives? Yes, in terms of the way he's setting an example for other governance around our area, throughout the state, all over the globe. Some say he's a lot like Lyndon Baines Johnson. But LBJ pushed through some real humdinger changes which, controversial or not, still rule the fabric of our lives. Do without Medicaid and Medicare and equal rights? Not so easily...

The elements at play this administration are picky. Which makes it no wonder that our news cycle, on this small town level, keeps sliding back towards endless lawsuits, scurrilous charges, and a failure to look at the large picture ramification of present actions because we're all so concentrated on our own senses of hurt, or vengeance.

So we send people to jail... and leave great swathes of our area with more unfinished buildings. We champion big ideas but forget to actually hire those that can get them done. We talk big games only to nestle in at night for yet another evening of Dancing With The Stars.

And yet... around us big things continue to happen. A billion dollar casino resort does get built a less than an hour's drive away. A big natural attraction finally gets its due. The Shawangunks start to become a worldwide tourism draw. We wake up and realize that what we have IS special and we just need to clean it up and present it to others the right way to make it all part of our actual livelihoods.

We stop blaming others and work hard, eye that minutiae, for simpler good. Which in the end breeds more good.

It's Earth Day next week and we urge you all to get outside for it, even if for an hour in the evening. Even if it's raining or colder than one might wish. Leave your inner thoughts a moment and simply breathe in where we live. Listen. Then look around and see what's around. Fix what needs fixing. But more importantly, remember what a great thing this earth is. All of it. And live!