Featherbedding

The question of sending a fire engine to a medical emergency is one fire districts often question — but the firemen say it is necessary, and so do their friends and fellow fire house buddies, the EMTs heartily agree.
Of course it is featherbedding, and fully supported by the fire unions — although unions are specifically [...]

Pure, Blind, Dumb luck

I saw our Homeland Director on two TV news/opinion shows this a.m. She appeared either clueless, or restrained — either way it was not reassuring.
The Obama administration appears to treat this ‘attack” as a criminal matter at home, while it engages in war abroad — not just Afghanistan and Iraq, but in Yemen. Yemen appears [...]

Alchemy!

While I find it interesting that Amazon.com sold MORE Kindle books this Christmas  season than they did printed books, the Senate healthcare Reform Bill was far more interesting.
In what can only be called alchemy, the Senate says they can take half a TRILLION dollars out of Medicare but keep it whole without reducing its value [...]

There is a Tsunami Coming!

“Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) — California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, anticipating a $21 billion state budget deficit, plans to ask President Barack Obama to ease mandates and minimums on social programs to save as much as $8 billion.
The Republican governor plans to seek the relief, according to a California official who asked not to be identified because [...]

Hugo Learns Fast…

From the Wall Street Journal: “Venezuela Warns on Toyota Plant
“Venezuela’s president has threatened to expropriate Toyota’s local assembly plant if it doesn’t produce more vehicles designed for rural areas and increase technology transfer.”
President Obama needs to send an envoy to teach Hugo how to do these things with greater subtlety!

Reform The Public Pension Program?

 

All negotiations regarding pay and pension for public employees to be done in PUBLIC. (It’s OUR Money!)

 

Pensions to be figured ONLY on “base pay” — ignoring “spiking” final pensions by including overtime, and extra pay and benefits.

 

All disabilities to be figured and determined after retirement, stopping “Chief’s illness” where police and firepeople get disability in [...]

The Public Pension Scam

Before we look for a solution to the “Pension Plans that Ate America” perhaps we should look to the cause.
Those public employees have representatives on both sides of the negotiating table!
On their side they have a union negotiator.
“Opposing” them is a negotiator representing politicians who have won their public office with union support, and who [...]

The Cops ARE The Robbers!

 
Four retiring Parsippany cops share $900K in sick, vacation pay
By Eugene Paik/For The Star-Ledger
December 23, 2009, 5:31AM
PARSIPPANY — Four township police officers, each with more than 24 years of experience, will retire by the end of the month.
They’ll also receive nearly $900,000 during the next several years for unspent time off.
Like other retired Parsippany officers [...]

Gosh! You’re Kidding, Right?

U.S. local government pension costs exceeds $530 billion: govern
Wed Dec 23, 5:43 pm ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. state and local governments face more than $530 billion in unfunded public pension liabilities and most do not have funds set aside to pay for them, a government report showed on Wednesday.
As of June, state governments were on the hook for [...]

Some Educational Ideas Need To Be Replicated

The work to have better schools need not, and should not be a partisan affair.
The latest US News and World Report has an article about Green Dot Schools – there are 19 of them, all inner-city schools in LA except one in New York City.
It was founded by Steve Barr – best guess is that [...]