Some people are really easy to please, I guess. God knows that’s never been my problem, but still, I’m amazed at the smiley face being placed over the library board’s latest frantic decision.
OK, now they’ll keep all the branches open (YAY! We win! Everything is beautiful!), which, yes, is a good thing. At the same time, though, to make the spending cuts mandated by County King Harry Jones, the guts are being ripped out of some of the system’s most valuable services. First of all, the libraries will only be open five days a week, making them less available to the public. Secondly, the library’s valuable computer training and job-seeking classes, which have been critical in many Charlotteans’ lives during these rough times, will be severely cut back. And, here’s the kicker, the budget for new books and other media will be eliminated. Read that last thing again: A library system that doesn’t take in new books. And people are laughing and clapping as if this is some sort of victory of civilization over bean counters?
One more time, in plain English: It is completely unacceptable for any self-respecting community to gut its library services, and especially a library system that’s the envy of cities around the country. As we’ve said before, libraries are not luxuries or fripperies — they’re one of the basic necessities of a modern city’s life. (Part of a conversation overheard yesterday outside a library: “If I wanted to live somewhere with crappy libraries, I’d have stayed in Monroe.”)
Wrecking the quality of our libraries (and never mind what they’re suggesting we allow the county to do to our schools) is no better than if government suddenly said it wouldn’t fix streets and highways for the next couple of years. Or that we all had to start hauling our own garbage to the dump. And now consider the fact that more, much larger cuts will be demanded of the library system this summer.
What can be done? Well, immediately, as we’ve pointed out, the county could cut in half the $4.3 million slated for “business investment grants” — particularly since Charlotte’s business honchos aren’t exactly rushing to rescue the library — and hand it over to the library sytem. Problem solved till summertime. Between now and July, I’m hoping the library board will find the courage to educate King Harry and the county commission on the community value of a strong library system — especially when times are tight and the citizens need the vital services the system provides. If the county needs to raise property taxes to keep the libraries intact, then for God’s sake, do it. I’m not exactly rolling in money, but I’m more than willing to take a 5-percent increase in property taxes if it saves our libraries and schools. At rock bottom, it’s called giving a damn about the community as a whole. If you agree, please, please, let the people on the county commission and the library board know.
This article appears in Mar 23-29, 2010.
Grooms is 100 percent right on this one. A city that would tear apart its library system isn’t somewhere I want to live.
And, as usual, the man with no life and a made-up fantasy for a profile, Frank Griffin, shows what a tunnel-visioned, selfish prick he is.
Agreed. John Grooms is right on the mark and the sad/twisted fool Frank Griffin is off on another psychotic rant.
To begin with, Mr. Grooms can’t take the business investment grant money. It is a legal contract. While I am opposed to these deals and voted against them, you can NOT take those dollars and apply them to the library.
So, given that his solution is illegal – what would he do to solve the CURRENT $2 million problem. Cuts the arts? Cut outside agencies that are mostly political patrionage?
I wouldn’t really care about Grooms musings to fix the library IF they were viable. Unfortunately, they are not.
So, John, buddy – what is your REAL solution to solve the $2 million library gap (which is part of a $20 million current year hole). You can’t raise taxes mid-year so what would you cut to fix the problem.
This is real life – not some suggest something that makes you feel better but is illegal proposal.
Next up – cutting $6.3 million (of the $20 million) from CMS.
Bill James
County Commission
Bill, the answer, then, is to raise taxes, as I suggested at the end of the blog entry.
And, people, can you please keep these blog “discussions” halfway civil?
Vilma disagrees, and we are in her corner!
John –
I don’t want to create a stink BUT…. you can’t raise taxes mid-year. It is illegal. Now I understand your view on raising taxes for the new budget year.
I am point out that your proposed solution to either use the business grants or to raise taxes are illegal at this point.
To fix the $20 million budget hole of which the Library cut is $2 million requires cutting something else.
Since the business investment grant can’t be cut – what would you do to avoid cuting the library $2 million and the CMS cut of $6.3?
Bill James
County Commission
I hereby agree to be civil to all human beings who enter these hallowed posts.
Thankfully, since Frank Griffin is not a human being — but a pile of shit left on the side of the road by a diseased grizzly bear — he is exempt from all civility.
So Frank: go fuck yourself.
I bid you all a good day!
Amen. And I will not yield to any racist hatemonger who spoke of gays and Vilma’s son the way this trash did.
Now now, Frank, there appears to be a misunderstanding here. So before you go falling all over yourself — again — to defend your assinine opinions, know this: I am neither liberal nor conservative, Democrat nor Republican.
Truth be told, I am apolitical. Frankly, politics bores me. There are really only a few things I am expert in. Poker. Baseball. Meat loaf….
And fucking with clueless dickhead dorks like you. You see, even though I care nothing at all about politics, I have a keen eye for douchebags. And you, Sir, are overqualified. You are exactly the kind of peaheaded nerd I used to bully around in high school. You could be a flaming liberal for all I care; you’d still be a dickhead. You claim to be a conservative, and who am I to argue? Your opinions are so predictable and mundane they could very well have come straight off a teleprompter for all I know.
