From Tony Passaro:
Citizens of Harford County –
While I was distracted by the shenanigans in WD.C. this week by the Turn Coat RINOs selling us out in the SALT treaty, I almost missed the following action occurring right here in our own Harford County.
It is almost impossible to imagine it but the Harford County Board of Education (HCBOE) and Superintendent Tomback would even think about giving raises in next year’s budget request, let alone actually formally ask for them!
However, under the cover of darkness Superintendent TOMBACK has asked to give the all HCBOE employees (all 5,000) a pay raise that will come out of the pockets of the already over taxed Harford County Tax Payers…..all the while we are in a raging recession and suffering under an unemployment rate that hovers around 9%….
Let us rise up and put the BOE in its place. We need a groundswell of TEA PARTY folks to speak out on this arrogance and point out the insanity to the H.C.B.O.E. What cave has HCBOE they been living in for the past 3 years anyway???? We are fighting to keep people employed and services at a sustainable level and the BOE want to give a pay raises and increase their spending by 6.3%….All the while unemployment rages at 9% and our taxes are already as high as we can tolerate…….this increased soending can not be allowed to pass.
Spread the word.
The school board will hold work sessions and accept public comment on the budget on January 10 and January 15, before adopting a budget recommendation to County Executive David Craig on January 18, 2011.
We stopped the Town of Bel Air Pension increase, now we will need the help of the TEA PARTY to stop the rape of the Harford Tax Payer by the sacred, untouchable, arrogant, and unsupervised HCBOE…..
It is time to “Hit the Bricks”. Bring your thoughts and indignation to the next BOE meeting. We must swarm the meeting room, like we did in the town of Bel Air, and tell the BOE NO MORE SPENDING OF OUR DOLLARS……PERIOD.
Tony Passaro
Bel Air Tea Party Patriots
Alliance of American Patriots
The unemployment rate in Harford county is below 7%, not 9%. I’m sure that doesn’t really makes a difference to you, but I thought you might like to know.
RINOS and Tea Partiers. And then you go and attract me by making an attack on the salary increase proposed by the Superintendent. Yes it is probably a really bad idea to talk about anyone getting a raise in these particular times. Just like it’s a stupid idea to bitch about the deficit, claim that any new spending needs to be offset by a corresponding spending cut somewhere else in the budget… and then pass a two year extension on the Bush tax cuts for everyone. Can we get anyone to be consistent in the way they think or is it really just all bout “Me”? It would be lovely if people would stop screwing with taxes and develop a revenue stream that was constant – with a corresponding recognition that you can’t spend more than you take in. Did you all hear that? No new spending without an increase in taxes – and no cuts in taxes without a corresponding decrease in spending. Is that really so terribly hard to understand?
Well said Mr. Porter. Unfortunately the Tea Party types are incapable of rational thought unless you are in complete agreement with THIER viewpoint, hence Mr. Passaro’s call to “swarm the meeting room.” I guess he wants to keep Harford County school teachers permanently underpaid (compared to surrounding counties) so that ranks of the Tea Party swell with the next generation of the terminally less than brilliant. At least those making over $250K can keep their money now so they can send their kids to private school.
Mr. Porter, how dare you bring logic and intelligence to this post! I may not care for everything Mr. Obama has done, but this knee-jerk reaction to absolutely everything he does is not helping the country in general. I am also rather disturbed by the use of “rape” in his terminology. The attempt to make a budgetary item into a violent crime is appalling. I would suggest Mr. Passaro obtain a dictionary and a thesaurus so he can bloviate with less anger. It is a budget item for a single county, not the decision that will decide the life or death of every living thing in the world. It CAN be discussed reasonably.
How about cutting taxes while cutting back on some government entitlements?
Silly.
Teachers, of all people, deserve raises.
Silly?? I agree that teachers deserve good pay, and better working conditions (i.e. disinterested children and parents). My comment was for government in general. Letting people keep their hard earned money is not silly. We have a right to have our taxes spent responsibly. Unfortunatly, when it comes to education, the government keeps throwing money at it (teacher pay not included) with the same declining returns. How about trying school choice, or tax credits for those who want to send their kids to private school?
