Adding to my previous post, my research on our school district has turned up an elementary school Gym teacher who's salary breaks out to $71 per hour!!

Gee, I obviously didn't realize just how much of an emergency that levy was.

Another school levy failed last night. Although the district has maintained that they are running out of cuts to make, I did some research that would lead me to believe otherwise.

According to public records, the average teacher salary for the Cardinal Middle School is $60,745. Please note that these are the wages in their pay check, and does NOT include pensions, annuity, health care, sick days, or any of their many benefits. For the sake of comparison, the average household income of the residents in the district is $38,981.

So, those teachers, on average, are paid over 55% more than the people who pay their salaries! I'd love to see the percentage once the benefits are figured in, how about you? I bet that would be a REAL eye opener!!

According to the same public records, the same teachers work 184 days in a year, and 7.5 hours per day.

Once you do the math, you will find that the average teacher, in that building alone, is making $44.02 per hour, not including their benefits package!

Now, I suppose that, when the economy is booming, and people can afford it, that would be acceptable (that is an argument for another time). However, that is not the case today. Businesses are closing their doors. More people are losing their homes than at any time since the great depression. The State of Ohio's unemployment fund went broke two years ago, and we are now "borrowing" from the feds. In today's economy, nearly 1 in every 10 employees are unemployed. Of those still employed, a good majority of those have had their benefits and salaries cut, due to decreased profit margins.

Meanwhile, the teachers have said that they will take a pay freeze for a while. Sorry, but that's not enough. The salaries of everyone that pays the teachers' salaries have been decreasing rapidly. Yet, I have yet to see the teachers' union come to negotiations offering to cut salaries across the board. No way!! Instead, they cry that they are actually "underpaid," and that, if we cared about the children, we would keep throwing money their way.

The time has come for a reality check. And, that reality is, people cannot afford it anymore. Cuts need to be made.

I know union electricians who are working (still through their union) for wages nearly 25% less than they were making three years ago. Yet, schools are asking them to cough up a few more tax dollars so that their teachers can still get their step raises. Shouldn't you be more concerned about your fellow AFL-CIO members?

Start searching around at http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/school-data to find out how much your districts' teachers are REALLY making, and then decide just how much of an "Emergency Levy" the next one really is. I'd bet good money that it's not as much of an emergency as you previously thought!

formspring.me

This is sort of neat. "Ask me anything" http://formspring.me/gimemoore

Places I have visited

First, here are the States that I have been to...


visited 16 states (32%)


Create your own visited map of The United States



And, now for the countries I have been to...


visited 3 states (1.33%)
Create your own visited map of The World

We are so screwed up

Here's something pretty good from today's emails. Sorry for the crappy formatting, but I don't have time to deal with it right now.

Have I got this right?

IF YOU CROSS THE NORTH KOREAN BORDER
ILLEGALLY YOU GET TWELVE YEARS
HARD LABOR.

IF YOU CROSS
THE IRANIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU ARE DETAINED INDEFINITELY.

IF YOU
CROSS THE AFGHAN BORDER ILLEGALLY, YOU GET SHOT.

IF YOU CROSS THE
SAUDI ARABIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE JAILED.

IF YOU CROSS
THE CHINESE BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU MAY NEVER BE HEARD FROM
AGAIN.

IF YOU CROSS THE VENEZUELAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE BRANDED A
SPY AND
YOUR FATE WILL BE SEALED.

IF YOU CROSS THE CUBAN
BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE THROWN INTO POLITICAL
PRISON TO ROT.

IF YOU CROSS THE U.S. BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET:
1 - A JOB,
2 - A DRIVERS LICENSE,
3 - SOCIAL SECURITY CARD,
4 - WELFARE,
5 - FOOD STAMPS,
6 - CREDIT CARDS
7 - SUBSIDIZED RENT OR A LOAN TO
BUY A HOUSE,
8 - FREE EDUCATION,
9 - FREE HEALTH CARE,
10 - A LOBBYIST IN WASHINGTON
11 - BILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS
PRINTED IN YOUR LANGUAGE
12 - AND THE RIGHT TO CARRY YOUR COUNTRY'S FLAG
WHILE YOU PROTEST THAT YOU
DON'T GET ENOUGH RESPECT.

I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE I HAD A FIRM GRASP ON THE SITUATION.

These kids are going to regret it... SOMEDAY!!

Being older with a kid, I am thankful that there is no photo or video evidence of certain periods of my past. I now see postings on youtube by people and think to myself, you better hope to hell you never have kids, because they WILL find these!! Once posted, they are there forever!

On the other hand, I really envy those that will have pictures or videos of some of the good times that they can share with their kids. I personally have over 60 gigs of pictures and short videos from when I finally "went digital." And, some of the stuff I have that my daughter recorded I will cherish forever.

Perhaps one could "walk the line," so to speak. But it can be a real bitch to even see that line, let alone walk it, after a fifth of Jim Beam...

Things aren't always what they seem...

Why does the "point system" for traffic violations unfairly put a greater burden on those of us who drive more?

Let me explain a bit. Recently, a friend told me that I must be a more reckless driver because I seem to get speeding tickets nearly every other year, and he only gets them every three years or so.

Sounds reasonable, right? Well, not so fast.

He, like many people, only drives 10,000 - 12,000 miles a year. So, if he gets a ticket every three years, that's one ticket for every 30,000 to 36,000 miles driven.

I tend to drive a bit more. I actually drive between 40,000 and 45,000 miles each year. So, getting a ticket every other year is about 80,000 - 90,000 miles driven between tickets.

So, my "safe" friend gets ticketed at nearly three times the rate that I do. In fact, if he wanted to match my true ratio of tickets to miles driven, he would only be allowed to get one ticket every eight or nine years!!! But I get to pay the price...

My insurance is higher because I carry more points on my license, and have "more frequent" violations than he does. Also, my fees to waive these violations are much higher, even though my ticket to miles driven ratio is nearly a third of his. Yes, that's right - the fines Change depending upon WHEN your last ticket was, not how much you've driven since.

So, here I am, being unfairly punished by our system on the basis that I drive more. And it sucks.

But, I suppose I should count my blessings. If our current leaders have their way, I'll be paying an "emissions fee" over and above all my other costs, merely because my job forces me to drive more.

I guess that's what I get for having a job and working my ass off trying to keep people working.

Rotten bastards.

Stupidity

I was driving home from work, and passed a woman mowing her lawn, with her small toddler in one arm, half on her lap, half off. I couldn't help but wonder, are people REALLY that stupid?

Now, don't get me wrong - if the blades are off, and you're just cruising him down the lawn, that's one thing. Maybe not the ultimate in safety, but that's part of life. But, to drive around with your kid on your lap with the blades on? Well, that makes you a dumbass. A complete, foolish, ignorant, without-a-clue dumbass.

Excuse the pic - it was taken via cell phone while driving. And don't give me any flak about that, either. I drive 35,000+ miles a year, 90% of those miles while on a cell phone for work, and am still safer than most of the idiots I see on the road. Perhaps instead of making more laws for that, the politicians should ask the police to start enforcing the existing laws that the "bad apples" break, instead. Because, last I checked, it didn't matter if you were on a phone or not - running a red light is illlegal. As are illegal lane changes, reckless operation, failure to yield... should I go on?

But, that would cut into the politicians "face time" on television, wouldn't it? Which I suppose is important, especially with so many voters being complete and utter dumbasses and morons, such as the woman in the picture above.