What I DO know, my dear friend, is that you are a fuckwad douchebag loser. It’s not your fault; you were just born that way. Still and all, it gives me great pleasure to fuck with you. So be advised: I will continue to fuck with you and all the world’s dickheads.
I bid you good day, Sir!
Frank, who says liberals don’t pay taxes? I’m liberal, I make a six-figure income, and I pay taxes.
There are more registered Democrats in this country than Republicans. The average per capita personal income for Democrats is $36,327; for Republicans it’s $30,275 (please, feel free to look it up). So Democrats earn more income — lots more income — and therefore they pay lots more taxes.
Bill Gates is the richest man in America, and a left-leaning Democrat; he plays plenty of taxes. Warren Buffet is a renowned Democrat and leftist; he could buy you in about 5 minutes, and he pays plenty of taxes.
Everybody pays taxes. Democrats pay more than their share. The difference? Dems or liberals or progressives or whatever you want to call them don’t constantly bitch and whine about it. It’s the cost of living in the U.S.; part of our duty as citizens. Hate to break it to you, but you and those like you are the selfish ones.
Jesus, you really are just an echo chamber for the right-wing ding dongs, aren’t you?
Well stated, Lonnie.
One more point, if I may:
Frank Griffin is a douchebag.
I trust you concur.
Interesting posts, particularly those pertaining to this need to be “civil.” Obviously, Anton shows no desire to be civil, and admits as much upfront. I suspect his only reason for joining these posts is to stir up trouble and have some kind of perverse fun.
Franks says he agrees with Grooms’ request to be “halfway civil,” yet here are Frank’s very first words, in the first post on this thread: “Grooms is being selfcentered (sic) as usual.”
Not too civil, Frank. In fact, it’s an outright insult to Grooms’ character. I don’t see a thing self-centered about what Grooms wrote. In fact, he’s saying he’s more than happy to pay an extra 5% in property taxes to improve the library system, which serves the community as a whole rather than him exclusively.
Civil discourse is sorely needed in this age of raging partisanship. Sadly, I see little of it on these threads (though I do think Bill James and Lonnie tried their best to bare their fangs).
Even more sadly, the success of the U.S. has always, always depended on finding a middle ground between the two ruling parties. Until a viable third party develops, that middle ground remains the country’s best hope.
I meant to say, “Bill James and Lonnie tried their best to HIDE their fangs,” meaning they made attempts to stay on topic and not hurl personal insults around.
Sorry for the typo in the prior post.
LMFAO!You can always tell when something gets under Frank’s thin skin because his posts read like paranoid hallucinatory fantasies, he spends all of his time trying to duck the facts and defend the undefensible, and his grammar and spelling are for shit.
Well done, lads! Once again you have exposed Frank for the clueless, uninformed, fraudulent dolt he is. I congratulate you!
Frank, it seems you’ve proven my point with your unnecessarily angry, childish and defensive response. It truly saddens me when people refuse to learn.
However, I will continue to teach those such as yourself the importance of staying centered and valuing all points of view. The learning part is up to you.
I agree that every effort should be made to maintain public support of our library system. Libraries are not a “luxury” in a civilized community, but a necessity. Public money can and should be found.
I also agree with Ahmet that too many shrill voices are muddying up the conversation here, with Frank being the shrillest of all. That’s particularly true of his repeated claims that he is not the selfish one.
To paraphrase Shakespeare, “The boy doth protest too much, methinks!”
🙂
As mentioned previously in other threads, Frank exhibits several characteristics of the classic narcissist. I’ll list a few of them below:
1. Has a childlike need to draw attention to himself.
2. Has a childlike need to proclaim “victories” that exist only in his head.
3. Has a grandiose, yet wholly unearned, sense of self importance.
4. Is mainly driven by deep-seated feelings of inadequacy and insecurity.
4. Fantasizes that those who disagree with him are inferior in intellect and moral character.
5. Lacks empathy.
6. Refuses to acknowledge the validity of counter opinions.
One need only look at Frank’s posts to see a consistent pattern of such characteristics.
There has been speculation that Frank is a deeply conflicted and insecure person. I tend to agree. As to reasons, I would not venture to guess. I can, however, say with certainty that Frank has more than his share of personal issues.
In any event, he is not to be taken seriously by those wishing to engage in civil or enlightened discourse. Frank’s main goal is to validate his own opinions. Whenever an alternate view is presented, he reacts with a passive aggressive anger and disdain. Again, this is a common trait among narcissists.
My advice to those who are offended by Frank is to ignore him. That is what he fears the most.
Why no Frank, we haven’t forgotten what douchebag means. It means “Frank Griffin.” You can look it up on Webster’s.
Everyone, stop picking on Frank. It reminds him of his sad, tragic childhood, when all the other kids in school knocked him down and laughed at him and forced him to go crying to Mommy, who, even more tragically, did not give a fuck about her loser son and just kept on hitting the vodka.
