Longing for quiet
I am utterly sick of all the BS in Carefree. Mind you, I love the town and the natural beauty of the environment; it's just some of the people who make me sick.
I stayed out of the political fray this election season to enjoy the fall and winter Holidays, to spend more time with my family, and to enjoy watching our son mature and excel in high school and on the basketball court. That has been very rewarding.
On the negative side, little has changed in Carefree politics.
The unending antics by a small group of town agitators is distressing.
The incessant ramblings of Lyn Hitchon and her small group of loyal like-minded haters is enough to induce vomit.
The Political Action Committee headed by Hayward and Dobak is blight in our town.
The self-appointed CBA, leading the mayor around by the nose for their own self-interest is a disgrace.
The signs that have appeared all along Carefree's arterial roadways are a testimonial to the lack of vision and leadership that exists here. The mayor claims he has heard no complaints. He listens to too few residents and too many CBA activists.
When will all this crap just end?
Carefree was intended to be a small, controlled community, sustained by sales tax revenue from local business and state revenue sharing.
People who want big government and large city services should live in that environment, not try to create one here. Carefree must reduce bloated government and its associated spending; financial stability and tranquility will follow.
Although I stayed out of politics these past months, a recent item in 'Your View' mentioned me by name, in context with a council candidate. >Both he and I are board members in our HOA, and have vastly different perspectives on most things Carefree. For clarification, there was a disagreement regarding installation of cell tower/antenna wiring, and associated mistakes made in the neighborhood. Some shouting and table pounding ensued but our HOA president had the presence and dignity to return order to the meeting. Case closed.
This election will determine the viability of Carefree. We won't know the outcome until several days following the March 8 election, yet if things remain unchanged, and the council majority maintains the status quo like sheep, Carefree will endure another two years adrift without a rudder.
Pray, at minimum, for the passage of Propositions 422 and 423 which will protect Carefree residents from a council imposed secondary property tax. We need a new town hall almost as much as we need more signs.
I may return to politics at some point, but not yet. In the interim, being left alone to enjoy what remains of Carefree's better attributes is all I crave.
John Traynor | Carefree
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One puny vote
Never think your one puny vote doesn’t matter in a small-town election. If my mother hadn’t died, Tom McGuire would be running for re-election as an incumbent! Her mail-in ballot could have prevented the tedious run–off election and the notorious draw of the cards. I think Tom deserves to be back on the Cave Creek Town Council, for his intelligent thoughtfulness and lack of any agenda other than for the long-tem good of the town.
Thank you,
Judy Darbyshire | Cave Creek
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Let’s stop issuing immigrant visas for the year 2012 to employ more Americans!
I think we have enough proud but underemployed Veterans, more than enough willing workers available in America … and we don't need illegal competition in any fields. Please consider stopping all immigrant visas and halting all but essential and educated immigration for the year 2012 until all our Veterans have jobs and dignity, all our families have one or two bread winners, and our own high school drop outs can at least afford an apartment and a car. Send the illegal immigrants to jail, institutions, or back to their homelands and then SHUT THE BORDER as tight as we can.
We have already caught one Imam smuggled in a car trunk right near the Golden Acorn Casino, and two brave Border Patrol Agents have been assassinated! Listen for tunnels, watch for ponga boats, troll for submarines, patrol the Border like I do, check their drive-in IDs – these are all good starts.
The proposed referendum (AB78, the Amnesty du jour) lumps together legal and illegal immigrants. This is an insult to those who have played by our rules and entered the country legally, and a magnet to unemployed illegals who covet our freedoms. I’m urging my lawmakers to represent me by stopping Amnesty the way they would stop a baby crawling toward an edge – for our safety as Americans. Separate the illegals from the legals, and send them to jails, institutions, or the bus station back home. We can proudly praise the legal immigrants who rise to the top and deserve their success.
Then let’s shut the door on San Diego and get back to work … as Americans.