It’ll be a cold day in hell before Tony Passaro can manage to put together an article (or even better one his poorly written Tea Party Newsletters that half time aren’t written by him yet have his name listed at the bottom like he actually authored it) without using completely inflammatory language that only appeals to the far far right and does nothing but alienate anyone remotely close to the middle…many of whom probably actually agree at least a little with the Tea Party, but don’t want to be associated with a bunch of loons.
Regarding his newsletters…I do find the bright bold font colors, randomly sized/capitalized/bolded/underlined words, flashy .gif files (circa 1997) amusing. I might actually stand to read one of them if it was formatted the way normal human being might format it.
You’d think someone who has done well enough for himself to afford a house on Rolling Knoll Dr to have at least an elementary grasp of how to format a newsletter.
Does daggerpress have any standards on what they will post on their site? This is hardly a news story.
The fact that the Board of Ed is proposing a spending increase IS NEWS. A reasoned article examining both sides of the issue, asking tough questions of board members proposing it, could have been enlightening. Instead we get a cut-and-pasted, poorly written blog rant.
Is this the future of local journalism?
Hi Peter,
Interesting point. Unfortunately, most journalists don’t really ask the hard questions and simply accept Politicians answers as fact.
Whether or not you agree with Mr. Passaro, the Dagger and Mr. Passaro’s posting do help engage voters and taxpayers in “their government”. Unfortunately, too many of us American’s have been unengaged. That led to routine 9% increases in our property taxes. Had it not been for Mr. Passano and some others, David Craig would still be increasing our property taxes at the 9% clip.
Well put RINOHunter.
However, the question no one is asking is this. Why are teachers a sacred cow when it comes to staffing/pay decisions? Teachers should be happy they are gainfully employed & belong to a union that preserves their jobs & pay at the expense of other decisions the county must make. There are plenty of folks here in Harford County that not only have not received a raise in the last two years but in fact have seen their income decline by 10%, 20% or more. Teachers should be happy they have secure jobs that are 9 months of the year with summers off. Pretty good gig if you ask me.
If a teacher can earn more in Baltimore Co. or Cecil Co., unlikely since those counties would have to eliminate a union protected teacher there to fill it with one of Harford’s teachers, I say more power to them & enjoy the commute along with the associated expenses. To paraphrase NJ Gov. Christie, no one is keeping them in their jobs here Harford. If they don’t like it they are welcome to take their services elsewhere. Moreoever, there will be very little in the way of adverse impact if BOE positions were deprecated by 10%. Every other industry in America, & the Education Establishment is an industry, has become more efficient in the last 20 years. Why is education immune to this phenomena?? Education costs consume almost 60% of the county budget. How can the county get its arms around a budget where 60% of the expenditures are off limits? Answer? You can’t. I would submit that any budget which as a line item that is 60% of the total then there has to be alot of inefficiency & redundency in that line item. In fact, the teacher raises are being consumed the the continued construction of 90+ Million dollar school buildings.
Choices have to be made. A county conversation needs to occur. Harford does not have a bottomless pit of money for teacher salary increases & high five figure school buildings. If they is what we desire as a community then there will need to be a SUBSTANTIAL increase in property taxes, the county’s piggyback income tax & other county taxes & fees to pay for it. The likely outcome however, will be an exodus of taxpayers to DE, VA & PA.
Defenders of the education industry status quo, you may now begin your howls of distain & defense of the unsustainable.
Begin…
Cincinnatus, Well said.
Cincinnatus
Good description of a big problem. Hopefully the Country and County still have time to combat the Civil Service Unions that are bankrupting our Towns, Counties, States and Country.
My ticket for President/Vice President in 2012:
Chris Christie / Michelle Rhee
David Craig – Ex School Administrator – Perfect example of a Politician with no leadership that caters to all public unions.
Michelle Rhee is interesting. She is willing to pay more for higher demands and that is the kind of change that needs to occur.
A few things you are missing. WHile HCPS froze teachers salaries for the last 2 years a teacher with 11 years experience and a Masters degree will be paid on step 9. If the county does not pony up for a step increase this year which is what some of you suggest the 12 year teacher now will be on step 9 if they leave and take a job in BCPS who is giving out steps and a COLA will make 3 K more then here. Baltimore County has given steps and 2 COLA’s in this time for the 10 month job.
