Sunday, March 28, 2010

A comment on comments...

It would help me if people would use more specific language in the comments when expressing opinion - for example:

"In my opinion X's vote on issue A indicates to me that X cares more about A than B. "

Is a perfectly justifiable statement, while

"X cares more about A than B".

is considerably less so.

Opinions are OK, and I want to hear them. Just try to explicitly identify them as such, and they should be based on evidence where ever appropriate.

1 comment:

MG Voter said...

Can we start a new thread about this issue of staff wage and benefits? It seems a reasonable discussion under the circumstances. I work for the government, haven't received a raise in nearly two years and now furloughs amount to a 3% cut for me even though my work load hasn't changed. I am salaried, so all the furloughs do is make me stay home one day so I can work late on others. It's a pay cut any way I look at it.

I am getting more and more frustrated as this budget debate drags on that our largest union - the teachers - remains mum. Maybe it is too soon for them to jump into the fray, but your next steps are going to include deciding on the timing and content of a spending referendum, right? That sort of referendum takes a lot of time to plan. I cannot see the majority of voters around here going for it if the staff continues their usual wage hikes. It isn't that they don't deserve raises, but the rest of us are struggling and it's hard to vote yes for a raise for other people when many of us are seeing our own incomes shrink.