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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (101075)	3/5/2011 2:58:52 PM
From: locogringo	5 Recommendations Respond to of 224759

Tell it to your liberal friends. Anybody with a brain knows better.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (101075)	3/5/2011 9:05:59 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	3 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224759

Trucker fuels up for $1,000; $5-a-gallon gas Independent trucker Lee Klass pulled out of a gas station Friday morning with 240 gallons of diesel — and a bill close to $1,000. Klass, who's driven long-haul trucks since the 1970s, said diesel is his No. 1 expense: He has been raising his rates for loads hauled almost daily to combat rising diesel prices. Klass said if you think you're not paying for my fuel just check your grocery bill. "The price of gasoline may go up as high as $5 a gallon by this summer — is the administration currently making contingency plans?" Rep. Eni Faleomavaega, D-American Samoa, asked Interior Secretary Ken Salazar during a hearing Thursday of the House Natural Resources Committee who responded with a shrug. "I certainly think more production is part of the answer," Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Pasco, the committee's chairman, told Salazar. But increased production in the U.S. wouldn't have a measurable impact on oil prices that are set on international markets and influenced by countries with higher output, Salazar said. Klass said many drivers weren't able to sustain themselves when fuel prices spiked back in 2008, peaking at $4.39 per gallon. "Last time around, a lot of people went broke." "Gas prices going to $5 or $6 a gallon are going to really stop this recovery and maybe throw us back into recession," Rep. John Duncan, R-Tenn., said during the House hearing.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (101075)	3/5/2011 9:06:34 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	4 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224759

In the city's funny math, you get only one teacher for the price of two. The Department of Education pays about 1,500 teachers for time they spend on union activities -- and pays other teachers to replace them in the classroom. It's a sweetheart deal that costs taxpayers an extra $9 million a year to pay fill-ins for instructors who are sprung -- at full pay -- to carry out responsibilities for the United Federation of Teachers. With Mayor Bloomberg calling for thousands of teacher layoffs to balance the 2012 budget, critics say it's time to halt the extravagant benefit. In these tight fiscal times, it defies common sense to pay two different people to do one job," said Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union, a government watchdog. "It's a waste of money." That $9 million would cover the salaries of 198 new teachers at the current annual $45,530 starting pay The DOE lets 40 experienced teachers collect top pay and fringe benefits, but work just one class period a day. Under a longstanding contract agreement, the DOE excuses these veterans to work for the UFT -- currently 38 as district representatives and two as union vice presidents. The UFT pays them another salary, plus expenses. English teacher Tom Dromgoole, for instance, collects top teacher pay, $100,049 a year, from the DOE for his slot at Leadership and Public Service HS in downtown Manhattan. But he is relieved for most of the day to serve as a UFT high school rep. The UFT supplements his salary by $50,461, records show. Dromgoole is outspoken on state budget cuts, which he blasted at a boisterous protest last March with UFT President Michael Mulgrew. Reached Friday outside his Brooklyn townhouse, Dromgoole brushed past a reporter who asked about his UFT work, saying, "No comment." Another veteran teacher said of the lucrative gigs, "It's a plum because you're not teaching. Some principals give them little or nothing to do" because the UFT reps are powerful. The rest of the 1,500 teachers paid for time away from students are UFT "chapter leaders," who represent faculty at each school. They get at least four or five class periods a week "for investigation of grievances" and other union-related duties, the contract says. The UFT reimburses the DOE only about $900,000 of nearly $10 million it spends to replace the teachers, officials said. One principal said his school's chapter leader is helpful as a staff liaison, but he questioned why the UFT -- which collects $126 million in member dues -- doesn't cover the cost: "They have a lot of money to run TV ads. Should DOE be paying for this?" UFT spokesman Dick Riley said such arrangements are common among city unions "and were instituted with the agreement of NYC government." A spokeswoman for Mayor Bloomberg declined to comment. nypost.com

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (101075)	3/5/2011 9:07:04 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	5 Recommendations Respond to of 224759

U S appeals judge's order on drilling permits The Obama administration has appealed a judge's order requiring regulators to act on seven drilling permit applications. The government filed court documents late Friday saying it may have to deny the applications if regulators must make a decision within 30 days as ordered. The order was issued by U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman, who overturned the administration's moratorium on deepwater drilling after BP PLC's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The documents say the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement may not have enough time to help operators meet regulatory requirements to have the permits approved by the deadline. Feldman ruled last month that the government must act on five applications within 30 days. On Tuesday, Feldman said his ruling also applies to two other permits.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (101075)	3/5/2011 9:07:32 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	4 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224759

$101,091: Average annual compensation for Milwaukee teachers The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel confirms that's how much the average Milwaukee teacher will be paid in salary and benefits in 2011: the average MPS teacher would receive total compensation of $101,091 -- $59,500 in salary and $41,591 in benefits. We double-checked with MPS spokeswoman Roseann St. Aubin and she confirmed the figures. We wanted to compare the $101,091 for MPS teachers to other teachers, but the latest figurescompiled by the state Department of Public Instruction are for 2009-2010, two years earlier. Those figures show for 2009-2010, MPS teachers earned, on average, $56,095 in salary plus $30,202 in benefits, for a total of $86,297. That was lower than eight other school districts in Milwaukee County, including Greendale, Greenfield, Shorewood, Cudahy, Fox Point, South Milwaukee, Franklin and Nicolet, which was highest at just over $103,000. But it's not entirely clear if the projected 2011 benefits includes the Milwaukee teachers' $786,000 annual Viagra habit that is now the matter of a lawsuit between the union and the school district.