I will yield that not all teachers can jump but Math, Science and Special Ed can make these jumps as they are a comodity. BCPS also has a lower benefit cost.
Given these facts with the change in law in the Fairness in Negotiations Act passed last year and the fact HCPS did not bargin health care changes and lost at arbitration on that point they will not likely be able to bargin no step increase. This is a proposed step increase that is likely to be required one way or another. If you do not want to pay teachers what they are worth as more teachers grow old and retire you will replace them with the left overs. Ask Baltimore City how that worked out!
You are correct that there will not be an exodus of HARCO teachers. There are not enough jobs in the surrounding counties to absorb teachers in large numbers. What you are missing is the fact that the BEST teachers, the ones with 4.0 GPAs, the National Board Certified, the award winners–THOSE are the kinds of teachers that Baltimore, Cecil and PA will find space to hire.
What you end up with is a Harford County with nice expensive buildings, staffed by mediocre teachers. Enjoy that.
The point stands that there is no need to raise taxes. There is FAR too much money wasted in administration and middle management. The administrator union is very happy. Why? They are being paid in the top 5 of the state, and have been getting raises. The teachers are in the bottom 10 of the state, and have been frozen out for 3 years, yet they are ALWAYS the ones getting scapegoated for the budget.
Look to the administration–that’s where your tax dollars are being wasted. Sadly, that waste is likely to cost you the best teachers in the county.
Oh, and to those of you supporting Michelle Rhee, please do a bit more research on that clown. She was all for “tough evaluations,” but turned out to be as crooked as they come. She created a panel of her closest friends to do her own evaluation, didn’t follow through on any of her promises, and left DC in disgrace after spending more time on the campaign trail (campaigning for a friend who was running for mayor) than she did on her job. She was fantastic for a sound byte, but lousy as an actual administrator.
As a teacher, I can attest to the fact that there are dollars that could be saved – by cutting overly staffed positions in administration. I am not familiar with the evolution of certain positions in HCPS, but I think that principals and APS once did the jobs that Mentors and Instructional Facilitators now do. It does seem as if Mr. Tomback recognizes this (mentors now serve two schools, and supposedly the role of IF will also be done away with), but where will they now go? I doubt they will take the pay cut to teach again, so will new positions with comparable pay be created simply out of preservation for positions that never should have been established to begin with?
Peter, this is not meant to be a news article–it’s clearly marked as a “Letter to The Dagger,” similar to a letter to the editor in a traditional newspaper. We strive to present a variety of opinions under that banner, and as “RinoHunter” points out, do so to get our readers talking about local issues. Staff written stories are held to a different standard, as I think you’ll see elsewhere on the site.
If you disagree with Mr. Passaro’s view, we encourage you to submit your own opinions in a Letter to The Dagger–under a full name–and we’ll post it. Even better, if you’re concerned about our reporting, we’re actively seeking contributors. I don’t say that to be snarky or call you out–we genuinely want to hear from our readers and get them actively involved. We’re not just trying to digitize the old community newspaper–we want to create a space for discussion, debate, and real interaction.
Ah, I see… by “clearly marked”, you mean the tiny icon to the right of the gigantic font headline which includes the word “Rape”? I must say, I had to search for it after I read your comment. On the front page, it is clearly NOT marked as such.
The BOE is not involved in the initial development of the budget. That falls to the Superintendent and his senior staff. Of course they will ask on the high side of a budget request. Citizens will have the opportunity to voice their opinions at Board meetings before any final vote. It is not enough to only complain, anyone can do that. Viable and realistic suggestions/arguments should be taken to these meetings – not just an angry mob. Just as with the draft plan for redistricting the final versions of each will be different than those proposed. Maybe quite different, we shall have to wait and see.
What I can’t believe is that areas like Fallston and High Point expect us to pay for their children be kept in exclusive schools while we pay for a school less than 10 miles away to go half empty. This kind of bigotry is what private school is for. I don’t have kids and I’m tired of driving past portable$ and knowing that I’m heating a 1/2 empty building$ just down the road. Get over it. We’re all paying for this and every new rant makes you look more selfish. Top level salaries and waste like this need to have the attention of the angry mob Tony. This would leave the money for working class to make a living. Can you post all the salaries for principals and above? I think it would be an wake up call.
