The Charleston Daily Mail on Nov. 27, 2006, reported that five former public employees who were convicted of felonies - crimes committed in the course of their taxpayer-funded employment - are demanding that their pension benefits not be terminated.
I need to do a little research, but does it strike anyone else that West Virginia has more public employees, per capita, than any other state? I could be wrong about that statistic but I'm not wrong in saying that government employees who betray the public trust by stealing or committing sexual assault on the job shouldn't be permitted to benefit from their crimes.
I'd love to see the state Legislature completely overhaul the public employment system, so that bad apples like these may be thrown out quickly. As it is, with innumerable grievances and appeals available to them (all at taxpayer expense), bad public employees can keep their jobs - and their pensions - almost forever. Thank goodness the Consolidated Public Retirement Board is trying to cut off these five. I hope the Kanawha County Circuit Court judge rules in favor of the beleaguered taxpayers in this case.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Sunday, November 19, 2006
What's Wrong With This Picture? (Or, Fiddling While Rome Burns)
A plant to convert coal to liquid fuel is to be built near Wellsville, Ohio, according to recent news reports. (The story may be found here: http://www.salemnews.net/news/articles.asp?articleID=3498). Officials expect the new plant will employ 200 permanent workers. In addition, "the four-year construction process will see a minimum of 1,500 construction workers on the site at one time, and possibly as many as 2,500," according to the Salem News article cited above.
Meanwhile, West Virginia's newly-elected Democrat legislators are wasting no time trying to bring more gambling to the Mountain State. Not a plant, not a manufacturing facility of any type, not any sort of business that actually produces something of value, but casinos. Table gaming, woo hoo!! Blackjack 'n'at!!
Won't that be great? West Virginians can take their unemployment checks and buy big stacks of poker chips with them.
Meanwhile, West Virginia's newly-elected Democrat legislators are wasting no time trying to bring more gambling to the Mountain State. Not a plant, not a manufacturing facility of any type, not any sort of business that actually produces something of value, but casinos. Table gaming, woo hoo!! Blackjack 'n'at!!
Won't that be great? West Virginians can take their unemployment checks and buy big stacks of poker chips with them.
Friday, November 17, 2006
The Big Game
Oh yeah, there's something going on in Columbus tomorrow between OSU and Michigan, but I just wanted to offer congratulations to the WVU Mountaineers for their victory over Pitt last night. If there were any justice in the world, Steve Slaton and Pat White would share the Heisman this year! Let's go, Mountaineers!
Monday, November 13, 2006
Guns 'n' Poseurs
The Second Amendment was our founding fathers’ way to ensure that we had the means to defend our hard-won freedom against any tyrant that might come along to take it away from us. The possession of firearms is a Constitutional right, co-equal with free speech, freedom of religion, the right to a jury trial, equal protection under the law and all the others set forth in the U.S. Constitution and its amendments. Don’t tell a few of the students at West Liberty State College, though. You might offend them.
It seems a group at the college for many years has held a gun raffle as a fundraiser. This being West Virginia, chock full of hunters and sportsmen, no one gave such a promotion a second thought. But in October 2006 came along the president of the Student Government Association. He was outraged that anyone would contemplate selling the chance to win an eeeevilll hunting rifle or shotgun. Outraged, I tell you!
In an effort to smooth things over (although Mr. Student Prez seemed to be the only one actually complaining), the group changed the prizes from guns to gift certificates at Cabela’s outdoor store, but that wasn’t good enough. According to the WLSC student newspaper The Trumpet (Nov. 7, 2006), Mr. Prez announced that his fraternity was going to respond with a raffle of its own, and the prizes would be a gift basket full of “adult films,” cigarettes and beer.
It’s unfortunate that this young man may not have learned anything useful during his many years at WLSC (maybe he skipped political science class the day they discussed the Bill of Rights), least of all that porn and cigarettes are not the moral equivalent of a deer rifle. I only can imagine how it would grieve the brave and brilliant men who drafted the U.S. Constitution to see how today’s citizens who enjoy all of its legal protections are so eager to make a mockery of it.
It seems a group at the college for many years has held a gun raffle as a fundraiser. This being West Virginia, chock full of hunters and sportsmen, no one gave such a promotion a second thought. But in October 2006 came along the president of the Student Government Association. He was outraged that anyone would contemplate selling the chance to win an eeeevilll hunting rifle or shotgun. Outraged, I tell you!
