Saturday, February 26, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Disgraceful!
I've been pretty quiet with respect to what's going on in Wisconsin. I mentioned it in this post, but other than that I haven't really said much. Since that post, the story has gone national and everyone and their brother has put their two cents in, whether they know what they're talking about or not.
When Obamacare was shoved down our collective throats despite the fact the citizens were against it, we heard "elections have consequences". Well, that holds true on both sides of the aisle.
Wisconsin is in a budgetary crisis. The reason for this is the past practices of bowing down to the unions, raising taxes sky high, therefore running businesses out of the state, and when faced with a shortfall, illegally raiding set-aside funds to fill the hole. Scott Walker ran on a platform of fiscal responsibility. He promised to FIX the budget - not put a band-aid on it for a couple of years, but to REPAIR it. Wisconsinites apparently took a shine to this idea, because not only did Scott Walker win the gubenatorial election, but Republicans took over the house and the senate. Now we have an administration that is attempting to do exactly what they promised - repair the budget. Imagine that.
Ahhh - but the democrats don't like that. Previously, their modus operandi would be to whine and cry, and if that didn't work they would resort to thuggery to bend the administration to do their bidding. When this didn't work with Governor Walker, what did they do? They ran away. They skipped town. Now, I don't know about you, but in MY world, things happen in my office that I don't agree with. Frequently. HOWEVER, I'm kinda thinkin' that if I just ran away because I didn't agree with the boss or the majority of the coworkers, I'd be FIRED!!! Yet these senate democrats are, in effect, holding they're breath till they turn blue hoping that the State of Wisconsin will cave. Disgraceful!! They have become an embarrassment. And to have the nerve to call it democracy?? Sounds more to me as if they don't like the way the game is being played so they're taking their ball and going home. What they DIDN'T count on is that they don't have the only ball on the playground.
The fact of the matter is that if the bill doesn't pass today, layoffs will begin. And WHO, pray tell, will they blame that on? Well Walker, of course. They will take NO responsibility for the fact that they are trying to halt the democratic process. That if the layoffs occur, the blame will lay solely on those who decided not to show up for work. Folks - they were elected to do a job, and I don't know that the job description called for them to run away when the going gets tough. I certainly hope that these senators are teaching their children better than that. What kind of example are they setting?
To the Wisconsin 14 - get back to work. You are embarrassing yourselves and you are displaying a gross dereliction of duty. Running away and hiding out in resorts is NOT what you were elected to do.
You are a disgrace.
When Obamacare was shoved down our collective throats despite the fact the citizens were against it, we heard "elections have consequences". Well, that holds true on both sides of the aisle.
Wisconsin is in a budgetary crisis. The reason for this is the past practices of bowing down to the unions, raising taxes sky high, therefore running businesses out of the state, and when faced with a shortfall, illegally raiding set-aside funds to fill the hole. Scott Walker ran on a platform of fiscal responsibility. He promised to FIX the budget - not put a band-aid on it for a couple of years, but to REPAIR it. Wisconsinites apparently took a shine to this idea, because not only did Scott Walker win the gubenatorial election, but Republicans took over the house and the senate. Now we have an administration that is attempting to do exactly what they promised - repair the budget. Imagine that.
Ahhh - but the democrats don't like that. Previously, their modus operandi would be to whine and cry, and if that didn't work they would resort to thuggery to bend the administration to do their bidding. When this didn't work with Governor Walker, what did they do? They ran away. They skipped town. Now, I don't know about you, but in MY world, things happen in my office that I don't agree with. Frequently. HOWEVER, I'm kinda thinkin' that if I just ran away because I didn't agree with the boss or the majority of the coworkers, I'd be FIRED!!! Yet these senate democrats are, in effect, holding they're breath till they turn blue hoping that the State of Wisconsin will cave. Disgraceful!! They have become an embarrassment. And to have the nerve to call it democracy?? Sounds more to me as if they don't like the way the game is being played so they're taking their ball and going home. What they DIDN'T count on is that they don't have the only ball on the playground.
The fact of the matter is that if the bill doesn't pass today, layoffs will begin. And WHO, pray tell, will they blame that on? Well Walker, of course. They will take NO responsibility for the fact that they are trying to halt the democratic process. That if the layoffs occur, the blame will lay solely on those who decided not to show up for work. Folks - they were elected to do a job, and I don't know that the job description called for them to run away when the going gets tough. I certainly hope that these senators are teaching their children better than that. What kind of example are they setting?