More Tony Baloney.
Mr. Passaro–you are an idiot. Go back to your bomb shelter and wait for the commies to nuke you. Do you realize that whatever accurate message you are attempting to spread is totally over-written by your over-the-top presentation? If you are a representation of the membership of the Bel Air Tea Party Patriots and the Alliance of American Patriots, I will run away from your group as fast as I can, despite agreeing with the premise of lower taxes. Of course, I’m sure you think I’m a RINO, or Communist now, Mr. McCarthy, I mean Passaro.
Senator Joe McCarthy actually turned out to be right, and while I am no fan of Tony Passaro’s overly bombastic style he is right.
Senator McCarthy did NOT turn out to be right. Ann Coulter is not a legitimate source for historical fact. McCarthy accused hundreds of people. Fewer than 10 had any link to Communism. That is why he was censured by the Senate.
As to this issue–There is a TON of waste in the education budget, but not very much of it is in the teaching ranks. There are far too many redundant layers of administrative fat that need to be cut. It’s completely possible to give teachers the raises they deserve while still cutting the education budget and not impacting education. The problem is that the people making the decisions on the $$ are the ones who largely need to be cut.
I never mentioned Ann Coulter, but I guess you don’t care for her much.
I do however like and respect National Review’s Jonah Goldberg
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/206038/two-cheers-mccarthyism/jonah-goldberg
Interesting read. Still McCarthy still went against one of the most sacred principles of the Constitution “Innocent until proven guilty” Not guilty now prove that you are innocent. He struck fear into the hearts of Americans and showed America that they shoudl be fearfull of their own government, Government should be scared of the people.
McCarthy investigated people in government who were suspected of working with communist agents in foreign governments. He did not have judicial power to try anyone.
Porter – True, but McCarthy did preside over a kangaroo court which had a strong resemblance to the phony show trials we used to see in the Soviet Union. It was this justifiable fear among the populace that resulted in his fall from grace, defeat in the next election, and insignificant death a few short years later. His legacy is not one of respect but rather that we all must be vigilant to the corrupting influence of power on the minds of little men like McCarthy.
I don’t agree. McCarthy rightly accused people of being Soviet Communist spies.
Porter so Woody Guthrie is a communist? As well as others he raked through the mudd for not providing a list of their friends so he could call them and their friends and so on? Funny Reagan came through that after he sold out the SAG.
I was unaware that Guthrie ever appeared before House Un-American Activities Committee or United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations?
Woody Guthrie may have been a communist and he certainly supported U.S. Communists. This Land Is You Land is certainly a collectivist anthem.
Sorry Mr. Porter I am incorrect his good friend Pete Seger was halled before the comittee and black listed along with the Weaver’s
He instead of taking the fifth said
“I am not going to answer any questions as to my association, my philosophical or religious beliefs or my political beliefs, or how I voted in any election, or any of these private affairs. I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked, especially under such compulsion as this.”
This is the kind of stuff McCarthy held in contempt and was asking witnesses. Seger got 10 years suspended and it took 4 years to get it overturned!
He was refused work because of this. This witch hunt is a grave sin on the US Constitution! McCarthy trampled on that document and the civil rights of Americans!
Maybe you should read the article “The Real McCarthy Record” – James J. Drummey.
Drummey has some interesting things to say about McCarthy’s fight against Soviet communist operative infiltration into the U.S Government and intelligence community.
It’s the same tripe. All Goldberg did was re-package the same “evidence” that Coulter did. In fact, some of it(his skewed interpretation of the declassified Venona reports) looks like it was lifted word for word from Coulter’s chapter on the topic. The Venona report proves that McCarthy was correct about NINE of the hundreds of people he accused. Nine. Out of hundreds. When you accuse plenty of people and happen to be right about a few of them, that doesn’t vindicate you.
McCarthy also ran witch-hunts on homosexuals, political enemies and anyone else he could think of that would make him look “tough.” Bottom line is that he was a drunk and a fool. The Right shouldn’t hold him up as a rehabilitated hero simply because he guessed right on nine out of hundreds of accusations.