In an effort to smooth things over (although Mr. Student Prez seemed to be the only one actually complaining), the group changed the prizes from guns to gift certificates at Cabela’s outdoor store, but that wasn’t good enough. According to the WLSC student newspaper The Trumpet (Nov. 7, 2006), Mr. Prez announced that his fraternity was going to respond with a raffle of its own, and the prizes would be a gift basket full of “adult films,” cigarettes and beer.
It’s unfortunate that this young man may not have learned anything useful during his many years at WLSC (maybe he skipped political science class the day they discussed the Bill of Rights), least of all that porn and cigarettes are not the moral equivalent of a deer rifle. I only can imagine how it would grieve the brave and brilliant men who drafted the U.S. Constitution to see how today’s citizens who enjoy all of its legal protections are so eager to make a mockery of it.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Healthcare Woes
The Associated Press recently ran a story - picked up by a local Northern Panhandle newspaper today - about how hospitals are trying to reduce the length of time patients spend in emergency room waiting rooms. It described how a woman named Beatrice Vance died of a heart attack in a Chicago-area hospital's ER waiting room after going over two hours without being examined by a physician. The story also described how patients commonly have to wait for several hours for non-emergency procedures and for routine examinations for which they supposedly had appointments.
Apparently, the majority of voters in Western Pennsylvania's Fourth Congressional District think that's not such a bad thing. They voted out Rep. Melissa Hart and replaced her with Jason Altmire, one of the worker bees on Hillary Clinton's ill-conceived health care task force. You remember HillaryCare, the government-run health care system that would have brought criminal charges against patients for going outside their arbitrarily prescribed regions for treatment, and against doctors for daring to provide healthcare beyond that decreed by a faraway bureaucrat.
Clearly, affordable health care is to be desired for all Americans, but do we really want our emergency room waiting areas to look like the Social Security office, another paragon of efficiency? Do we want to entrust our lives and those of our children to a bored government worker in another state? How well has the government, federal or state, ever run anything?
Take a number, and try not to die.
Apparently, the majority of voters in Western Pennsylvania's Fourth Congressional District think that's not such a bad thing. They voted out Rep. Melissa Hart and replaced her with Jason Altmire, one of the worker bees on Hillary Clinton's ill-conceived health care task force. You remember HillaryCare, the government-run health care system that would have brought criminal charges against patients for going outside their arbitrarily prescribed regions for treatment, and against doctors for daring to provide healthcare beyond that decreed by a faraway bureaucrat.
Clearly, affordable health care is to be desired for all Americans, but do we really want our emergency room waiting areas to look like the Social Security office, another paragon of efficiency? Do we want to entrust our lives and those of our children to a bored government worker in another state? How well has the government, federal or state, ever run anything?
Take a number, and try not to die.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Inaugural blog post and election musings
I decided on election night, Nov. 7, 2006, to create a blog for occasional commentary on issues pertinent to my region, state and country – or whatever else comes to mind.
The election of 2006 will have profound and, dare I say, devastating effects on our nation’s efforts to fight terror. Some of us were concerned when terror groups started endorsing Democrats, but we’ll see whether that translates into a less secure homeland. I believe a Democrat majority in Congress also will be detrimental to the U.S. economy. All you middle-class workers can kiss your paychecks goodbye, as the Democrats work feverishly to reverse the tax relief measures enacted in the previous five years. But the voters have chosen, and we’ll all pay the piper.
As for West Virginia, good luck with your new Legislature. Good luck, Gov. Mojo, trying to bring new employers into this state, considering you and your Democrat Legislature lack the will to embark on a legitimate restructuring of the state’s ridiculous anti-business tax system. Patchwork is nice in quilts, but not for tax reform.
Replacing Ohio County’s Republican Delegates with two union officials has to be one of the most disappointing voting results of the day. It’s amazing that unions still are so politically influential in this state, considering the industries that created union jobs are on their deathbed. It also is curious that the typical “union guy” still votes Democrat, after the big load of nothing that party has done for anyone who works for a living. Does anyone remember when Weirton Steel employed over 13,000? Now, the state is full of unemployed union members. By the way, has anyone ever seen a union official waiting in line at the unemployment office? I didn’t think so.
