Posted on 08/27/2005 6:20:05 PM PDT by Temple Owl
< Second Thoughts 8-24-05
By: William W. Lawrence
We stopped by the World War II victory celebration, Aug. 15 in Rose Tree Park. Jim Gallagher -- Newtown Square's own George Washington -- organized the event. It commemorated the 60th Anniversary of the surrender of Japan and featured the widely acclaimed 76-piece John Philip Sousa Band from Upper Darby. Certificates of appreciation and American flags were presented to 15 men who were prisoners of war in World War II or Korea.
Media Mayor Bob McMahon, a Vietnam veteran, was the emcee.
Kudos, Jim.
* * *
And a tip of the battered old Stetson to Newtown Square's Mike Gillin who chairs the Special Board of Control for Chester Upland School District. The board is hanging tough against pressure from Gov. Fast Eddie to disband.
Fast Eddie is claiming the board has -- excuse me while I put down my coffee cup so I don't spill it on the keyboard when I start laughing -- mismanaged school district funds.
Gillin has respectfully pointed out that it was the board of control that has uncovered the fiscal improprieties.
The real story is that the charter schools run by Gillin's board are siphoning students so fast from the district's public schools that the Chester Upland Education Association -- the district's "teachers'" union and a big Fast Eddie supporter -- may soon be out of business.
Don't ever think any "teachers'" union cares about kids or education.
* * *
I was wrong in last week's column concerning the minimum pension for our legislators. It is not $50,000. The pension is 3 percent of the average of the salaries for the last three years a legislator serves multiplied by the number of years of service. A legislator who served for four years and whose salary averaged $69,000 for the last three, would receive a pension of $8,280 ($69,000 x .03 x 4.)
With the pay increase approved last month, however, a state representative who retires in 2008 with 20 years of service will receive a pension of close to $50,000.
* * *
Still, there is a lot of anger out there about the pay raise. The more I think about it the more I think some of my Republican friends were set up by Fast Eddie. The first chance you get, vote to rescind it.
* * *
The real scandal is that there are school superintendents making $130,000 "per year."
* * *
Gasoline prices in Delaware County have soared to record highs. But -- if misery loves company -- take solace in this, prices here are still much lower than in most European countries. Drivers in Amsterdam are paying $6.48 a gallon and in Oslo, they are paying $6.27.
Many European nations tax gasoline heavily, with taxes making up as much as 75 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline.
Geez, I hope I am not giving those guys in Harrisburg any ideas.
Pennsylvanians are already paying 25.9 cents a gallon in taxes, Delaware has a 23-cent tax rate and New Jersey, 14.5 cents.
* * *
Off The Internet:
Here is a copy of an open letter Country Singer Charlie Daniels sent to the "Hollywood Bunch."
OK, let's just say for a moment you bunch of pampered, overpaid, unrealistic children had your way and the U.S.A. didn't go into Iraq. Let's say that you really get your way and we destroy all our nuclear weapons and stick daisies in our gun barrels and sit around with some white wine and cheese and pat ourselves on the back, so proud of what we've done for world peace.
Let's say that we cut the military budget to just enough to keep the National Guard on hand to help out with floods and fires. Let's say that we close down our military bases all over the world and bring the troops home, increase our foreign aid and drop all the trade sanctions against everybody.
I suppose that in your fantasy world this would create a utopian world where everybody would live in peace. After all, the great monster, the United States of America, the cause of all the world's trouble would have disbanded its horrible military and certainly all the other countries of the world would follow suit. After all, they only arm themselves to defend their countries from the mean old U.S.A. Why, you bunch of pitiful, hypocritical, idiotic, spoiled mugwumps, get your head out of the sand and smell the Trade Towers burning. Do you think that a trip to Iraq by Sean Penn did anything but encourage a wanton murderer to think that the people of the U.S.A. didn't have the nerve or the guts to fight him?
Barbra Streisand's fanatical and hateful rantings about George Bush makes about as much sense as Michael Jackson hanging a baby over a railing. You people need to get out of Hollywood once in a while and get out into the real world. You'd be surprised at the hostility you would find out here. Stop in at a truck stop and tell an overworked, long-distance truck driver that you don't think Saddam Hussein is doing anything wrong. Tell a farmer with a couple of sons in the military that you think the United States has no right to defend itself. Go down to Baxley, Georgia, and hold an anti-war rally and see what the folks down there think about you. You people are some of the most disgusting examples of a waste of protoplasm I've ever had the displeasure to hear about. Sean Penn, you're a traitor to the United States of America. You gave aid and comfort to the enemy. How many American lives will your little, "factfinding trip" to Iraq cost? You encouraged Saddam to think that we didn't have the stomach for war. You people protect one of the most evil men on the face of this earth and won't lift a finger to save the life of an unborn baby. Freedom of choice you say?
Well, I'm going to exercise some freedom of choice of my own. If I see any of your names on a marquee, I'm going to boycott the movie. I will completely stop going to movies if I have to. In most cases it certainly wouldn't be much of a loss.
You scoff at our military whose boots you're not even worthy to shine. They go to battle and risk their lives so ingrates like you can live in luxury. The day of reckoning is coming when you will be faced with the undeniable truth that the war against Saddam Hussein is the war on terrorism. America is in imminent danger. You're either for her or against her. There is no middle ground.
I think we all know where you stand.
God Bless America.
You ought to enjoy this, a couple of your favorite people are mentioned.
Tell it, Charlie!
This reminds me: I haven't listened to my 'Fire On The Mountain' CD for a while.
ping
Yup, smilin' here! I agree with every word. I also smile when I read about the "slump" H-wood is finding itself in. Boycotting may not be making the difference, though, it may just be that they forgot how to make great movies.
They are definitely trying to hide something. It's also bogus when the talk is about top-grossing films, IMO, because the cost of going to the movies has gone up so much. Another reason for me to wait and watch the movies I want to see when they come on TV, as many of them do, quickly.
The idiots in Hollywood are beginning to panic..
Because prices vary by region.
Yup! They had Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay to play with.
"Boycotting may not be making the difference"
Oh, I do believe it is making a difference!
It does and I stopped going to the movies because they mostly suck and I am thinking about stopping cable because it sucks and is a real waste of time and money. You know they play the same stupid things over and over again while charging the public outrageously premium prices. They suck real bad.
OH yeah the boycott is making a difference. There were a couple of articles I read this month about how movie revenue is WAY down and Hollywood is getting worried. Give me a movie without anti war shills and christians shown in a positive light (or at least not a negative one) and I will start going to the movies again.
I have read that the U.S. market in the domestic film idustry is much less than their income in exporting the films to foreign countries. Not an insignificant percentage, but still, their bread is buttered by people in foreign countries buying movie tickets, DVDs, etc.
I wouldn't hold my breath, waiting for U.S. film makers to return to what we were used to in the entertainment industry pre-1960s. They are pleasing their target audience.
Yeah I agree that moviemaking won't change anytime soon, but the interesting thing to me is the amount of bootlegs, etc etc in the foreign markets. It makes me wonder how really profitable it is. My good Ukranian friend told me that they rarely went to the movies because they could just go get a bootleg of the movie on the street corner. :-D Or - download it. The new Harry Potter was accessible on the internet the day it was published.
God Bless Charlie!
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