Norfolk’s School Board Votes To Send Unbalanced Budget To City

I’m still in shock over this one because I honestly could not believe what I was seeing at the budget meeting last night. They needed to close a $17.6 million dollar budget gap and had multiple recommendations from staff on how to do so. There was a long back and forth about cuts to the gifted and talented program, literacy teachers, and trade workers. I admired the fact that no one wanted to lay people off or reduce services, but really folks, sometimes you have to make hard decisions. The budget is due April 1st, you’ve had months worth of meetings, how is it that you are still rehashing the same things I’ve heard over and over again? A little decisiveness would have been nice, but it didn’t seem like it was going to happen.

Board Member Jim Driggers| Norfolk Public Schools

I really hate to say this, I really honestly do, but it needs to be said. You know what brought the discussion to a close? It was Board Chair Dr. Kirk Houston announcing they would have to meet again next week to decide on the other $822k in cuts. This brought groans and visible discomfort from some members and a slight look of panic on the face of the school’s chief financial officer. The CFO knew that if they waited until next week, he wouldn’t have enough time to do his job because the school board couldn’t do theirs. He put forward that a budget could be finalized today and it was then a motion was made to simply accept the budget as is with the expectation that the city would provide more funding to fill the gap.

There were some who disagreed. Board Member Jim Driggers, a retired Master Chief, was completely opposed. He had other cuts in mind. They were specific, reasonable, and deserved to be explored further. Dr. Stephen Tonelson, an ODU Professor, had more ideas and suggestions than everyone in the room combined and yet he was often laughed at for bringing them up. Suzan Kaufman, a Dollar Tree Executive, disagreed as well. She argued that the board needed to exhaust all possibilities before asking for more money from the city. Sadly, however, these three were the minority and the motion passed in a 4-3 vote.

My sincere hope is that City Manager Marcus Jones and Mayor Paul Fraim received a phone call explaining the situation as soon as the meeting was adjourned. Otherwise they would be learning about it on Wavy-10 during the 11pm news. Asking the city for more money before exhausting your options is not the way to run a school system. Passing a budget that depends on an elected body without bothering to notify them first is not the way anyone should conduct themselves. If ever there was an argument for why these people should be elected, this is it.

How Ignorant Are Americans?

There is a fairly well accepted tenant of capitalism that says the market defines the product. If people don’t like the music you are making, they won’t buy it. If your restaurant doesn’t have good food, people won’t eat there. Companies spend billions every year figuring out what the market wants so they can give it to them and turn a profit. So what kind of market do politicians have? Well according to this survey done by Newsweek, 70% of Americans don’t even know what the Constitution is and 29% can’t even name the Vice President. So next time you complain about the people in Washington, Richmond, or City Hall, don’t blame them, look in the mirror and blame yourself.

How many of you have gotten involved in a campaign? I know, I know, all politicians are crooked, they all just want power. I’ve heard it from literally thousands of people. Well I have a newsflash for you all: that argument is total BS. The reason our country is in the condition it is today is not because of corrupt politicians. It’s because of good people who are too lazy, arrogant, and/or self-important to think that someone could actually want to do the right thing.

I can’t even begin to recall the number of people who didn’t want to support a candidate I was working for because they thought he couldn’t win. Really? He can’t win? Of course not if you have that attitude. Politics is a pure numbers game and one person can make more of a difference than most people realize or are willing to admit. Trust me on that one. A small, dedicated group of volunteers knocking on doors can overwhelm even the best TV ad campaigns.

US Government Is Approaching Insolvency

The value of the dollar has been steadily declining since the Federal Reserve was created. (Pic | Max)

We are broke people. Lot’s of people want to deny it, but truth be told, if this country used generally accepted accounting principles, we would have been bankrupt years–if not decades–ago. Our current $1.6 trillion budget deficit is funded nearly entirely by printing money. In essence, domestic banks and some foreign countries are borrowing money from our Federal Reserve at near 0% interest rates to buy government debt and sell it right back to the FED for a slight profit. This is called debt monetization or “quantitative easing” and it has a devastating side affect: inflation.

Everyone sees gas and food prices rising, but few connect that to the strength of our currency. Oil and many other commodities worldwide are priced exclusively in US dollars. When the dollar weakens, prices rise. It’s not costing more money to take oil out of the ground, but it’s taking more dollars to equal the same amount of purchasing power as just 15, or 10 years ago. One dollar in 2011 is worth 20% less than one dollar in 2001. That’s inflation and it’s the mortal enemy of the middle class. Stay tuned for an article on that one later next week.

Who’s In Charge of the war with Libya?

Two days after this article was written and it seems like we are still trying to figure that one out. Obviously the US has the most assets involved, but Obama doesn’t want to take ownership of the operation. Must have something to do with his re-election in 2012 and that pesky thing called a Nobel Peace Prize. He’s lucky he has someone like Robert Gates at the Pentagon, because if he didn’t, he’d be SOL on this one. Even so, comments like this from your Secretary of Defense don’t help:

“This command-and-control business is complicated, and we haven’t done something like this kind of on-the-fly before. It’s not surprising to me that it would take a few days to get it all sorted out.”

Remember Gates was opposed to this from the get-go, but like a good public servant, he’s following orders from the Commander and Chief. We are nearly a week into the bombing and still have no clearly defined set of objectives or end game. The Arab League has withdrawn their support, Brazil, China, Russia and others are calling for a cease fire, Britain is talking about assassinating Gadaffi, and Obama has yet to even ask Congress for a resolution authorizing the action. According to Senators Obama and Biden back during the campaign, their current actions are totally illegal and an impeachable offense. Good luck getting them to admit that now.

Jamie Radtke Launches New Website and Bobby Scott Ponders A Run for The US Senate

Jamie Radtke

Heading back over to this side of the Atlantic, we have Tea Party Senate Candidate Jamie Radtke launching her new website complete with an issues page and all. It took her three months to put forward a platform, something that I and many others were constantly criticizing her for. I had lunch with her about a month ago and thought she was a very nice lady. Is she ready to be a Senator? I’ll withhold my opinion on that for now, but if you’re friends with me on Facebook, you probably know the answer already.

As for Bobby Scott, when Larry Sabato says something, people listen. Former 5th district Congressman and progressive superstar Tom Perriello has often been mentioned as the next in line should Kaine pass on a run, but Scott as a longtime incumbent may have the edge if that happens. He’s got a safe seat for life if he wants it, so rolling the dice on a Senate run may or may not be in his best interest. Only time will tell what he decides to do, but I do know one thing for certain: if he runs, local Delegate Kenny Alexander is the most likely person to take his place in the House of Representatives.

Locals get down at Northside Skatepark

I looked long and hard for a happy article to finish this off with, but I couldn’t find one. From now on I’m going to end every IYRTP with a local skateboarding video. This one is at Norfolk’s only skatepark and features some of the best talent Hampton Roads has to offer. Kevin Love, the man behind the camera for most of the video, is an absolute champ on and off the board. Most don’t realize it, but there is a huge underground skate scene full of kids with $2k cameras making really first rate videos complete with DVD production and all. Next week I’ll have some street skating from around Norfolk to watch and we can play name that spot.