Loch David Crane, M.Ed.
Member, Border Patrol Auxiliary and
Candidate for Mayor of San Diego, 2012
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Wisconsin 2010 teacher actual wages – Government wages exposed
Here are some actual numbers to help you calibrate the spending problem in Wisconsin. This is the official excel DPI database of teachers wages by Wisconsin school district. The current budget repair bill would have them paying about 5.8 percent towards their own retirement … right now, we the taxpayer, pay 100 percent of their generous retirement.
Most of us pay 100 percent of our own retirement.
Average wage and benefits (remember this is for only about 9 months of work):
TEACHERS:
Milwaukee $86,297
Elmbrook $91,065
Germantown $83,818
Hartland Arrwhd $90,285 (highest teacher was $122,952-lowest was $64,942)
Men Falls $81,099
West Bend $82,153
Waukesha $92,902
Sussex $82,956
Mequon $95,297
Kettle Mor $87,676
Muskego $91,341
STAFF:
Arrowhead - Bus Mng - Kopecky - $169,525
Arrowhead - Principal - Wieczorek - $152,519
Grmtwn - Asst Princ - Dave Towers - $123,222
Elmbrk - Burliegh Elemetary - Principal Zahn- $142,315 (for a primary school!!)
Madison - Asst Principal - McGrath - $127,835
UNIVERSITY of WISCONSIN STAFF (2009) (salary alone):
Michael Knetter - Prof of Bus - $327,828
Carolyn Martin -Chancellor Mad- $437,000
Hector Deluca - Prof of Nutritional Science - $254,877 (really??)
(source:Madison.com -as the UW removed salaries from being posted online in 2007- why, if they are so low?)
How about some other "public servant job"??? What do they make?
Madison Garbage men (2009) (salary only):
Garbageman, Mr. Nelson earned $159,258 in 2009, including $109,892 in overtime and other pay:
Garbageman, Greg Tatman, who earned $125,598:
7 Madison garbage men made more than $100,000:
30 Madison garbage men made over $70,000.
MILWAUKEE CITY BUS DRIVERS (salary only):
136 Drivers made more than $70,000
54 Drivers made more than $80,000
18 Drivers made more than $90,000
8 Drivers made more than $100,000
The top Driver made $117,000
(Source WTMJ)
(The average private bus driver makes $9 to $13 an hour (about $20,000 yr) with no pension, or healthcare.)
And we are supposed to continue paying 100 percent of their generous retirement?
They have shut down schools, as they don’t want to pay 5.8 percent of it themselves … REALLY?
Free Republic.com post by Ev Reemen
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Carriage Hills
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Yet again the city has no clue or is dealing under the table. At 9104 E Calle De Valle in the Carriage hills Subdivision, they are preparing to begin laying pavers to create a separate driveway for parking, access and egress to their backyard and side yard. These pavers will cover what is plotted as their front yard NAOS. We thought the only issue was illegal plantings, now the City (Workman and Hadder) has taught them that they can just disregard/ignore all codes by walking around the legal department without comment.
What can be done to nip this ILLEGAL ACTION in the bud before others follow suit?
George Knowlton | Scottsdale
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New Democrat mascot
There's an old saying that "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." Unfortunately, when the going gets tough, the spineless and cowardly also get going … packed into buses and headed to other states to keep Democracy from working.
At least, that's the case in Wisconsin and Indiana, with Democrats in other states feverishly examining Greyhound bus schedules looking for sanctuary states.
Frankly, we think this new Democrat "Flee Party" movement deserves a newer and more accurate mascot than the old Ass they've used previously, and Hope n' Change is happy to suggest the design seen in today's cartoon.
We think the Democrat Donkey has outlived any semblance of accuracy. After all, a donkey is actually capable of performing work, stands on its own feet, and is at least marginally lovable … none of which is true of a liberal Democrat.
