“(Gene Dolnick) should have had the grace to pack his bags on Election Day instead of causing a needless controversy,” said Campbell, who is pushing for the board to consider outsourcing district bus service.Indeed, Simple Simon’s latest outburst has to do with another scheme that will eventually bite Pennsbury taxpayers in the metaphorical butt, as noted here from last month…
Board members…launched into an often heated discussion about the pros and cons of hiring a consultant at a cost of $13,750 plus expenses to explore the possibility of subcontracting bus service.So, the next time this issue comes up under the new board, Sanderson, DeBlasio and Goldberg will oppose, but Campbell, Weisel, Zawacki and new members Cridge and Kosmorsky will favor it. So say hello to Pennsbury bus privatization, like it or not.
Board member Linda Palsky called it “a foolish expenditure” because district officials only need to contact neighboring districts to see if they are satisfied with their outsourced transportation services.
Dolnick said since the first vote he has had a chance to speak with parents who have told him their main concern is the district providing safe transportation by having control of its operations.
The board president joined Vice President Gary Sanderson, Wayne DeBlasio, Howard Goldberg and Palsky in voting against the hire. Campbell joined with Allan Weisel and Kathleen Zawacki in voting for it. Greg Lucidi abstained.
Want to know how that’s working out elsewhere? Read this, including the following…
"I want to know how you expect us to do more with less when you all voted against schools?" said taxpayer Sara Wiley, speaking to lawmakers. "You voted for charters and vouchers, and that takes money away from us."The story comes from Franklin Township in Indiana, which debated a “plan to indirectly charge parents for transportation,” with “parents (having) until Aug. 2 to pay the nonprofit Central Indiana Educational Service Center $475 per child for bus transportation for the 2011-2012 school year.”
Other taxpayers said they'd rather pay for transportation than face larger class sizes or more teacher layoffs.
So you can bet that when the privatization scheme comes around again in Pennsbury, we, as school district taxpayers, will be told that we have to pay for it or else class sizes will grow and teacher layoffs will occur. And regardless of how we feel about it, it will pass under Campbell’s board anyway.
And on the subject of outgoing school board president Gene Dolnick’s decision not to push for a new contract with the district’s support staff union (the “controversy” alleged by Simple Simon), the Bucks County Courier Times opined as follows today (here)…
Pennsbury voters should be pleased that this will happen; that among Gene Dolnick’s last official decisions as school board president is to give voters the respect they deserve.I think that’s a really cowardly slam at Dolnick, who, as nearly as I can tell, has done nothing but give Pennsbury voters “the respect they deserve” throughout his career in public life.
We typically give an immediate sigh of relief when we throw out our waste. Out of sight, out of mind. However, that isn’t necessarily the end of the story.Interesting to consider all of this, particularly since, as noted here, California recycles about 80 percent of its glass, particularly bottles, but by comparison, the rest of the country recycles glass at a rate of about 25 percent.
Every one of us generates approximately four pounds of waste per person per day. That amounts to Americans generating 243 million tons of paper, plastic, metal, glass and other waste annually. Of that, we typically recover and reuse 34 percent of what we discard.
This November in celebration of America Recycles Day, we encourage you to think twice about what’s in your waste bin. We all know that recycling is good for the environment, but did you know it could help the economy?
Increased use of recycled materials improves U.S. manufacturers’ energy efficiency, which makes them more competitive and helps protect U.S.-based jobs. The latest recycling economic impact study done by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources reports that the Ohio recycling industry “generates $22.5 billion in direct sales, employs more than 100,000 people and accounts for $650.6 million in state tax revenues.”
Of course, according to the food and beverage industry (noted here), bottle bill programs are expensive to operate (not sure how that rates higher than trying to reduce our carbon footprint in an effort to fight the climate crisis, which is ultimately what this is all about, but there you are…incidentally, the linked story tells us that Oklahoma recycles about 4 percent of its beverage containers, though there is a bill pending to improve that). The states with a high return rate typically place a deposit on bottles, usually about five cents.
This tells us about container deposit legislation in other states – no word on any such legislation pending in our beloved commonwealth of PA, nor any nationally, though I believe we are definitely due for that.
WASHINGTON -- In 2009, Notre Dame University set off months of intra-Catholic controversy by inviting a champion of abortion rights to deliver its commencement address. When the day arrived, President Obama skillfully deflated the tension. He extended a "presumption of good faith" to his pro-life opponents. Then he promised Catholics that their pro-life convictions would be respected by his administration. "Let's honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion," he said, "and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded not only in sound science, but also in clear ethics, as well as respect for the equality of women."Not really – as noted here from last February…
Catholics, eager for reassurance from a leader whom 54 percent had supported, were duly reassured. But Obama's statement had the awkward subordinate clauses of a contentious speechwriting process. Qualifications and code words produced a pledge that pledged little.
Now the conscience protections of Catholics are under assault, particularly by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). And Obama's Catholic strategy is in shambles.
WASHINGTON -- (AP) The government has replaced a Bush-era rule that became a flash point in the debate over abortions, clarifying that doctors and nurses have a long-standing federal right not to participate in the procedures.I still have a low opinion of so-called “conscience” provisions (which have created horror stories such as one noted here), since I believe it is the job of a health care provider to do his or her job on the basic of medical necessity, not whether or not they personally object to a procedure, type of remedy or course of treatment. But in typical fashion, Number 44 attempted to find a middle ground of sorts on this issue, coming up with what is arguably a wise alternative.
Federal laws for years have forbidden discrimination against health care professionals who refuse to perform abortions or sterilizations, or to provide referrals for them on religious or moral grounds.
The regulation, instituted in the last days of the Bush administration, was supposed to strengthen those protections by adding a requirement that institutions that receive federal money certify their compliance with the so-called conscience laws, so that money could be cut off if the law wasn't being followed.
That regulation was quickly challenged in federal court by several states and medical organizations, in part over concern that its overly broad wording also could be used to refuse birth control, family planning services and a variety of other services.
The Obama administration announced a year ago that it planned to repeal the regulation, and it did so on Friday after months spent reviewing 300,000 comments from the public on both sides.
In its place is a new rule that retains just the federal conscience protections for abortions and sterilizations, along with a provision that spells out how health workers who feel they were discriminated against can ask the government to enforce that law.
Oh, and by the way, Obama’s approval among Catholics in September was 50 percent according to a Gallup poll from here (no link to actual Gallup results, though). And Gerson’s “shambles” rhetoric is typical from a pundit hack also responsible for this.
(Theismann) told The Daily Caller that he is dissatisfied with President Barack Obama’s job performance.OK, Joe, I’m throwing a flag for Illegal Propagation Of Wingnuttery – half the distance to the goal line (it’s “theater of the mind,” people). And what exactly are these supposedly onerous “regulations” anyway?
Theisman (sic) said he believes in “free enterprise” and that the federal government needs to “support businesses and not penalize them with regulations.”
Like this, for example?
And this is from a guy who also brought us this item (here)…
“The word ‘genius’ isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.”Time to punt, Joe.
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