Coyote howls, as golden goose dies
By
Rory Ryan-hcpress@cinci.rr.com
When I received a news release this week from Jennifer West entitled, “Learn About Coyotes at the Hillsboro Public Library,” I immediately thought of our good friend, Will Bohrer.
Local author and publisher Carol Cartaino is the author of “Myths and Truths about Coyotes: What You Need to Know about America’s Most Misunderstood Predator,” and will answer questions about the Wile E. One at the Hillsboro Public Library on March 31.
Ms. Cartaino will discuss the difference between “Eastern” and “Western” coyotes, as well as the ever-popular “coydogs.”
She also will answer the age-old question “What should I do if I encounter a coyote?”
If ever there were a library presentation suited specifically for Will, this one’s it. Especially that last part: What should I do if I encounter a coyote?
You may remember that Will encountered a coyote several years ago. A Wile E. Coyote, indeed, complete with a radio transmitter and antenna attached to his coyote cranium.
It seems the critter had been released as part of a university study. I don’t recall exactly what happened to that particular American jackal, but I am quite confident that Will and Carol can exchange interesting stories and assorted anecdotes on this “most misunderstood predator.”
* * *
Another interesting thing happened at the HCP this week. Well, it was interesting to me, anyway.
One of our online readers posted a link to a Walter Williams column at www.townhall.com. Mr. Williams, a longtime professor of economics at George Mason University and a cousin of Julius “Dr. J” Erving, has been one of my favorite newspaper columnists for more than a quarter of a century. He also answers his own mail, to that I can attest.
So, when a reader of www.highlandcountypress.com posts a Walter Williams column link, not only am I going to read the story, but I’m also going to publicly acknowledge the fact that there’s more than one Williams fan in the area. That’s encouraging.
Reading Walter Williams’ columns ought to be a requirement of higher learning and personal enlightenment. (The same holds true for columns by the late William F. Buckley Jr.)
In his column this week, Mr. Williams writes: “Given the relationship between politicians and public employee unions, we should not be surprised that public employee wages and benefits often average 45-percent higher than their counterparts in the private sector. Often, they receive pension and health care benefits making little or no contribution. How is it that public employee unions have such a leg up on their private-sector brethren?”
Mr. Williams further notes: “According to the Department of Labor, most union members today work for state, local and federal government. Close to 40 percent of public employees are unionized. As such, they represent a powerful political force in elections. If you’re a candidate for governor, mayor or city councilman, you surely want the votes and campaign contributions from public employee unions. In my view, that’s no problem. The problem arises after you win office and sit down to bargain over the pay and working conditions with unions who voted for you.”
Bingo! Mr. Williams has cut to the crux of the matter faster than Dr. J used to cut to the basket for a reverse layup or dunk.
As long as these public employee unions own the bargaining leverage in negotiations – and they do – taxpayers will continue to pay more for basic services and private-sector employers, who are burdened with repressive taxes, will pay their employees less – not because they are stingy misers, but because there’s simply nothing left. Excessive government spending over the past 40 years has killed the golden goose.
“Politicians have every reason to grant benefits to their political allies, in this case public employee unions,” Williams says. “They (politicians) don’t pick up the tab; it’s unorganized taxpayers who face higher taxes.”
Those “unorganized taxpayers” have been footing the bill for some time, now.
Lately, it looks like some of the nation’s taxpayers are beginning to realize this – and beginning to get organized. Should that happen, public “service” may begin to resemble its original meaning.
Unorganized, private-sector taxpayers have been giving until it hurts. It’s time for the public unions to realize this and relay the message to their rank-and-file members, instead of fuel flames of outrage and intolerance.
And, without a doubt, it’s time state lawmakers in Ohio and elsewhere invite the unions in to help be a part of the solution. To his credit, State Rep. Cliff Rosenberger is doing just that. While the Clarksville Republican does support collective bargaining reform, he’s also willing to listen to local union members, TEA Party activists and taxpayers on their thoughts about Senate Bill 5.