But a flea? It's a blood-sucking parasite that lives off of others, it breeds promiscuously, and it's nearly impossible to get rid of. In other words, it's a perfect match!
So let us celebrate this new era in which Conservatives are finally making clear that while this has been "the land of the flea" … it's once again becoming "the home of the brave."
HopeNChangeCartoons.com
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Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday (March 9) marks the beginning if the season of Lent.
It is a time when we fast with joy, submitting ourselves to spiritual struggles in preparation for the sorrowful Passion and joyful Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
What is demanded of all Christians at this time is fasting, abstinence, restriction of personal desires and pleasures, intense prayer, confession, and similar ascetic elements.
Lent is a sacred time of divine grace, which seeks to detach us from things material, lowly and corrupt in order to attract us toward things superior, wholesome and spiritual. It is a unique opportunity to remove from the soul every inordinate passion so as to make room for the immense rejoicing and gladness of Easter.
Limiting ourselves to what is absolutely essential and necessary in an attitude of dignified, deliberate simplicity is a formula for patience and tolerance; it is an opportunity to acknowledge and emphasize our need for God's assistance and mercy, placing our complete trust in His affectionate providence; it is a prescription for salvation.
Let us be up and on our way.
Sincerely,
Paul Kokoski | Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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ARC launches ‘‘Power Hour’’ with Alex Epstein
WASHINGTON – The Ayn Rand Center continues to add to a growing list of media products with the announcement of a new Internet radio show, “Power Hour.”
“One reason I created Power Hour, my monthly Internet radio show where I interview today’s top energy experts on today’s top energy issues, is that too much of the discussion of energy issues consists of sound-bites or out-of-context statistics, without the full context,” says Alex Epstein, a fellow with the Ayn Rand Center, and host of the new program.
On a recent edition of Power Hour, Alex interviewed Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy and Economic Research, about the theory of Peak Oil, the concept that the world faces an inevitable, imminent and disastrous decline in oil production.
Alex Epstein is a fellow at the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, focusing on business issues, oil and energy.
Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights
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Post-Mubarek, a (more) emboldened Iran?
WASHINGTON – “Where the revolts in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Bahrain will lead remains a wide open question,” says Elan Journo, fellow with the Ayn Rand Center. “But one plausible – and grave – scenario is that the Islamist regime in Iran may come out a big winner.
“Iran already has considerable influence in Iraq and in Afghanistan; its proxy, Hezbollah, has enormous power in Lebanon. Hamas, which is backed by Iran, runs the Gaza Strip. As I explain in my book, the last 9+ years have seen Iran’s ominous ascent.
“Now, given the upheaval in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, etc., consider what may ensue if Islamist – or even mildly pro-Iran – regimes take hold in those countries. That would advance Tehran’s founding goal of exporting the odious ideals of its Islamist revolution across the region, and beyond. Imagine how much more emboldened Tehran would be if its dominion reached far across North Africa.”
Elan Journo is a fellow at the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, and editor of and chief contributor to the book “Winning the Unwinnable War: America’s Self-Crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism.” He specializes in foreign policy and the Middle East. His writings have appeared in such publications as the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Sun-Times and the Globe and Mail of Canada. He is also a contributing writer for “The Objective Standard,” a quarterly journal of culture and politics. Journo has been a guest on Fox News as well as numerous nationally syndicated radio programs.
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More than meets the eye
The story goes on. Wisconsin's Republican governor Scott Walker is threatening to issue 1,500 layoff notices immediately to state employees if Senate Democrats, who fled the state and his oppressive tactics, fail to return for a vote on a measure that would cripple public unions. His Republican allies have also stepped up the pressure authorizing police to round up the lawmakers.
Is this still America we're talking about?
Governor Walker and Republicans have Democrats and unions between a rock and a hard place. What happened to the supposed financial meltdown that started this whole episode?
There is more going on here than meets the eye.
Ron Lowe | Nevada City, California
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