Cuyahoga county children services

A heartbreaking story in the Plain Dealer details the horrendous abuse that a pair of foster care children survived. Having bounced around different families, they were found by the aunt of a caregiver just before they starved to death.

Department director Deborah Forkas admitted the need for "reform". What are the chances that any reform will hold government agents responsible for the abuse they inflict on these children by placing them in obviously unfit homes?

Sad stories like this is exactly what we get when we allow the government to have the power to decide where neglected children will be raised. This is because government bureaucrats are so rarely held accountable for their massive incompetence.

The story reports that Deborah Forkas has appointed an outside panel to review agency policies. I wonder how many children will die before we hear about any possible conclusions. Sounds to me like the two boys in this story finally lucked out and escaped any further abuse.

Toledo public school salaries are excessive

Police are not the only ones who are overpaid compared to the average normal person salary. Even TPS employees share in the plunder.

Of the 5,157 workers who received TPS pay last year, 686 made more than $70,000 and 20 made more than $100,000, according to a database provided by the school district.

With such extravagant expenses like this, it's no wonder the city is so severely broke. And those figures don't even include pensions, health care, and days off. Teachers defend this by saying they "work long hours". HA.

I'm sure some of them do work hard, but so does everyone else that has a job. It's nothing but an extremely poor justification for spending taxpayer money taken by force. The local school district already spends $7658 per student on a decidedly sub-par education.

Then these people have the gall to ask the taxpayers for even more. Enough is enough. The education of my children is too important to be left to the state. That is why I plan on home schooling them. Toledoans need to stand up for themselves and tell the school district to bugger off.

Toledo police refuse concessions

The Toledo Police Patrolman's Association gave the city and its taxpayers a huge middle finger this week. They voted down concessions that would have saved the city $4.08 million, a relatively minor sum in the face of a $48 milllion defecit that absolutely must be balanced.

The average salary of a Toledo cop is considerably above the citywide median income. Probably over twice the amount. Yet these selfish bastards refuse to give up anything, even though the city can't afford to pay. And even though they already make way more than the average worker. To the fire department's credit, they did accept concessions.

This is a situation no doubt repeated in cities across the country. Due to economic collapse caused by centralized economic planning, they can't afford to pay public workers for even the most basic of services. Sure, the public workers have a self interest to make as much as they can. But the inherent deficiency and corruption of public finance makes the situation untenable.

Ultimately, voluntary and private defense agencies and fire departments can and should take over these roles that are now monopolized by the state. I know that must sound like a crazy, off the wall idea to most people. It did to me at first. It makes more sense once you finally accept that is impossible for government plans to serve everyone equally and efficiently. This is just as true for fire and security services as anything else. If the government is a bad economic planner, there is no reason such important sectors of the economy should remain hamstrung.

Bath Township hates flowers

This is another prime example how small, local governments can be detrimental to personal freedom. It is pretty hard to say how these people were hurting anyone by selling flowers. Yet their simple economic action has been deemed illegal by their democratically elected overlords.

One might think that the government would try to encourage this type of entrepreneurship. Especially in this dire economic climate. It would seem that these idiotic zoning rules do doing nothing but put local people out of work.

So-called progressives love to believe in the state's ability to improve the life of ordinary people. But things like this make them look like laughable fools. How could anyone possibly think that these nursery owners now have a better life after being shut down?

Give us your money (in the name of public safety)

Toledo's government is getting desperate for money. So much that they will disable or tow anyone's car they find that has unpaid red light camera tickets. In the name of public safety, of course. It's great that violent crime is down so much in the city that officers have time to go around collecting revenue for the state. Or not.

Public safety is the reason they claimed to install these camras on traffic lights. But now they are being used as nothing more than an ATM for the cash-strapped city. God knows what would happen if the police or city government would one day just up and disappear. I think we would all be better off... even though it likely won't happen any time soon.

I have no need for city government. The police don't protect us from violent crime. Fire could be dealt with in a number of different ways. Trash pickup could be done cheaper and more efficiently without the local government monopolies running the show. So why do we allow them to exist? Lies, myth, and uneducated populace?

Kent State Shootings

Our government has officially decided to acknowledge the historical significance of the shootings which took place in 1970. They placed 17 acres on the national register of historic places.

Those kids shouldn't be blamed for protesting the gruesomely un-necessary Vietnam War. It's a shame that today's wars don't get the same opposition. Yes there was some protest back when Iraq started. But it wasn't nearly the same intensity. Our perpetually militaristic leaders have become very successful in cultivating a pro-war "support the troops" attitude among the populace.

War is still the single most important issue facing our country. The middle eastern occupation is being sold to the public as "defending America". This is just as much of a load of bullocks now as it was back then.

Democracy in Ohio: the best government money can buy

Do you think your vote matters? Do you think you have representation in this state? This Plain Dealer article seems to answer that question squarely in the "no" column. It starts right off with the following:

If you want Ohio politicians to give you the time of day, the annual fee -- as totaled by one of the wisest of Capitol Square's magi -- is now more than $130,000.

Sure, you can vote on elections across the state. But when it comes to actual decision making, you have no say on what happens. Unless you are wealthy and willing to pay good money for a lawmaker's ear. This means that it doesn't matter who you vote into office.

With so many people unemployed in this bad economy, it is painful to see money being spent this way. Yet, it is necessary, because if you are a business and you choose not to, your competitor will. And they will often be successful in getting politicians to pass laws or hand out contracts in their favor.

You can wish all you want that strong campaign finance laws will some day change things. But then the special interest money will just be spent in other ways. It is practically impossible to stop the big money from buying your favorite politician. That is just how democracy works.

The only feasible solution is to take away our leaders' power to micromanage our life. People need to learn that they are better off ignoring these politicians. Stay home on election night. Don't donate. Don't participate in the political process.