Meanwhile, until we see real reform in collective bargaining as we’ve come to know it, voters across the state and nation would be wise to reject any and all tax increases, tax levies or renewals of existing levies.
Taxpayers have done enough. The Old Gray (Golden) Goose is Dead.
* * *
And then there was the report in this week’s Wall Street Journal online edition.
Louise Radnofsky writes online at www.online.wsj.com that “Departing members of the House of Representatives awarded millions of dollars in extra pay to aides as they closed down their offices, according to lawmakers’ spending records.”
“The 96 lawmakers (mostly Democrats) paid their employees $6.7 million, or 31 percent more in the fourth quarter of 2010 than they did, on average, in the first three quarters of the year.
“That’s about twice as much as the 16-percent increase awarded by lawmakers who returned to the 112th Congress, according to LegiStorm, an organization that tracks congressional salaries.
The disparity suggests retiring or defeated members used remaining funds in their official expense budgets to boost salaries for staffers before they left Washington, cash that might otherwise have been returned to the U.S. Treasury.”
Both parties have been guilty of this costly practice, too. Taxpayers “give” House members allowances of between $1.4 million and $2 million a year to spend running their respective offices. House staff salaries range from about $20,000 to $168,411 a year, the maximum permitted, and the average salary is around $60,000.
So…how many of you in the local private sector are earning $168,411 a year? How many of you are earning $60,000 a year. And the better question, how many private-sector employers are hiring for jobs that average $60,000 a year?
That’s what I thought.
* * *
To cap off this week’s award-winner is the news that the U.S. government has just announced its (our) largest monthly deficit in history. The February 2011 deficit was a whopping $223 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
This also established another modern record: It was the 29th consecutive month (25 of them on Obama’s watch) that the federal government has reported a deficit. The Feds haven’t had a monthly budget surplus since September 2008, almost three years ago.
And the Gravy Train keeps chugging along.
Let’s face it, all federal, state and local government entities that have not made spending cuts comparable to all those cuts made in the private-sector households of “unorganized taxpayers” across America ought to be ashamed of themselves.
So should any taxpayer – unorganized or otherwise – who allows this travesty to continue.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]
Local author and publisher Carol Cartaino is the author of “Myths and Truths about Coyotes: What You Need to Know about America’s Most Misunderstood Predator,” and will answer questions about the Wile E. One at the Hillsboro Public Library on March 31.
Ms. Cartaino will discuss the difference between “Eastern” and “Western” coyotes, as well as the ever-popular “coydogs.”
She also will answer the age-old question “What should I do if I encounter a coyote?”
If ever there were a library presentation suited specifically for Will, this one’s it. Especially that last part: What should I do if I encounter a coyote?
You may remember that Will encountered a coyote several years ago. A Wile E. Coyote, indeed, complete with a radio transmitter and antenna attached to his coyote cranium.
It seems the critter had been released as part of a university study. I don’t recall exactly what happened to that particular American jackal, but I am quite confident that Will and Carol can exchange interesting stories and assorted anecdotes on this “most misunderstood predator.”
* * *
Another interesting thing happened at the HCP this week. Well, it was interesting to me, anyway.
One of our online readers posted a link to a Walter Williams column at www.townhall.com. Mr. Williams, a longtime professor of economics at George Mason University and a cousin of Julius “Dr. J” Erving, has been one of my favorite newspaper columnists for more than a quarter of a century. He also answers his own mail, to that I can attest.
So, when a reader of www.highlandcountypress.com posts a Walter Williams column link, not only am I going to read the story, but I’m also going to publicly acknowledge the fact that there’s more than one Williams fan in the area. That’s encouraging.
Reading Walter Williams’ columns ought to be a requirement of higher learning and personal enlightenment. (The same holds true for columns by the late William F. Buckley Jr.)
In his column this week, Mr. Williams writes: “Given the relationship between politicians and public employee unions, we should not be surprised that public employee wages and benefits often average 45-percent higher than their counterparts in the private sector. Often, they receive pension and health care benefits making little or no contribution. How is it that public employee unions have such a leg up on their private-sector brethren?”
