Good Stuff Bad Stuff
Bits ‘n Pieces
By Bob Robinson
How many of you have seen the news report of the farm hand mistreating the cows? Everybody? Yeah, I thought so.
Think of this… we passed the Livestock Care Standards Board last year in order to keep HSUS (Humane Society of the United States) from getting its own measure passed that would destroy much of our agricultural industry, like it did in California.
Unfazed, the group still has a petition to get on the ballot this year. They are short signatures with only a few weeks to go. And this news breaks? Anyone familiar with the ag industry knows that there is something really fishy about showing an individual mistreating one animal in an enclosed setting, with no other animals in sight.
So is it a set up? Many locals think so.
New unemployment figures have been released. U.S. 9.9 percent. Ohio 10.7 percent. Darke County 11.1 percent.
Local activity seems to be up slightly, but mostly in professional and skilled areas. Unskilled labor? There’s still nothing out there.
In Washington, it’s business as usual. In other words, not much is happening as our well-paid public servants are preparing for their “summer-long recess.” After all, they’ve trashed our health care system, set unprecedented standards for uncontrolled spending, and critically disabled much of our financial sector… pretty good year’s work if you ask me.
We need the break more than they do.
Almost forgot, there will be no federal budget this year. They’ll simply repeat last year’s spending for the coming year.
They do have two issues to wrap up before they leave to face their “happy” constituents this summer: extending unemployment (yup… still no jobs) and cutting Medicare payments to doctors (part of the infamous health care package… if they do, they’ll lose health care providers by the thousands; if they don’t, final straw that breaks our financial back?). Currently, Medicare payments are about 70 percent of value for service rendered. The planned cut would drop payments to about half of their value.
How about asking a teacher, engineer, lawyer or other professional if he or she will work at half their market value? Now ask a federal employee if he or she will take a 50 percent pay cut?
Then there’s Mr. Obama’s Green Energy. Windmills are popping up everywhere. Cost to generate wind energy? About 11¢ per KW Hour. Cost to generate energy through traditional sources? About 5.5¢ per KW Hour.
Guess who pays the difference?
Final note…
As most of you know, the outdated Darke County CAD system used by our emergency response units has been down for a while and the Commissioners are seeking funding to replace it. Emergency services have not been (and will not be) impacted, but the required paperwork has been piling up and follow-up efficiency has been challenging.
The new system will cost about $310,000. Depending on whether or not grants can be obtained, a portion or all of the cost will come from the county’s Capital Improvements Fund.
The commissioners are also working on next year’s budget… it will likely be straight-lined from this year’s, although there was a touch of positive news. It seems we are buying a few more cars this year than we did last year. That’s good news for sales tax revenues.
Guess that’s it, folks.
Watch for more Bits ‘n Pieces as I hear about them. Good stuff? Bad stuff? You decide.
Bob Robinson is the retired editor of The Daily Advocate, Greenville, Ohio. If you wish to be notified when a blog is posted, send your email address to: opinionsbybob@gmail.com. You may also request to receive his That’s My Opinion and Verities or Balderdash columns by direct email.
1 comment:
ref HSUS: it's absolutely typical for these liberal organizations. If the truth and facts don't work in their favor, they are using dirty tricks to push their agenda (modern slavery). I wouldn't wonder, if this mistreating of the cow was a dramatization with own people as actors to "motivate" the people signing the petition.
BTW: same with the oil spill in the Gulf. I bet dollars to doughnuts that the same liberals who are now mourning about the damage of the environment (which of course is a catastrophe) are hoping that it will take a long time till a solution to stop the spilling will be found, because with every day and more and more photos of and reports about dead animals and oily beaches they find more people who are against drilling - even on our land. This catastrophe is in favor to their agenda. BTW: although this really is a catastrophe, it's a minor accident compared to other spillings. The average yearly global spills from tanks and rigs is 10 times the quantity of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the spill of the rig IXTOC-1 in the Gulf of Mexico in 1979 was app. 5 times the quantity - to show only some numbers.
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