To the Wisconsin 14 - get back to work. You are embarrassing yourselves and you are displaying a gross dereliction of duty. Running away and hiding out in resorts is NOT what you were elected to do.
You are a disgrace.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
An Open Letter to Public School Teachers
I seriously wish I could take credit for this, but I can't.
Ms. Nameth - I applaud you.
I would like to introduce myself. I am Liz Nameth and I pay your wages.I STRONGLY encourage you to read the rest here.
First off, I do understand your plight. Far more than you realize. It really sucks that the economy took a nosedive. Believe me. I know. Ten years ago I worked in management. Today I work as a bank teller. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful I have a job. I know too many people who don’t. But, the reality is that my wages have been cut in half. To compound the problem, my husband’s business has also declined by half. To say our finances have been devastated is an understatement.
We own three cars – one with a bad engine, another with over 200,000 miles which needs work and a third with 140,000 miles which needs work. I am thankful we have transportation. A lot of people don’t.
Our house needs a lot of work as well. Our windows are ancient and don’t hold the heat well. Our bedroom roof leaks on our bed. I am thankful we have a home. A lot of people don’t.
In the last three years, we have been able to afford to go camping once. My children don’t get Christmas or birthday presents because we can’t afford it. We struggle to make $200 feed all three of us for a month. We eat a lot of canned tuna. I am thankful to have food. A lot of people don’t.
Throughout all of this, I have continued to get up and go to work every day. I have continued to laugh and love and live. I am thankful for the abundant life I have – a husband who loves me, children who love me, a roof over my head, clothes to wear and food to eat. Compared to 90% of the world, I am wealthy beyond measure.
What does this have to do with your dilemma?
I read recently that the benefits package paid to employees in our local school district cost $20,400 per year per employee. I did the math on this. Using the highest income tax bracket of 7.75% in Wisconsin, someone in the private sector needs to earn $263,000 per year just to pay the benefits for one employee. Put another way, in my town, those benefits are covered by twenty average homeowners’ property taxes.
This has not even started to pay for the building or your wages or books or anything else needed to teach our children. This is just the benefits for the lunch lady. Is this sustainable? I don’t think so.
Don’t get me wrong. I have a lot of respect for what you do. I agree you deserve to be very well compensated. But you know what? We can’t afford it anymore. What we deserve and what we can afford don’t always line up. It sucks, I know. But that is reality.
Ms. Nameth - I applaud you.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Welcome to my World
I’ve been dehumanized – I have virtually no job protection…random quote I heard on a newscast this morning.
Welcome to my world, sistah. There is no such thing as job protection in the real world.
I awoke this morning to hear that Racine Unified School District was closed today. Nope – no snow. Not a power outage or a water main break. It’s so the teachers could go to Madison and protest.
I’m sure most of you have heard what’s going on here in Wisconsin. In fact, it’s gone national – Michelle Malkin was talking about it this morning on Fox News Channel. For those of you who don’t, many public employees are protesting Governor Scott Walker’s plan to try to fix our budget crisis. A crisis which was made in large part by former Governor Doyle’s policies of illegally raiding set aside funds and kowtowing to those same said public employees, namely the teachers unions. They OWNED him. The difficulty now is that these folks have been coddled for so long they no longer live in the real world. The sense of entitlement is breathtaking. Let’s just peek into it a bit, shall we?
They will have to contribute 5% of their pay to their pension. And the problem with that is??? Friends, in these difficult economic times, most of us can’t even contribute to our own retirement funds. In fact, some of us are actually using the funds we so carefully set aside for our future in order to pay our bills today. Yet these people are whining because they might have to actually contribute a minimal amount of their own money to their pensions? Seriously??? Why the HELL should I have to pay for their retirement?
They would be required to bay 12% of their health care costs. NOT 12% of their salary, mind you, but 12% of the cost of their Cadillac health plans. I don’t know about you, but I pay WELL over 12% of my health insurance, a plan that is nowhere NEAR as comprehensive as the plans that they have, and I’m damned glad to do it. Too many businesses, as a part of cutting costs, have cut out benefits all together. Though my costs have gone through the roof, at least I still HAVE health insurance. Yet they cry and whine because they might have to actually contribute a token amount in order to have better coverage than most of the rest of us. Get real!!!