Mr. Williams further notes: “According to the Department of Labor, most union members today work for state, local and federal government. Close to 40 percent of public employees are unionized. As such, they represent a powerful political force in elections. If you’re a candidate for governor, mayor or city councilman, you surely want the votes and campaign contributions from public employee unions. In my view, that’s no problem. The problem arises after you win office and sit down to bargain over the pay and working conditions with unions who voted for you.”
Bingo! Mr. Williams has cut to the crux of the matter faster than Dr. J used to cut to the basket for a reverse layup or dunk.
As long as these public employee unions own the bargaining leverage in negotiations – and they do – taxpayers will continue to pay more for basic services and private-sector employers, who are burdened with repressive taxes, will pay their employees less – not because they are stingy misers, but because there’s simply nothing left. Excessive government spending over the past 40 years has killed the golden goose.
“Politicians have every reason to grant benefits to their political allies, in this case public employee unions,” Williams says. “They (politicians) don’t pick up the tab; it’s unorganized taxpayers who face higher taxes.”
Those “unorganized taxpayers” have been footing the bill for some time, now.
Lately, it looks like some of the nation’s taxpayers are beginning to realize this – and beginning to get organized. Should that happen, public “service” may begin to resemble its original meaning.
Unorganized, private-sector taxpayers have been giving until it hurts. It’s time for the public unions to realize this and relay the message to their rank-and-file members, instead of fuel flames of outrage and intolerance.
And, without a doubt, it’s time state lawmakers in Ohio and elsewhere invite the unions in to help be a part of the solution. To his credit, State Rep. Cliff Rosenberger is doing just that. While the Clarksville Republican does support collective bargaining reform, he’s also willing to listen to local union members, TEA Party activists and taxpayers on their thoughts about Senate Bill 5.
Meanwhile, until we see real reform in collective bargaining as we’ve come to know it, voters across the state and nation would be wise to reject any and all tax increases, tax levies or renewals of existing levies.
Taxpayers have done enough. The Old Gray (Golden) Goose is Dead.
* * *
And then there was the report in this week’s Wall Street Journal online edition.
Louise Radnofsky writes online at www.online.wsj.com that “Departing members of the House of Representatives awarded millions of dollars in extra pay to aides as they closed down their offices, according to lawmakers’ spending records.”
“The 96 lawmakers (mostly Democrats) paid their employees $6.7 million, or 31 percent more in the fourth quarter of 2010 than they did, on average, in the first three quarters of the year.
“That’s about twice as much as the 16-percent increase awarded by lawmakers who returned to the 112th Congress, according to LegiStorm, an organization that tracks congressional salaries.
The disparity suggests retiring or defeated members used remaining funds in their official expense budgets to boost salaries for staffers before they left Washington, cash that might otherwise have been returned to the U.S. Treasury.”
Both parties have been guilty of this costly practice, too. Taxpayers “give” House members allowances of between $1.4 million and $2 million a year to spend running their respective offices. House staff salaries range from about $20,000 to $168,411 a year, the maximum permitted, and the average salary is around $60,000.
So…how many of you in the local private sector are earning $168,411 a year? How many of you are earning $60,000 a year. And the better question, how many private-sector employers are hiring for jobs that average $60,000 a year?
That’s what I thought.
* * *
To cap off this week’s award-winner is the news that the U.S. government has just announced its (our) largest monthly deficit in history. The February 2011 deficit was a whopping $223 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
This also established another modern record: It was the 29th consecutive month (25 of them on Obama’s watch) that the federal government has reported a deficit. The Feds haven’t had a monthly budget surplus since September 2008, almost three years ago.
And the Gravy Train keeps chugging along.
Let’s face it, all federal, state and local government entities that have not made spending cuts comparable to all those cuts made in the private-sector households of “unorganized taxpayers” across America ought to be ashamed of themselves.
So should any taxpayer – unorganized or otherwise – who allows this travesty to continue.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]