Sock Puppet Chatter Level Advisory- HIGH
The chatter at the Aljazeera Café is at an alarmingly high level coming into the next round of budget discussions to be held tonight (Town Hall- 8:00pm), attacking everyone and everything that questions the clerics of the BOE and BOS and their budgets which cannot stand the light of day.
Speaking of the 'light of day', I wonder if these ardent supporters of the BOE will actually show themselves and make these same arguments in person; highly unlikely. Only from the safety of their caves will you hear such claims as there are no facts to back their positions. It is far easier to volley sniper fire in the continuing attempts to shoot the messengers and then run and hide, typical of this ongoing Jihad against those who seek truth and transparency from ALL factions of the regime.
The BOF is poised to hand down edicts bound to incite the insurgents into a complete frenzy.
For those of you unable to attend or not wanting to expose yourselves to the crossfire, stay tuned-film at 11.
Update (10:45pm)
Change of plan folks, decided to watch the basketball game. The short synopsis of the meeting is that the BOE and sock puppet entourage (30) ran the Playbook by the numbers and applauded themselves for doing so to their own delight.
Speaking of the 'light of day', I wonder if these ardent supporters of the BOE will actually show themselves and make these same arguments in person; highly unlikely. Only from the safety of their caves will you hear such claims as there are no facts to back their positions. It is far easier to volley sniper fire in the continuing attempts to shoot the messengers and then run and hide, typical of this ongoing Jihad against those who seek truth and transparency from ALL factions of the regime.
The BOF is poised to hand down edicts bound to incite the insurgents into a complete frenzy.
For those of you unable to attend or not wanting to expose yourselves to the crossfire, stay tuned-
Update (10:45pm)
Change of plan folks, decided to watch the basketball game. The short synopsis of the meeting is that the BOE and sock puppet entourage (30) ran the Playbook by the numbers and applauded themselves for doing so to their own delight.
For me it was going to bat for my kid more than it was going to bat for the BOE. Everyone else in this town goes to bat for their investments...whether it be fire protection toys, open space, transfer station dumpsters, salaries, football fields, dial-a-ride services, PA-490 tax shelters....etc.
Since I'm the dumb working shmuck that actually pays his fair share of taxes I feel that I not only have the right, but the time honored pleasure, of shooting my mouth off for my slice of the pie. Mr. Woodin (sp?), God bless him, never holds back his annual view of the budget, so why should I? I couldn't care less if it happens to be politically incorrect to support the BOE budget or go against the selectman budget. For my kid, I'll cross all lines of propriety. No one, including the BOS, the BOF, the Academy, or heck, even the White House are telling the taxpayers where in their budgets lies discretionary spending that can be cut (or hidden), so why should the Board of Ed.? Why single them out, especially when a 5th grader could pick apart the Selectman budget? If the community wants to keep cutting the budget, so be it, but let's be honest, its not just the BOE that spends our money. I'm all for fiscal conservatism and deeply recognize that more money doesn't gauranteee a better education, but meetings on where to cut the budget are not about resolving those issues, they are about cutting the budget fairly. I personally think, in all fairness, that the new items on the selectman budget (Reval $250K and EMS $123K) should have been offset by cutting other areas of the selectman budget such as the salary raise, the open space land aquisition (which could go on the 5 year capital plan) and the Fire protection New Apparatus fund of $129K (which could also go on the 5 year capital budget plan). Imagine if the schools had an annual $129k new technology fund...it would come off faster than a prom dress in the first round of cuts.
I am not opposed to anyone who acts as taxpayer advocates and demand accountability from our government. I never say a bad word about them and in fact honor their committment to their needs and their desires. In fact, I thank them with bending knee. That is their right and responsibility. But as a taxpayer, I expect the same respect in return when I decide to let my voice be heard. Whether you like it or not, whether it comes across as a playbook or not, when it all comes down to the truth of the matter, its only my voice that I have, and I'm going to use it. I'm going to let it be known how I want my tax dollars spent.
I think the old quote is "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it". Close enough I hope.
I congratulate you on your fortitude in "going to bat" for your kid. We have watched others do the same and be savaged for doing so by the very people you seem to be defending, I believe that there is no line of propriety when defending your child or their rights.
Moreover, a large portion of your comment seems to be in the vein of Mrs. Swenson's appeal at the town meeting in that "everybody's doing it" so why pick on the BOE? Sorry, that just doesn't wash at any level. I was actually embarrassed for her when she said it and your going in that direction doesn't make it right or acceptable either.
If you have been paying close attention the BOF is in the cross hairs as we speak, this will be the show of the century here in Woodstock over the next number of weeks/months/years as neccessary.
Some of the other reasons are covered in my response to your other post and I will try to refrain from repeating myself here. Another is that the BOE budget is roughly 80% of the pie. Have you read anywhere here an endorsement of the BOS budget? They are simply hiding and hoping that the storm passes. If you read the Bulletin today they cut a dump truck, adopted Mr. Richardson's suggestion of spreading the reval costs over 3 years, then threatened that if this budget doesn't pass 'services' will suffer- but the raises survived!
To even use the term 'services' in this town is somewhat of a joke. We pay for almost everything on the side. A large portion of the roads are state maintained, etc. None of this is lost on me.
Currently, it is a question of priorities. If you actually want to make your voice in all of this meaningful, I would urge you to stay involved, dig deeper and not settle for the mediocre, status quo and empire building that are the bane of this town and its citizens.
Lastly, I don't believe that I have disrespected you or your voice in any way.
Again, I am neither defending anybody, other than my own self interests, nor am I advocating in the "same vein as Mrs. Swenson" who made a plea to the community to support a budget (despite its flaws) for "the sake of the kids". I am more than willing to point out the specific flaws and advocate for solutions which I believe are fair. You discredit my voice when you asssume that in doing so that I am a sock puppet for the BOE. If the majority of voters want to keep cutting the budget that is their perogative. What I find most amusing however is that when it comes to actually deciding HOW the budget should be cut, the vast majority of voters either do not know, or have no opinion, or are simply complacent with vanquishing their power to others (maybe 50 people at the last BOF meeting?). Even those who did show up, maybe 5 people raised their hands to comment and even less offered any potential solutions. No one offered specific solutions as to how the BOE budget could be specifically cut while it was clear that the selectman budget could and should take a major hit. To me, the discussion of how the budget should be cut (BOE vs. BOS) was the only purpose of this last BOF meeting. It was not the forum to discuss reasons for not accepting the budget. I beleive the next town meeting will serve that purpose and I respect anyone that can offer the town insight into why or why not to support this budget (without emotionalizing the issue). My prior comments in this blog reflect the purpose of the meeting we are currently discussing and were not intended to negate the cause for transparency and integrity in our government and our budgetary process. It was simply a statement of belief and I appreciate your opening quote in support of me saying so. Thank you!