I watched Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV arriving at a union-sponsored pro-Democrat rally in Weirton in 2004. He pulled up in a fully loaded Japanese-made SUV. I asked a union worker what he thought of that. He looked at me like I had three heads. I explained that his American union brothers didn’t make the vehicle, that the billionaire Rockefeller (friend of the working man) had put his money into the hands of Japanese workers instead. The steelworker’s response? “Uh, well, Japanese workers have to feed their families, too.” Yep, while you and yours go hungry, I guess. Here’s your sign, as Bill Engvall might say.
By the way, I saw Rockefeller again in October 2006 in Buckhannon. Still enjoying that luxury import SUV, I noticed.
Then there’s Rep. Alan B. Mollohan. For reasons unknown, the majority of voters in the first district are more that happy to hand over to him the money from their own pockets so that he can hand it over to his friends – who, in turn, thank Mr. Mollohan for his generosity by giving him a little bit back. All the while, the voters stand there with their empty pockets turned inside out, convinced Mollohan really cares about them. Sure, it really, really makes sense that a “public servant” should become a multimillionaire almost overnight.
Let’s not forget Big Daddy. Hallelujah, Big Daddy! No disrespect meant for a senior citizen (although I’m not sure how much respect is due a Klansman in the first place), but Sen. Robert C. Byrd has for the past several years lacked the requisite mental acuteness for the job. Why did this 90-year-old man run for another six-year term? He must have heard a rumor that somewhere in West Virginia existed a building, bridge, road or outhouse that didn’t yet bear his name. Keep working on that, Sen. Byrd. And we’ll keep enjoying our last-place status among the 50 states.
The election of 2006 will have profound and, dare I say, devastating effects on our nation’s efforts to fight terror. Some of us were concerned when terror groups started endorsing Democrats, but we’ll see whether that translates into a less secure homeland. I believe a Democrat majority in Congress also will be detrimental to the U.S. economy. All you middle-class workers can kiss your paychecks goodbye, as the Democrats work feverishly to reverse the tax relief measures enacted in the previous five years. But the voters have chosen, and we’ll all pay the piper.
As for West Virginia, good luck with your new Legislature. Good luck, Gov. Mojo, trying to bring new employers into this state, considering you and your Democrat Legislature lack the will to embark on a legitimate restructuring of the state’s ridiculous anti-business tax system. Patchwork is nice in quilts, but not for tax reform.
Replacing Ohio County’s Republican Delegates with two union officials has to be one of the most disappointing voting results of the day. It’s amazing that unions still are so politically influential in this state, considering the industries that created union jobs are on their deathbed. It also is curious that the typical “union guy” still votes Democrat, after the big load of nothing that party has done for anyone who works for a living. Does anyone remember when Weirton Steel employed over 13,000? Now, the state is full of unemployed union members. By the way, has anyone ever seen a union official waiting in line at the unemployment office? I didn’t think so.
I watched Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV arriving at a union-sponsored pro-Democrat rally in Weirton in 2004. He pulled up in a fully loaded Japanese-made SUV. I asked a union worker what he thought of that. He looked at me like I had three heads. I explained that his American union brothers didn’t make the vehicle, that the billionaire Rockefeller (friend of the working man) had put his money into the hands of Japanese workers instead. The steelworker’s response? “Uh, well, Japanese workers have to feed their families, too.” Yep, while you and yours go hungry, I guess. Here’s your sign, as Bill Engvall might say.
By the way, I saw Rockefeller again in October 2006 in Buckhannon. Still enjoying that luxury import SUV, I noticed.
Then there’s Rep. Alan B. Mollohan. For reasons unknown, the majority of voters in the first district are more that happy to hand over to him the money from their own pockets so that he can hand it over to his friends – who, in turn, thank Mr. Mollohan for his generosity by giving him a little bit back. All the while, the voters stand there with their empty pockets turned inside out, convinced Mollohan really cares about them. Sure, it really, really makes sense that a “public servant” should become a multimillionaire almost overnight.
Let’s not forget Big Daddy. Hallelujah, Big Daddy! No disrespect meant for a senior citizen (although I’m not sure how much respect is due a Klansman in the first place), but Sen. Robert C. Byrd has for the past several years lacked the requisite mental acuteness for the job. Why did this 90-year-old man run for another six-year term? He must have heard a rumor that somewhere in West Virginia existed a building, bridge, road or outhouse that didn’t yet bear his name. Keep working on that, Sen. Byrd. And we’ll keep enjoying our last-place status among the 50 states.
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