Folks, whatever happened to caring about the children? Racine Unified is consistently one of the worst school districts in the state, yet we continue to pour more and more money into this broken system. Time for a little personal disclosure here. I pay over $13,000 – yep, you read that right – thirteen THOUSAND dollars a year in property taxes, most of which goes to this inept school district. And what do I get in return? Teachers walking off the job because they refuse to live in the same world as most of the rest of us.
I'm so glad to see that they have the children's best interests at heart.
Welcome to my world, sistah. There is no such thing as job protection in the real world.
I awoke this morning to hear that Racine Unified School District was closed today. Nope – no snow. Not a power outage or a water main break. It’s so the teachers could go to Madison and protest.
I’m sure most of you have heard what’s going on here in Wisconsin. In fact, it’s gone national – Michelle Malkin was talking about it this morning on Fox News Channel. For those of you who don’t, many public employees are protesting Governor Scott Walker’s plan to try to fix our budget crisis. A crisis which was made in large part by former Governor Doyle’s policies of illegally raiding set aside funds and kowtowing to those same said public employees, namely the teachers unions. They OWNED him. The difficulty now is that these folks have been coddled for so long they no longer live in the real world. The sense of entitlement is breathtaking. Let’s just peek into it a bit, shall we?
They will have to contribute 5% of their pay to their pension. And the problem with that is??? Friends, in these difficult economic times, most of us can’t even contribute to our own retirement funds. In fact, some of us are actually using the funds we so carefully set aside for our future in order to pay our bills today. Yet these people are whining because they might have to actually contribute a minimal amount of their own money to their pensions? Seriously??? Why the HELL should I have to pay for their retirement?
They would be required to bay 12% of their health care costs. NOT 12% of their salary, mind you, but 12% of the cost of their Cadillac health plans. I don’t know about you, but I pay WELL over 12% of my health insurance, a plan that is nowhere NEAR as comprehensive as the plans that they have, and I’m damned glad to do it. Too many businesses, as a part of cutting costs, have cut out benefits all together. Though my costs have gone through the roof, at least I still HAVE health insurance. Yet they cry and whine because they might have to actually contribute a token amount in order to have better coverage than most of the rest of us. Get real!!!
Folks, whatever happened to caring about the children? Racine Unified is consistently one of the worst school districts in the state, yet we continue to pour more and more money into this broken system. Time for a little personal disclosure here. I pay over $13,000 – yep, you read that right – thirteen THOUSAND dollars a year in property taxes, most of which goes to this inept school district. And what do I get in return? Teachers walking off the job because they refuse to live in the same world as most of the rest of us.
I'm so glad to see that they have the children's best interests at heart.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Thank You For the Miracle
No, I’m not talking about the Super Bowl, though it was a fabulous game! ;)
As most of you know, this time last week my father-in-law was in very critical condition, hanging on to life by a thread. I was told that they weren’t sure he was going to make it by the time the Boy and I got to Green Bay. During the 5 days I spent up there, I sent out several prayer requests, and the response I received was astonishing. I truly believe that it was all of the prayers and good wishes sent Freddie’s way that made the difference. Well, that and he’s a helluva fighter!! But thanks to y’all, he was able to watch his Packers win the Super Bowl last night with hubby and the Boy by his side in a hospital room overlooking Lambeau Field.
He is definitely on the mend, and hopefully will be moved to the rehab floor within a matter of days. I am once again humbled by the outpouring of support that I and the whole family received. Thank you once again for the prayers and good wishes – y’all made all the difference.
As most of you know, this time last week my father-in-law was in very critical condition, hanging on to life by a thread. I was told that they weren’t sure he was going to make it by the time the Boy and I got to Green Bay. During the 5 days I spent up there, I sent out several prayer requests, and the response I received was astonishing. I truly believe that it was all of the prayers and good wishes sent Freddie’s way that made the difference. Well, that and he’s a helluva fighter!! But thanks to y’all, he was able to watch his Packers win the Super Bowl last night with hubby and the Boy by his side in a hospital room overlooking Lambeau Field.
He is definitely on the mend, and hopefully will be moved to the rehab floor within a matter of days. I am once again humbled by the outpouring of support that I and the whole family received. Thank you once again for the prayers and good wishes – y’all made all the difference.
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