Hope this helps!
Judging from Frank’s rather self-absorbed responses, I would have to say Mr. Hollingsworth’s assessment is accurate.
But as a compassionate person, I wish Frank no ill will. On the contrary, I wish him well on his road to counseling and recovery.
Peace to all.
Actually, Frank, what’s hilarious is your inability to ignore J.
The way I look at it, it takes him about 2 seconds to cut and paste his 100% accurate profile of you.
Then you come here, after spending, oh, 45 minutes trying to think of a clever response — an effort, by the way, that always falls short — and you try to one-up him.
I see him winning this one, hands down, friendo.
He’s Pavlov, and you’re his dog.
he he
As mentioned previously in other threads, Frank exhibits several characteristics of the classic narcissist. I’ll list a few of them below:
1. Has a childlike need to draw attention to himself.
2. Has a childlike need to proclaim “victories” that exist only in his head.
3. Has a grandiose, yet wholly unearned, sense of self importance.
4. Is mainly driven by deep-seated feelings of inadequacy and insecurity.
4. Fantasizes that those who disagree with him are inferior in intellect and moral character.
5. Lacks empathy.
6. Refuses to acknowledge the validity of counter opinions.
One need only look at Frank’s posts to see a consistent pattern of such characteristics.
There has been speculation that Frank is a deeply conflicted and insecure person. I agree. As to reasons, I would not venture to guess. I can, however, say with certainty that Frank has more than his share of personal issues.
In any event, he is not to be taken seriously by those wishing to engage in civil or enlightened discourse. Frank’s main goal is to validate his own opinions. Whenever an alternate view is presented, he reacts with a passive aggressive anger and disdain. Again, this is a common trait among narcissists.
My advice to those who are offended by Frank is to ignore him. That is what he fears the most.
Everyone, I’d just like to say I sory for acting like a moron and being such a all-arround douche. I forgot to take my meds again, would you believed it?!!!
Anyways, no hard feelins, okay? If it make you feels any better, I know I a asshole.
Everyone, I’d just like to say I sory (agained!) for acting like a moron and being such a all-arround douche. I forgot to take my meds again,bag would you believed it?!!!
Anyways, no hard feelins, okay? If it make you feels any better, I know I a asshole.
See you at the Tea Klux Klan Partys! Yaaaaayyyyy!!!!!
Boy oh boys oh boy, look like I forgot to take my med AGAINED!
So let me aporogize for all the dumbass comment I continues to made. As I said earlyer, I sory for acting like a moron and being such a all-arround douchebag.
If it make you feels any better, I know I a asshole when I not on my medicinations. Hell I a asshole even when I AM on my medicatations! (he he)
But I am especially stupid when I skip my meds because in adition to being an asshole, I also a whiny, uninformed, right-wing redneck trying to pass off my hysterrical nonsense as pollitical insights.
And I can’t spel for shit!
Anyways, see you at the Tea Klux Klan Partys! Yaaaaayyyyy!!!!!
Frank, we appreciate your taking the time to apologize for being such a clueless, pea-brained, lying doofus. Self-awareness is important to all beings, even knuckle-dragging morons like you.
Still, I hope you don’t mind my giving you a little advice: double your meds. Whatever it is you’re taking to try and stay in balance and prevent your “brain” chemistry from blowing up once and for all, isn’t working.
Double your meds, find a job, stop stealing garbage for food, and take a fucking shower.
Capice?
Ooops, I did it agin! I forgetted to take my meds!
So let me aporogize once more time for all the dumbass comment I continues to made. As I said earlyer, I sory for acting like a moron and being such a all-arround douchebag.
Not only am I politicaly retarded, I’m too stupid to even rememmber to takes my medicizations!
And I can’t spel for shit!
Anyways, see you at the Tea Klux Klan Partys! Yaaaaayyyyy!!!!!
As mentioned previously in other threads, Frank exhibits several characteristics of the classic narcissist. I’ll list a few of them below:
1. Has a childlike need to draw attention to himself.
2. Has a childlike need to proclaim “victories” that exist only in his head.
3. Has a grandiose, yet wholly unearned, sense of self importance.
4. Is mainly driven by deep-seated feelings of inadequacy and insecurity.
4. Fantasizes that those who disagree with him are inferior in intellect and moral character.
5. Lacks empathy.
6. Refuses to acknowledge the validity of counter opinions.
One need only look at Frank’s posts to see a consistent pattern of such characteristics. There has been speculation that Frank is a deeply conflicted and insecure person. I tend to agree. As to reasons, I would not venture to guess. I can, however, say with certainty that Frank has more than his share of personal issues.
In any event, he is not to be taken seriously by those wishing to engage in civil or enlightened discourse. Frank’s main goal is to validate his own opinions. Whenever an alternate view is presented, he reacts with a passive aggressive anger and disdain. Again, this is a common trait among narcissists.
My advice to those who are offended by Frank is to ignore him. That is what he fears the most.