Lance Armstrong....our boy wonder of cycling....finally got angry enough at 60 Minutes and their episode accusing him of doping up for the French bike races of a decade ago....that he told them to apologize. So far, they won't do it. The curious thing.....there isn't one absolute piece of evidence to show in this case. The 60 Minutes crowd simply has various folks that say they were there, and make the accusation. Over the past three or four years....I've come to view the new management of 60 Minutes as mostly a group of comical guys who don't measure up to the old crew. For a while, they even had Katie Couric on the staff....which gives one a laugh over the intended desires of the 60 Minutes leadership. My prospective? Lance will take them eventually down to the mat. If there was a simple blood test sitting out there....that might settle it....but there isn't. You've got a bunch of wannabe 60 Minutes folks who just don't measure up.
MSNBC's Martin Bashir.....a guy who mostly talks and talks.....giving you little substance for the hour of power that he broadcasts for MSNBC....finally stood up today and said that Sarah Palin's use of the American flag on her bus tour...is illegal. For the few folks that watch Martin.....they probably got all pepped up. The sad thing.....the other 99k instances of illegal use of the American flag.....were never noted by Martin.
The DC emergency services crowd came out and admitted that roughly one third of all their ambulances are sitting parked. The AC units for the back of the vehicle.....are mostly all broke or non-functional. The maintenance guys spoke up about this months ago.....and the city simply didn't have the budget to handle the problem. So now....as emergencies pour in.....there's thirty percent less ambulances out there to handle the cases. I sat and pondered over this. Back thirty years ago....most all ambulances that came to get you....in all of America....didn't have any real AC in the back anyway. Apparently, we've taken the attitude that AC is pretty much a mandatory thing, and we aren't even willing to open up a window for folks to get fresh air instead.
Finally, there is an article today that indicates the President will be using the Detroit car industry....with it's rescue....as a major theme of his re-election campaign. So you can imagine these ad's coming on....some rough voice in the background.....talking up how the government came to Detroit....saving Chrysler and General Motors....and you ought to vote with the President because of this. If you ponder this long enough....you start to ask how General Motors and Chrysler ever got into such a deep mess in the first place....and the President would prefer you not think that deeply. Then you'd ask why Ford didn't screw up and take your money.....again, it's best we not think about that. Then finally, you'd ask....would you even buy a General Motors or Chrysler car today? The sad answer is probably no. If you ask me...some idiot on the President's staff sat and watched too many Chrysler Detroit commercials
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
The Money Trail
It's an interesting prospective. Senator Tom Coburn (Republican of course), went out and asked Congressional Research Service to do an analysis. How many federal employees in each state...made more than their governor?
All total? 77k federal emloyees make more....than the governor in their state. This included twenty-two librarians and even one interior designer....all employed by the federal government.
Now, before we rush out to really get excited....we really need to analyze the facts here....because Tom isn't going really get us square on the facts.
In Colorado....the governor (Bill Ritter)....makes $90k a year as governor. The state made that decision....not Bill, or the federal government.....or even Senator Tom Coburn. There are over 10k federal employees in Colorado who make more than the governor. Where do most work? Well....not to get excited here....but in Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo mostly.
In Maryland....the state governor makes $150k (Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley). He's surrounded by over 7k federal employees in his state....who make more than him.
What Senator Tom wants to get up hyped up about....is that government employees are overpaid. He might have a point....but then you ask yourself....who exactly approved this increase each year? A majority of Senators and Representatives....along with the President. This has been going on for the past fifty years.
What's Senator Tom want to do now? Mostly freeze up federal pay for a number of years. He won't say publicly, but one can imagine that we are talking about a freeze of five years likely being his agenda.
What does the governor's pay have to do with this whole thing? Well....nothing. That's the curious thing. Tom wanted to use some measuring stick and this was the best he could arrange.
One would start to ponder now....how does a New York Yankee really deserve $12.5 million a year? How does a Wall Street banker deserve $40 million a year? How does the chief nurse of San Fransisco health services deserve $400k a year? How does the chief of police of a 100k resident town in California earn $240k a year? No one can really answer this....even Senator Tom.
How does a Senator go and ride on a fancy Air Force jet to Paris or spend six nights in France discussing trade relations....free of charge?
Yep, we've got problems....and Senator Tom has barely scratched the surface. And the sad thing is.....he's getting cases and cases of free bottled water....because no one in the Senate will drink DC tap water. Only in America.
All total? 77k federal emloyees make more....than the governor in their state. This included twenty-two librarians and even one interior designer....all employed by the federal government.
Now, before we rush out to really get excited....we really need to analyze the facts here....because Tom isn't going really get us square on the facts.
In Colorado....the governor (Bill Ritter)....makes $90k a year as governor. The state made that decision....not Bill, or the federal government.....or even Senator Tom Coburn. There are over 10k federal employees in Colorado who make more than the governor. Where do most work? Well....not to get excited here....but in Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo mostly.
In Maryland....the state governor makes $150k (Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley). He's surrounded by over 7k federal employees in his state....who make more than him.
What Senator Tom wants to get up hyped up about....is that government employees are overpaid. He might have a point....but then you ask yourself....who exactly approved this increase each year? A majority of Senators and Representatives....along with the President. This has been going on for the past fifty years.
What's Senator Tom want to do now? Mostly freeze up federal pay for a number of years. He won't say publicly, but one can imagine that we are talking about a freeze of five years likely being his agenda.
What does the governor's pay have to do with this whole thing? Well....nothing. That's the curious thing. Tom wanted to use some measuring stick and this was the best he could arrange.
One would start to ponder now....how does a New York Yankee really deserve $12.5 million a year? How does a Wall Street banker deserve $40 million a year? How does the chief nurse of San Fransisco health services deserve $400k a year? How does the chief of police of a 100k resident town in California earn $240k a year? No one can really answer this....even Senator Tom.
How does a Senator go and ride on a fancy Air Force jet to Paris or spend six nights in France discussing trade relations....free of charge?
Yep, we've got problems....and Senator Tom has barely scratched the surface. And the sad thing is.....he's getting cases and cases of free bottled water....because no one in the Senate will drink DC tap water. Only in America.
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