For the record- No, I do not like Coulter. I don’t like Goldberg, Hannity or O’Reilly, either. On the flip side, I can’t stand Michael Moore or Keith Olberman, either. I don’t like faux “journalists” who are more concerned with twisting facts to make them favor EITHER political ideology. I’m more of an old school kind of person. I prefer my journalism to be unbiased and detached. Sadly, that kind of reporting is much more difficult to find these days.
None of the people on your “do not like list” are journalists. They do not report news, however they do give their opinions on editorial pages, as columnists, as opinion radio/TV show personalities and filmmakers.
Is it that you don’t care for other people’s opinions?
By the way Pete Seeger appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1955 and not the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
I never mentioned Ann Coulter, but I guess you don’t care for her much.
I do however like and respect National Review’s Jonah Goldberg.
Search and read: “Two Cheers For “McCarthyism”?” FEBRUARY 26, 2003
Porter,
All of those people present themselves as journalists. Talking heads have replaced real journalism, and the result is exactly what you see on this site–People are incapable of taking information and forming opinions based upon that information. All people seem capable of doing anymore is parroting back the opinions of the talking heads. I don’t have a problem with people having different opinions. I have a problem with people presenting those opinions as facts.
Case in point– Rather than bringing up the declassified Venona report and making an argument that McCarthy wasn’t completely incorrect (as he DID get 9 accusations correct), all you seem capable of doing is repeating the claims of the talking heads from the right that see it as an either/or situation. Right-leaning journo-tainers have taken the facts of the Venona report and claimed, in a very black or white manner, that the report “proves” that McCarthy was 100% correct and needs to be vindicated. Presenting nuanced information in such a black/white manner is irresponsible and leads to people having LOADS of incorrect ideas about history, politics and key issues. Regardless of the political bent of the talking head, it’s just wrong.
And all you can do is repeat the tired old clap-track of the left on McCarthy.
Regarding journalist and your list; not one of them is a reporter they are all commentators espousing their opinion on current events.
And these opinionists are wrong McCarthy accused lots of people and ruined lots of careers with a which hunt in which he only got 9 correct out of the 159 he accused formaly.
McCarthy ordered books removed from libraries. He called honorable Army officers communist like George Marshall.
To quote Sens. Collins and Levin
“Senator McCarthy’s zeal to uncover subversion and espionage led to disturbing excesses. His browbeating tactics destroyed careers of people who were not involved in the infiltration of our government. His freewheeling style caused both the Senate and the Subcommittee to revise the rules governing future investigations, and prompted the courts to act to protect the Constitutional rights of witnesses at Congressional hearings… These hearings are a part of our national past that we can neither afford to forget nor permit to reoccur.”
Porter,
My views on McCarthy are based on facts, not ideology. I’m not a liberal (the “I Left” of my user name is in reference to the fact that I left the county, not an indication of my political leanings).
You keep accusing me of being a liberal rather than addressing any of my points. I KNOW that the talking heads are not actual journalists. My concern is that they often package themselves as actual journalists, presenting opinions as fact (and again, BOTH sides do this). The danger of this is illustrated in your posts. You dredge up the arguments of these people and cite them as fact. They aren’t facts. They are slanted, packaged versions of the truth, meant to mislead. You have clearly been mislead, and you refuse to think for yourself.
I don’t like it when Liberals try to co-opt the term “McCarthyism” to attack Conservatives. I also don’t like it when Conservatives try to draw parallels between Liberals and Nazis/Socialists. Both comparisons are extreme to the point of absurdity, and remove any possibility of an analysis of the actual issues.
It’s not a political issue at all, and I would appreciate it if you would respond to my points rather than continually trying to label me with inaccurate political leanings.
Once again–If McCarthy was “right,” then why was he wrong about hundreds of people and only right about 9?
“As to this issue–There is a TON of waste in the education budget, but not very much of it is in the teaching ranks. There are far too many redundant layers of administrative fat that need to be cut. It’s completely possible to give teachers the raises they deserve while still cutting the education budget and not impacting education. The problem is that the people making the decisions on the $$ are the ones who largely need to be cut.”
Bullseye!!!!!!!!!!! When the BOE spoke last year about how much of the county budget goes to education, it sounds overwhelming, but WHERE is it going? What percentage is actually teacher pay, versus admin./central office pay?
