Monday, July 5, 2010

Bits & Pieces - Government, rights, jobs & more



Government to the people
Bits ‘n Pieces
By Bob Robinson

“We are all endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Rasmussen took a survey to see how many people agreed with that phrase… no brainer, right? Not according to a few people, I guess. Eighty-eight percent agreed. Six percent didn’t and evidently another 6 percent either didn’t know or didn’t care.
One-eighth of our population doesn’t think we have God-given rights. Do they think we don’t have rights? Or do they think the government gives us the rights that we have?
What government “giveth” government can “taketh” away.
“Governments derive their only just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Two-thirds (68 percent) agree with this statement while 13 percent disagree and 19 percent are not sure.
If this survey had been taken 100 years ago, I wonder what the response would have been?
Only 21 percent of Rasmussen respondents believe the government enjoys the “consent of the governed.”
Happy birthday, America.

Don Wright’s “Hope & Change” banner receives daily attention from the traffic on 127 South and 36.
“It’s a steady stream,” he said. “There are probably 200 grain trucks a day (due to the ethanol plant) and I’m guessing thousands of cars…”
They stop and take pictures, some wading through the tall grass along the highways to get a better shot. Cameras, camcorders… even cell phones.
“So far I’ve seen two tour buses stop,” he said.
Thumbs up response? About 10 to 1 when he’s out working on his property.
“Some stop and start screaming and cussing at me,” he said, grinning. “That’s their right. If I get the ‘one finger salute’ I give it back to them double.
“The truckers are the best, though. I can hear their air horns and when I look I see lots of thumbs and grins.”

I’ve been blessed. Retiring from the Advocate opened up a new world to me, in addition to a wild ride in the political arena.
I had the honor of working with Nancy Rush last year to produce her first book, “My Mother’s Child.” It is a fantastic history of Darke County, especially Greenville and Union City, and her ancestors dating back to the late 1800s. There are plenty of copies still available… Garst Museum and various other locations in the county.
If you can’t find it, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with the author.
This year I will be helping Senior Scribe and author Bill Stevens on his documentation of the only legal execution by hanging in Darke County’s history. Monroe Roberson was convicted of murder and executed nearly 150 years ago. It was a “media” event that would make today’s “media” events blush with shame. It is the first heavily researched documentation of the hanging to be attempted.
It should be available sometime this fall. More later.

“There are 5,000 new jobs coming to Wright Patterson in the next few years. They are civilian jobs.”
A representative of the Ohio Department of Development noted this during a recent meeting, adding that there is no shortage of people for these jobs but there is a shortage of skills.
“And it looks as if it will only get worse,” he said.
“We’re still the number one manufacturer in the world but we are turning down work because we don’t have the people to get it done.”
The need is for lots of masters and Ph.D.’s. The needs are hi-tech.
When the conversation turned to the more than 400 people in Darke County, and thousands across the state, whose unemployment insurance ran out last week, he noted that they’d been on unemployment for almost two years.
“There are jobs out there,” he said. “But my experience is these people don’t want to be retrained for them. The schooling and training is available. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.”
He said a lot of these people have an entitlement mentality. They earned $30-$40 an hour doing factory work straight out of high school. They think they are still worth it.
“Those jobs are gone,” he said, “and they aren’t coming back.”
 
Congratulations and thank you to the C4C people. They said they wanted to make their community a better place, and they got a good start on it by painting Shelter #3 at Greenville Park. Good job, guys. I appreciate it; and I believe others will as well.

One final note. I’ve heard that there are a few people in Darke County who are too full of themselves to listen to the people. I’m not pointing fingers… I’ll let you pick the ones you think fit. Might even be me.

Watch for more Bits ‘n Pieces as they occur. Good stuff? Bad stuff? You decide.

Bob Robinson is the retired editor of The Daily Advocate, Greenville, Ohio. If you wish to receive notification of his comments, opinions and reports when they are posted, send your email address to: opinionsbybob@gmail.com. Feel free to express your views.

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