DelDOT thugs like Bad Santa's

Families in Radnor Green/Ashbourne Hills, a blue collar community in Claymont, Delaware are surveying the damage caused by DelDOT employees who, in Grinch like fashion ripped their recreation literally from the ground.  Like the little town of Whoville that was terrorized by a Grinch whose heart was an empty hole, residents in Claymont were terrorized by a nanny state run amuck.

Sure, the month was March and DelDOT uses trucks not sleds, but the song below accurately describes the actions of the State of Delaware's Department of Transportation and their feelings on the situation:

While it might seem funny when you read comments like those above, the real facts and the lives affected by the actions of an oppressive government don't leave much room for laughter.  While there have indeed been dissenting opinions on this, most rational people agree, government was in the wrong.  Some have blamed the owners for not complying with the government order to move their property (some of these poles had been in place for 40+ years) despite the fact that the families had followed the correct process to challenge the law, while others have insisted the blame rests with the government but that it should be limited to those who passed the law and passed along the work order to the ground workers.  Normally I would agree with that second group but I have had a week to see what the DelDOT ground workers actually think. 

The link above will take you to a Facebook page I created for discussion about the incident.  I expected the DelDOT workers to defend their actions but I was not prepared for the utter contempt they held for the property owners or for the legal process that made their enforcement questionable.  Further discussions would show the true colors of Delaware's public workforce: It doesn't matter what they do, what they say or how they affect your life because THEY are union and THEY enforce the law, no matter how wrong or unconstitutional it is. 

You need to keep that mindset in mind when you read the rest of this story.  To government workers, WE THE PEOPLE are not their bosses, we are the sheep that they must corral.  They don't care that we, the larger populace, provide their salaries because they see it as "earned" and they don't see the need to answer to US because they have Union leaders and government management and bureaucrats telling them that they don't.  They feel untouchable because laws are written to protect them.

That's why they felt no remorse in turning Radnor Green upside down last week.  You see, until last week, when DelDOT stormed the neighborhood with dump trucks, pickups, flatbeds and front end loaders on a mission to rip out basketball poles that were too close to the road according to a questionable law passed in 2005, the neighborhood kids had enjoyed playing on their hoops almost every day.

Last week, all that changed when DelDOT employees stormed the neighborhood and yanked the poles.  Despite the plea's from the owners to leave the pole on their property, and a promise from a State Police Officer to the contrary, DelDOT workers removed the poles to their service center and demanded that residents (some of whom were not home when their property was taken) pick up their property from the DelDOT yard.  DelDOT is facing a $1 Billion shortfall within the next 5 years without spending cuts or revenue enhancements (toll/tax/fee increases) but for some reason, this was seen as a good use of tax payer dollars:

While this issue is FAR from over, this is likely the last time you will see much in the mainstream media about it.  Yesterday afternoon, the McCafferty family, who has led the charge to get their pole and hoop returned to them, discovered the grim reality.  Not only did the DelDOT workers lie, cheat and steal to get the poles, they also decided to destroy them.  Every single backboard was in one piece when it was PLUCKED from the neighborhood yet, every single one of them now is destroyed.  Here are some images of the poles as we found them yesterday:

Every single backboard has a hole in it, poles were damaged and the DelDOT employees couldn't care less.  As you'll see in the video below, they stood on the other side of the yard, smugly video taping as Rep. Bryon Short and I used our personal pickup trucks to transport what it took them 2 dumps, a front end loader, a flat bed, 3 pickups and 5 police officers to transport.  But then again, I do always say that the private market is more efficient than government almost 100% of the time.  I'll leave you with this final video from the crew over at the News Journal:


Update: Pastor Dowell is standing up to show that this is a national movement!  We've had ENOUGH of government employees taking liberty and property from people...and then pretending like it's just their job.