Porter, that is an inconvenient truth that is rarely mentioned since it does not play into the “GOP = McCarthyism = Evil = Nazis” script that self-described Progressives (there’s a misnomer for ya) clumsily try to use against the right.
Phil Dirt, It is similar dynamic where progressive/liberals claim conservatives are fascists when fascism is a leftist ideology most closely comparable to socialism.
Assessed values drop an average of 22% on Md. homes
One-third of property owners will receive new assessments
Maryland homeowners will see property values plunge 22 percent on average in the latest round of state assessments — a record drop that won’t necessarily translate into lower taxes.
This might be all those people who wanted the formula change in the boom.
From WEBSTER’S
RAPE:
The violent, destructive, or abusive treatment of something.
I.E. The rape of the Harford Taxpayer’s pocketbook.
or
The abusive treatment of the Harford County
Taxpayers pocketbook. Increrasing spending and
taxes by 6.9%, in view of the unemployent, is clearly
abusive and destructive treatment…….
Letter to the Editor:
A letter to the editor (sometimes abbreviated LTTE
or LTE) is a letter sent to a publication about issues
of concern from its readers. Usually, letters are an
informal correspondence expressing an opinion to a
news source.
UNSUSCRIBE:
To remove oneself from a subscription list.
To end a subscription to or registration with something,
especially an e-mail mailing list of a News letter
named “TEA PARTY VIEWS”.
E.G. Use the unsubscribe button if Tony’s News Letter upsets you.
Tony Passaro
Bel Air, MD.
“The Last Angry Man”
Hello Churchville Joe
I direct this comment to you and those like you. I have not seen any of your posts, but then since you are more interested in my choice of words than the context I can guess you would rather criticize than create anything meaningful.….
You put me in mind of the frustrated Play Critic, unable or incapable of writing anything pertinent so you relegate yourself to hiding in the weeds waiting for the opportunity to criticize your betters….Met many of you in my days as a CEO, Pusillanimous, Panty wasted, girly boys unable to utter any word stronger than “Shucks” running around wrapped in the cloak of a sanctimonious (Webster – pompous), overbearing self – righteousness, blatherers that neither add or detract from the matter at hand. . .
All you said was you do not like me and how I say things and my NewsLetters are too inflammatory…….Not one word about the tax issue not a sound about the egregious error in judgment by the BOE…..not a peep about a 7.2 million dollar budget surplus being held back by the BOE as if it was their money and not the taxpayer’s…
The unfortunate problem is there are so many of your ilk. The members of the “Nay Sayers Club”, No strength of character, no originality, no sand (balls to you), mamby pamby children too scared to stand up for your principles, hiding behind a pseudonym so you can hurl your insults with impunity.
Many of your club sit by while those in Congress despoil our country. Many of you sit by while Christ is expunged from the public venue. Many of you sit by while the Socialist menace devours our freedoms….and if anyone expresses righteous indignation you do the only thing you are capable of doing, you find fault.
My letter to the editor contains the same facts that were presented by the B.O.E., or are you so ready to spurn my concern with the wonton spending of our tax dollars, that you did not take the time to learn what was going on and read the BOE announcement (displayed in another section of the Dagger)?? The facts I reported are there…..
My rant, yes my rant at the BOE and the policies of Obama are righteous indignation (Webster – righteous anger). Why? Because I resent having my pocket picked by any elected official who has sworn to protect my interests.
So in closing, and so you may better know my character I offer you a quote from Teddy Roosevelt “Far better it is to dare mighty causes, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”
Feel free to write me directly if you have a problem.
My address is below…
Tony Passaro
Bel Air, Md.
apassaro@crosslink.net
You do realize that your attempt to sound intelligent through the use of large vocabulary words was completely negated by referring to Churchville Joe as a “Pusillanimous, Panty wasted, girly boy” and accuse him of having “sand (balls to you)”, don’t you? Why don’t you try responding to his post without the name-calling like a reasonable human being?
Mr. Passaro several of us have in fact responded to your postings with substance. Even though on multiple occasions your newsletters include plagarized sections from the writings of others.
Wow! Apparently I touched a nerve. I think you have posted more about my answer than you do in your letters in general. Since you LOVE to talk about you life as a “CEO” I will respond in kind. I also own a small consulting business, I have been in my life a US Navy Sailor, a wage slave, a government employee, a wage slave again and now a small business owner. I am not retired from the government (since it didn’t pay enough!)
