Curmudgeon's Corner
cur-mud-geon: anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; anyone with the habit of pointing out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner
Things Political....
Governor Walker's Act 10 bill was hit by a federal judge who found that unions could not be required to re-certify on an annual basis, and who found that the State of Wisconsin must collect union dues as has been done for many years. That was not quite the victory that it is being billed to be, but it does take a little of the sting out of Act 10 from the unions' perspective. It is a long way from overturning the law.
# # # # #
Extremist?
A person who holds extreme or fanatical political or religious views, esp. one who resorts to or advocates extreme action.
There are several threads found on the page of Germantown Now where this blog is found. If you read, or have read, the comments that stream on and on, you will find that one side has been labelled 'extreme' because it doesn't agree with the other side on the issue of voting for or against the people running for seats on the school board in today's election.
Election Decisions...
The races for Germantown School Board seats were about as I had expected in this largely conservative district. The group of three who were touting their conservative perspectives won rather decisively (with margins of 2-1 or better). This was a highly contentious set of races and we will now observe what this means for the School Board. Will there be contentious issues through-out the terms of these new Board members, or was that discussion largely politically-driven? Will these races prove to have been the precursor to a more contentious overall political climate, or was that largely the result of the 'education system' being the driver of those feelings?
# # # # #
Only $200,000?
The Journal Sentinel reports this morning that it cost less to restore the Capitol than earlier estimated by the Walker Administration. The actual cost was 'only' $197,459 as of March 15th, so obviously the Walker Administration was guilty of over-estimating the costs when it initially forewarned that costs could be as high as $7.5 Million. The actual costs were comprised of the following:
-$65,000 to reseed grass and replace trampled shrubs and bushes
The Goose That Laid Golden Eggs - Richard Cummings Version
This, from Lew Rockwell.com written by Richard Cummings, seems to have a particular message that would be helpful for us to consider today, and tomorrow and for months and years to come.
Village Buzz - April 9th
Memories of Youth
An article in the morning Business section of the Journal Sentinel caused me to reflect on my childhood. The article discussed the three new cheese plants that are to be built in Wisconsin in the course of the coming year to year and one-half.
My dad was a cheese maker when I was a little guy, and in that era they didn’t make cheese in ‘cheese plants’, they made cheese in ‘cheese factories’. My recollection is that there were some 1,500 cheese factories in Wisconsin and they dotted the country-side where ever there were herds of cows. The factories nearly all looked similar…to the point that I can still pick out old buildings that had once been cheese factories simply by the way they’re built.
Newt Has Romney 1-on-1 Finally?
Newt Gingrich was asked by Mike Huckabee about Santorum’s leaving the race. He is reported to have said something about finally having Romney 1 on 1 and that there might be a debate between the two of them.
A Great Commercial
Check out this commercial
The Donald's View of ObamaCare...
A piece attributed to “The Donald” Trump hit my inbox yesterday and it actually seems to sum up the “Patient Protection and Accountable Care Act” (PPACA/ObamaCare) quite succinctly. Here is the summation:
MATC Changes Coming?
Change is coming to MATC courtesy of the Wisconsin Legislature and Governor Walker, and it seems that there are some at MATC who don’t see this as being advantageous to their situation.
Saturday Reflections...
On this Saturday morning, I began to reflect on things of the past; things of the past few days, of the past few months, of the past few years and of the past few decades.
Newsmax Poll Results
An interesting online poll by Newsmax caught my eye late last week. The results are posted below:
Ignorance Might Be Bliss, But...
The so-called ‘Buffet Rule’ was voted down yesterday with a 51-45 count against. There were a required 60 votes for this to move forward. No one expected this to go forward; this bill was not going anywhere; the vote was staged to purely score political points moving into the coming election season.
Lame Ducks Might Foul Our Nests
We are seeing nothing much happening in Congress at the moment given the Presidential race and the coming fall elections. While that can be viewed as a good thing since Congress isn’t cramming some dumb bill down our throats, there is a firestorm to follow. It is known as a “lame duck” session and it is going to be huge.
Village Buzz - April 19th
The news reports concerning a Germantown teacher arrested by Milwaukee Police but who had not yet been charged made me step back and take a deep breath. My first reaction was “I hope there is nothing to this but the District has already conducted an investigation” according to the reports. I know that these kinds of things go on but don’t want to think they can be happening in Germantown.
Free Speech Threat?
Congressional Democrats have unveiled a new effort. They would like to see the Citizen’s United versus Federal Election Commission decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010 reversed. Nothing too serious involved unless you think that free speech is important and that any infringement is not to be tolerated.
Village Buzz - April 21st
It is now in the public domain, and no longer simply rumors in the hallways of our schools. Eric Glass, 29 years old and a math teacher and freshman boys basketball coach is charged with sexually assaulting a 17 year old female student. He is in jail, has been on unpaid leave from the school system since Wednesday and now faces serious prison time if convicted.
Where is the 'Post Office' headed?
I came across a Motley Fool piece written by Rich Smith that discussed the dilemma our U.S. Postal Service faces. It discussed the alternatives that the ‘Post Office’ has available to it in order to overcome the issues that beset it.
Are We the Next Europe?
Our country has added more debt in the first term of President Obama than was added in all the terms of all the presidents before him. We threaten to ‘stimulate’ ourselves into long-term debt problems the likes of those Europe experiences today.
The "Presumptive Nominee"
The Republican National Committee has begun the working process with the Romney campaign with four Romney staffers moving to the RNC and with Reince Priebus stating that Mitt is the ‘presumptive nominee’ of the Republican Party.
Where Do We Stand Today?
Real Clear Politics is a poll that averages most of the other significant polls believing that this provides a better and more nearly perfect result. This poll shows that, for the period of 4/11 through 4/24, President Obama had an approval rating of 47.9% compared to a disapproval rating of 47.6%.
Great News or What?
Great news or not necessarily great news? There is a story making the rounds yesterday and today concerning health insurance companies being forced to make a rebate to Wisconsin individuals and employer groups of some $16.8 million dollars. This is part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a/k/a ObamaCare) and has really resonated with consumers who are very happy to see the insurance company take it in the shorts. After all, almost everyone’s health insurance premiums continue to increase virtually every year. (We conveniently forget that we cause those increases through our utilization, poor health, etc.)
Imagine My Joy...
You have no doubt seen the Just Sayin’ blog that has been featured on the Germantown Now site for the past several weeks. I welcomed Mr. Adair as a new fellow blogger off-line, and he told me that I’d probably find his writings a bit more on the liberal side of issues than are mine.
Funny Stuff...Unless You're a Trial Attorney, I suppose
I have no idea if these are or aren't actual quotes, but these are funny:
