I grew up reading comic books wanting to be a superhero. Comics taught me that those who speak the truth are heroes, all the rest are liars.

Friday, March 04, 2011

When Things Don't Add Up....

When things don't add up, I do the math....and while I've always had a knack for math... apparently others find it more challenging...

The Prince of Mythical Statistics

Minnesota Ex-Governor Tim Pawlenty told Fox network
"You have public employees making more than their private-sector counterparts. They used to be under-benefited and underpaid. Now they're both over-benefited and overpaid...it needs to stop."

I'm just guessing that Timmy got confused among other things by the percentages as a report from the Labor and Employment Relations points out:

"on average, state and local government workers are compensated 3.75% less than workers in the private sector."

Professor Jeffrey Keefe of Rutgers University revealed that public employees are under compensated compared to similarly skilled private sector counterparts. This study joins numerous other studies with the same finding. But really it's like arguing about the volume of water in a raindrop during a deluge when the average CEO gets 200 times more pay than a general employee as well as 8 million in benefits...a year.

Dumber Than A Bobblehead

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) tells us she's a conservative who wants to cut wasteful federal spending (who doesn't?)...so why is she proposing legislation for a $700 million four-lane highway bridge over the St. Croix River that more closely resembles the boondoggle Palin 'Bridge to Nowhere'? Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) is calling it 'fiscally irresponsible' and is supporting a more appropriately scaled and designed bridge for the scenic qualities of the crossing.


Pretzel Logic Not

Bill O'Reilly discounts poll showing support for unions, since according to his logic...union workers shouldn't be counted in polls. I guess he missed class the day they went over random statistical sampling...(Crooks and Liars)

According to a new CBS poll, 37 percent of Americans favor cutting pay or benefits for public union employees, but 56 percent oppose that. The New York Times headline on Tuesday was: "Majority in Poll Back Employees in Public Sector." But the poll is misleading because 20 percent of the respondents say they are from union households. If you subtract them, those who favor cutting benefits win the poll.

Zero, Nada, Zitch, '0'

Whenever I participate in constitutionally protected right as an American citizen to peaceful protest, enviably some idiot will yell at me to "get a job". That same guy shouting for me to get a job, also voted for the current crop of GOP politicos to create jobs....sigh...did I mention that he's an idiot! So here's the the deal...
I have a job, fulltime... which is a good thing because the newly elected GOP while making ideology changes regarding who I can and can't marry, what ID I need to vote and show citizanship, and raising fees to cover the tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations....haven't done squat to date in creating any jobs....



Enjoy the weekend before more snow hits...



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