Feedback on school suggestions

Immediately after I published my ideas on how the Ohio school system should be modernized and made efficient I e-mailed them to Ohio Senator Tim Schaffer and Ohio Representative Jay Hottinger.

Yesterday, Sen. Schaffer’s office advised me that he is sharing those ideas with the state K-12 Education work group of which he is a member.

Earlier, our Representative’s assistant told me that Mr. Hottinger would be taking a “careful look” at those ideas and will eventually respond.

I am honored and thankful that the ideas are being studied.

NCS levy signals call to arms

Anyone who considers the passage of the $5.9-million-per-year levy a sign that the community is poised to kiss and make up with the Newark City Schools should go read the outpouring of rage in comments to the Advocate on-line news report.

The NCS tax take has grown by $230 a year per $100,000 value. That’s added to the $892 per year already in place, plus a 1 percent income tax, plus state and federal taxes giving Keith & Company a total of $12,693 per student, per year, plus an estimated 9.3% increase in state and federal aid over the next two years. 

Still NCS will not have enough, they say, to fully bus students, or fully fund the extras for students, but they do anticipate having enough for staff raises which are needed because the NCS classroom teachers’ average salary is only $55,331 for nine months’ work before benefits - and NCS has only one employee for every 4.9 students, and the superintendent makes more than the governor of Alaska.

That Keith & Company strategized a winning shell game on property owners comes as a call to arms. Sitting in front of a computer screen screaming insults back and forth may be therapeutic, but it’s a lousy solution. 

What has to happen next is state intervention into the rape of property owners. It has to happen before Keith & Company come back to rape again, and they will because it’s never enough no matter how much it is.

There are three people who are responsible for doing this, but who won’t do anything meaningful for property owners unless they are made to do it. One is State Representative Jay Hottinger, another is State Senator Tim Schaffer and the third is Governor Ted Strickland.

Jay Hottinger has practically grown to adulthood as our link to state government. Because of that, I think he is as responsible as any member of government for schools’ rape and re-raping of property owners in Newark, Licking County, and Ohio.

So here’s a suggestion for you guys sitting there moaning about having to pay yet another $5.9 million each year on top of an already-excessive tax bill:

Call Jay Hottinger’s office - 614/466-1482 - and ask him precisely what he’s going to do to solve the problem. If you don’t understand his answer, ask again. 

Then call Senator Schaffer at 614/466-5838 and ask him the same thing. Ask the same question as many times as it takes until you understand it.

Then call Governor Strickland at the constituent helpline 614/644-4357 and ask him what he’s going to do to solve the problem. Make sure you understand exactly what he intends to do before you hang up.

When you have done so, please leave a comment here about your experience. The number and kind of comments received will indicate how serious you are about dealing with the problem, rather than whining about it.

"Castle Doctrine" hearing set for this Wednesday

Ohio is among states in which you can't respond in force in the defense of your life or family without fear of civil lawsuits by criminals.

Senate Bill 184, the "Castle Doctrine" will, if passed, put an end to this foolishness. SB 184 will go before the Criminal Justice Committee 10 a.m. Wed., 1/30/08 for a public hearing in the North Hearing Room.

Anyone who is interested in legalizing one's right to defend himself while under criminal attack should attend the hearing if possible and if not, then contact members of the Senate Judiciary - Criminal Justice Committee. They are listed on the NRA website here.

Included among those members is our own Senator from Lancaster, Tim Schaffer (R-31); Telephone: 614-466-5838; Email: SD31@mailr.sen.state.oh.us

Senator Schaffer talks about his voting record

It has been observed among these observations that our state senator from Lancaster is virtually invisible in Newark. Since then, he's done a bit of self-revelation but nothing very informative.

A few days ago, however, Tim Schaffer provided the WCLT web site a column that tells of his voting activities, and for that he is to be commended.

Usually whenever we hear about the votes of our representatives to the state capitol, it has to do with only the feel-good bills.

Local media can't or won't report on anybody's votes outside the county unless its hand-fed to them as Tim did in his column. A crumb of knowledge about state government, but better than what we've been getting. Here's the link.

Blame your lazy, incompetent media for impudent government

I have been inadvertently made aware at least two dozen times in the past several hours that Brittany's sister is pregnant. I don't give a damn about her or Brittany, but that news is inescapable.

Meanwhile, the impudence of government employees rages unchecked. Why? Because media are yammering incessantly about media-created "events" like Britney-slut and her sister's vagina. Media rarely talk about what's important and when they do, their lack of depth is prodigious.

Example: The U.S.-Mexico fence project has been stopped in its tracks. Did you know that? I heard about it only because I was walking by the TV last night when Glenn Beck was popping blood from his eyes over this travesty.

This morning I spent more than an hour running down a media report about the fence on the Internet because the fact that our nation is over-run by illegal Mexicans and God knows who else is just not in the same level of importance as what Britney-slut's sister's vagina has been over-run with.

I would really like to know if my congressmen voted for or against castrating the border fence. I cannot find out. No place in the articles I saw was the bill mentioned by number. Even if there were a number, good luck sorting through the way such votes are reported on the Internet, especially voting on amendments.

What we get from media is what the so-called "Washington Press Corps" decides to send to media. Never do we hear how our congressmen voted, not unless it's a real big deal to one of the media gatekeepers. That would be the folks enthralled by celebrity vaginas.