Since anyone can look up facts on the Internet, I will paraphrase some things about Harford County. 2008 median income was about 76k a year, majority of workers in Harco are in a technical or managerial field with a percentage of blue collar workers (skilled mostly) making up the rest. This is NOT a poor county that needs to go begging and since both you and I, as CEO’s are “the man” (you know – The man’s keeping me down) we should be on the same side — yours, but alas, I am not. I however, (regardless of what you believe about me) hold to my principles as an ex-conservative and now an armed, godless progressive and I like it! I like Harco and believe it to be generally well run. If my children were still young enough to be in school here, I would have no issues with the quality given in this district. I don’t want Wal-Mart teachers at the lowest cost so if it cost me a few dollars for quality, I will pay it. With the income in this county, it should be a given that you pay for what you get. That being said, can things be streamlined, more efficient and more cost effective? Of course. There is waste that needs to be addressed in EVERY part of commercial and government enterprise.
Why don’t we pull the covers off this. See what happens when teachers and others do their straight 7.5 to 8 hours per day, don’t buy, out of their own pockets mind you, the tools that children and others could have used during the school year. Teachers (and other workers in general) should not be required to use their own money for their job. Do you think that Office Max, Staples and Office Depot
all hold Teacher Appreciation week for no reason? They give discounts to teachers to buy supplies that they pay for personally. What job have you had as a wage slave where your employer asked you to buy office supplies, markers, trash can liners, etc out of your own pocket? How long would YOU work there?
I have no beef with you personally or professionally. I do feel however, that the TEA Party, while it started out with noble causes, has denigrated into another corporate front (Healthcare – BAD, Unions – BAD, 14 days off – BAD, Workers reachable 24×7 with no compensation – GOOD, allowing “undocumented” workers to lower wages – GOOD). You want the TEA party to do something about Harco’s BOE? You my friend, and those of your group are fighting over the scraps after the destruction of our country by Free traders, outsourcers and foreign owned media conglomerates. You should be fighting the REAL socialism — Corporate socialism. Tell me how high the US Corp Tax Rate is? Highest in the world! That “might” be true, but how does a large company like GE pay no US taxes but still make 10 billion in profit? You are worried about the wrong thing. When the TEA party fights for the citizenry instead of piddly BOE surplus, then I will listen. We live in a Corporate Plutocracy where the people are scared to death of “the company”.
Thanks for pointing me to Webster’s. A Dictionary! What a concept. While your explanation of “rape” meets your criteria for proper usage, it is outdated. You may as well have called me a “dandy” and used “whilst” and “doth” since you seem to have some sort of issue by referring to me as a panty waist. For the record, in my original post is NO animosity pointed personally at you, unlike your response.
I still would like you to comment and say ONE thing (non-defense related) that you believe this President has done to enhance the well being of the citizenry. (Heck I will let you in on a secret – I actually liked some of GW’s policies! SHAME! HORROR!). Until you can objectively look at a situation, you are just tilting at windmills.
I, as a former conservative, know all the tricks: A liberal is just a conservative who hasn’t been mugged, at 20 you should be a liberal because of your heart, but at 40 a conservative because of your brain, blah blah blah. Here is MY response: A conservative is just a progressive who hasn’t lost his job or his healthcare, A liberal at 20 based on your heart, a conservative at 40 based on your brain and a progressive by 60 for you soul. I am armed so the other one doesn’t apply to me.
And for a final tidbit, no I won’t release my real name or business name. Unlike Al Gore, I actually WAS on DARPA net and have no desire for unstable individuals to go delving into my business. I have had my identity stolen once and do not desire to have it happen a second time.
(Webster – a seven-year-old African-American orphan (Emmanuel Lewis) whose biological parents, Travis and Gert Long, were recently killed in a car accident. He is then taken in by retired football star George Papadapolis (Alex Karras), with whom Travis had played professional football in the 1970s, and his wife Katherine (Susan Clark), an upper crust socialite with no housekeeping skills whatsoever)
Sorry Tone, I like ya bud – but I think the High Schooler has a point.
I’ve seen Mr. Passaro identified many times in print as a “small-business owner” but can’t find out what business it is. Just curious.