New Castle County is more BROKE than we thought

Recently, the News Journal broke stories (2 months too late) that prove Chris Coons is nothing short of a liar.  Both were from a report by Independent observer Dace Blaskovitz.  Coons spent more than 6 months telling Delawareans (especially New Castle County residents) that he was responsible with the County finances and that it was not in trouble.  He told us that everything was fine and that he was able to save the county from the brink of a fiscal meltdown.  Today, the News Journal's Chad Livengood has another story on the fiscal woes of New Castle County.  The new County Executive, Paul Clark (the man of a thousand ethics problems), has put in place a 30 person transition team ($$$$) to figure out how to get the county out of the HUGE hole it's in. 

What hole you ask?  If you've only been listening to Chris Coons, Paul Clark, Tim Sheldon and the rest of the Democrats in New Castle County government you would be unable to see the huge hole in county finances that they were hiding.  If County Council did not know the MASSIVE gap between spending and revenue existed then it is time to fire every single one of them (and this includes Councilman Weiner if he knew and was silent).  Folks, this is an absolute TRAVESTY of justice.  New Castle County began the new millennium with a $200 million SURPLUS and by 2015, if nothing changes, we will be $68 million in debt.  It will have swung 134% in the opposite direction.  This is DESPITE an increase in sewer fees of more than 60%, increases in other fees including the introduction of a new fee on contractors and a 54% increase in property taxes.  Does this sound like fiscal responsibility to you?  Could you do this at home?  Let's say you already had a huge savings account but were spending more than you made and you asked your boss for a raise of more than 60% and got it.  Now your pay has increased by more than 60%, you are spending all of your income and you still are eating into your savings account at more than 6% per year . You are to the point where you will be IN DEBT within 4 years.  Would it be time to go your boss for another raise or perhaps to address your spending habit?

Well according to Clark's transition team ($$$$) it's time to come to you for a raise.  Oh, Clark doesn't think that you property owners can afford more property taxes.  Instead he and his team will focus their "revenue enhancements" on "raising sewer bills to pay for federally-mandated improvements, charging for inspections of rental homes, cutting grass in county parks less frequently and county-wide reassessment of property values."  No mention of selling county land BACK to the private individuals who managed it before (like Carousel Park which was a net PLUS before the County took it over).  The report also calls for personnel cuts but it does not get specific except to say that the county should hire MORE employees in key areas.  In fact, the finance committee ($$$$) stated that it did not want to recommend specifics to actually FIX the structural problems with County government yet later in the report they call for Clark to lobby the General Assembly for the same 911 tax that Chris Coons lobbied for in 2007. 

The countywide reassessment of property values would be painful to some and easing on another.  The fact is that it MUST be done.  Homeowners today have their land values assessed at the 1983 level.  That's the same value as houses built almost 30 years ago.  Also addressed by the transition team is the suggestion that Clark address the county employee pay and benefits.  Currently many (mostly union members) county employees are receiving step increases annually and have MASSIVE pensions that are coming due more and more rapidly.  About 45% of the 1,400+ full-time county employees currently receive "step raises".  On the pension front, the report calls for the county pensions to be rolled into a more manageable 401(k) plan that is in line with private sector benefits.  This has of course, set the public employees unions into a tizzy.  Some of the county leaders have shouted that Coons and Clark have filled vacancies and then forced current employees to take pay cuts thereby punishing current employees.  ENOUGH!  I'm sick and tired of this stupid argument, hurting current employees by hiring new ones.  FOR YEARS the suggestions from every transition team and independent audit has been to deal with two things:

1. Public employee Pensions
2. The cost of the size of government (a.k.a. personnel costs)

And for years the unions and county managers have screamed that the county politicians are hiring new people and screwing current employees.  Meanwhile politicians have asked for the unions to take pay cuts.  Folks, they are both right!  The bottom line is that vacant positions must be eliminated and public sector employees must take cuts to pay and benefits.  It's unsustainable as it stands and the people don't want the cost for the services they are provided.  It's THAT simple.  That may mean we have to cut services or do more with less.  That is an issue that private companies face every single day.  It's called a tough choice and these politicians claim that they make them every day.  They are lying to us.  Their answer is to raise fees, that's the easy way out.  It's like us telling our bosses that we are going to TAKE a raise and not simply asking for it.