Example: Please tell me how Jay Hottinger, your representative to the statehouse, and Tim Schaffer, your state senator, vote on anything. In fact, just tell me what there has been for them to vote on.

Example: Please tell me anything of importance reported about the Licking County Commissioners in the past several weeks, except for a small blurb about a new tax proposal. Just tell me if they're still meeting at all.

Example: Please tell me what happened at the last Newark City Council meeting if you didn't watch it yourself. You may have read the Advocate's 22-paragraph fluff lionizing Mayor Bain for his exemplary service before he was voted out of office, or you may have read the five-paragraph "report" about the city employee union addressing council. But do you know what happened at the last council meeting that affected lives and property and tax money and who voted for it and why?

No, you don't. But you probably do know the latest buzz on Buckeye football or the minutia of the police blotter - because that's a cheap and easy journalistic gimme which any clerk can be taught to handle.

It is precisely for these reasons that you're getting government employees who thumb their noses at you. You don't know who's voting on what, and the people who are paid to tell you - the Gannetts and the WCLTs and the Dispatches don't know either, don't think it's important, and would have to spend some money on reporting and editing talent to get it done.

Meanwhile they're looking for the latest celebrity vagina news and whining about readers/listeners/viewers jumping ship.

Why not background checks for legislators, indeed?

"Why not?" is the question asked in a Dispatch editorial that followed its publication of a news report about the Ohio Senate slamming the lid on an amendment that would require state legislature candidates to endure background checks.

The amendment was proposed for a bill requiring such checks for folks who apply for many types of professional licenses issued by the state. Those who rule the licensing procedure are apparently above such scrutiny themselves.

Background checks, with publication on the Internet of the findings, should be required from all Ohio candidates, not just legislators.

Republicans were guilty of rejecting the amendment, with only two of them voting for it. I'm told by Ann Fisher, Dispatch columnist, that Newark's state senator, Tim Schaffer, was among those who voted against it. Ann wrote "Legislators flee the scrutiny they decree" published 12/14/07.

The vote to kill this proposal was shameful. But it may not matter, in view of the Dispatch editorial, the Dispatch news report, the Dispatch commentary, and the Dispatch reader poll showing 81 percent of its readers are in favor of it.

The time for such a procedure has arrived. Let's put every candidate's history in the open, not just the little guys who need licenses for a livelihood.

New lobby law, Hillary lies, more government intrusion, how did our mystery senator vote on screwing consumers?

New lobby law
Here's the link to a web site on which you will find a copy of the "Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007" and also wealth of information that relates to this subject.

Hillary can't quit lying because her last name is Clinton
No matter what kind of weaseling Hill attempts, she just can't hide the fact that she's a Clintonian liar. In the Des Moines forum where a question for her was planted she denied knowledge of it.

Sure.

Next spectacular lie is the waitress tip bugger-up. Someone forgot to tip a waitress during a "Middle-Class Express" pit stop in Iowa. Think about it. That's no big deal. It surely was a mistake and all they had to do was admit it. Not the Clinton way. Next day's report by AP declared that Hill's people did leave a tip with the manager who took the fall for the Senator, saying it was his fault the waitress didn't get the tip. The controversy and the weaseling continued in an NPR report, the most significant statement of which came from the waitress who said, "Why would I lie about not getting a tip?" And why would Hillary lie? Because that's the Clinton way to do things.

So, when Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland endorsed her and put out a feeler for becoming her VP, he didn't exactly collect voters' points. But the veracity of the both of them came through quite well in this USA Today report:

Asked if she would consider Strickland as a running mate, Clinton said such talk was "premature." For his part, Strickland made a strong and Sherman-esque statement – he is not interested in being the running mate to Clinton or anyone else.

Pffft

Vaccination or jail

Go read this report if you want to get pissed off about government intrusion into lives of citizens. Bureaucrats in Prince George's County VA, (bordering Washington DC) are threatening to jail parents of school children who have not gotten vaccinations as required by the state.

Electric customers shafted by Ohio Senate

An AP report in the Advocate a few days ago begins:

"COLUMBUS (AP) — Subtle changes buried in an energy bill plotting the future of Ohioans’ electricity rates guarantee that today’s prices will never fall and make it nearly impossible for producers of green power to gain a foothold in the state, [the Plain Dealer] reported Monday.

"The amendments were added by the Ohio Senate to Gov. Ted Strickland’s proposed energy bill, which the Ohio House has scheduled to debate at the leisurely pace of one hearing per week into the new year."

The bill also continued deep discounts for big industrial users, weakened the muscle originally given to PUCO, and other stuff.

I attempted to learn on-line if our state senator (can you name him?) (whose name is Tim Schaffer and who lives in Lancaster and who replaced Jay Hottinger last election and whose e-mail address is SD31@mailr.sen.state.oh.us) had voted for this senate Bill.

Getting this info on-line seems impossible. I can't find the source if there is one. Of course neither the Dispatch nor the Advocate think it important enough to report. Which is exactly why Tim and Jay do whatever they damned well want. Nobody knows.

So I wrote an e-mail to Tim three days ago and I politely asked if he voted for this bill and he didn't answer. Which means, I'm pretty sure, that he's not proud of his vote.

We really should know more about this man. In fact, it would be nice to know anything at all about our mystery senator of whom we've heard nothing since his election.