Folks, how long will we continue to sit back and let these people take every dollar we make in taxes?  When is enough going to be enough?  A sewer fee is no different than a property tax folks.  It's a tax in a different area of our life but it is a tax.  Are we that STUPID New Castle County?  Where is the line?  Please tell me, comment here, let me know, where do we draw the line?  When do we hold Chris Coons, Paul Clark, Tim Sheldon and the rest of these people accountable?  Electing Tom Kovach doesn't hold them accountable, Tim Sheldon is still on County Council.  Electing Tom Kovach is a STEP in the right direction but folks we need to elect people who will actually TAKE these steps that need to be taken.  We need to stop the union control of the county and work to bring the county back in line.  By balancing county government we will be able to focus on job creation in the private sector, returning companies like Dupont and others to prosperity by opening up new opportunities to bring their business efforts BACK to Delaware.  I say the time is now, what say you?

Only 49% of Elected Officials can name the 3 branches of government

For all of you who wonder why the Republicans wanted to read the Constitution on the floor, consider this:

No cheating, take this test first:

1) What are the three branches of government? A. executive, legislative, judicial
B. executive, legislative, military
C. bureaucratic, military, industry
D. federal, state, local

2) What part of the government has the power to declare war?
A. Congress
B. the president
C. the Supreme Court
D. the Joint Chiefs of Staff

3) In the area of United States foreign policy, Congress shares power with the:
A. president
B. Supreme Court
C. state governments
D. United Nations

4) The United States Electoral College:
A. trains those aspiring for higher political office
B. was established to supervise the first televised presidential debates
C. is otherwise known as the U.S. Congress
D. is a constitutionally mandated assembly that elects the president
E. was ruled undemocratic by the Supreme Court

5) What impact did the Anti-Federalists have on the United States Constitution?
A. their arguments helped lead to the adoption of the Bill of Rights
B. their arguments helped lead to the abolition of the slave trade
C. their influence ensured that the federal government would maintain a standing army
D. their influence ensured that the federal government would have the power to tax

6) The phrase that in America there should be a "wall of separation" between church and state appears in:
A. George Washington's Farewell Address
B. the Mayflower Compact
C. the Constitution
D. the Declaration of Independence
E. Thomas Jefferson's letters

7) The Bill of Rights explicitly prohibits:
A. prayer in public school
B. discrimination based on race, sex, or religion
C. the ownership of guns by private individuals
D. establishing an official religion for the United States
E. the president from vetoing a line item in a spending bill

8) Identify one right or freedom below guaranteed by the first amendment.
A. Right to bear arms
B. Due process
C. Religion
D. Right to counsel

9) Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government. What is one power of the federal government listed below?
A. Make treaties
B. Make zoning laws
C. Maintain prisons
D. Establish standards for doctors and lawyers

10) Who is the commander in chief of the U.S. military?
A. Secretary of the army
B. Secretary of state
C. President
D. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs

Answer key:
1) A; 2) A; 3) A; 4) D; 5) A; 6) E; 7) D; 8) C; 9) A; 10) C

Now consider this:
AOL news found out that...

Elected officials at many levels of government, not just the federal government, swear an oath to "uphold and protect" the U.S. Constitution.

But those elected officials who took the test scored an average 5 percentage points lower than the national average (49 percent vs. 54 percent), with ordinary citizens outscoring these elected officials on each constitutional question. Examples:

• Only 49 percent of elected officials could name all three branches of government, compared with 50 percent of the general public.
• Only 46 percent knew that Congress, not the president, has the power to declare war -- 54 percent of the general public knows that.
• Just 15 percent answered correctly that the phrase "wall of separation" appears in Thomas Jefferson's letters -- not in the U.S. Constitution -- compared with 19 percent of the general public.
• And only 57 percent of those who've held elective office know what the Electoral College does, while 66 percent of the public got that answer right. (Of elected officials, 20 percent thought the Electoral College was a school for "training those aspiring for higher political office.")