Paul's Falls - All Comments

re: Spellbinding Story From A Former Falls Resident

johnschilling — Fri, 23 May 2008 22:10:22 GMT

Thanks for your coverage Paul I am glad you are enjoying the book. My career certainly has been an amazing journey. I haven't forgotten the community where I grew up and which molded me into the person I am today. You yourself have been part of that and credit is due to my family and the Village of Menomonee Falls.

John W. Schilling

Author "Undercover"

http://ethicsolutionsllc.com

re: Oops

Al Campbell — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:42:29 GMT

The best example of painting oneself into a corner that I've seen!

re: An Uncomfortable Feeling

Andy Mohrfeld — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:22:50 GMT

Paul,

I'm well aware of unfunded mandates. They are not the problem. Employee compensation is. District employees have not one, but two pension plans. They have a health care plan in which they pay almost no cost. They receive retiree medical coverage. Oh, and most employees can retire in their mid-50's. Find a company in the US that offers such lavish benefits. They are prohibitively expensive; much more expensive than any unfunded mandates. In fact, employee compensation makes up approximately 80% of the school's total costs. So if you're going to complain about costs, pick the right thing to complain about.

re: An Uncomfortable Feeling

Andy Mohrfeld — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:25:29 GMT

Schools have "no money left". Are you kidding? The MF school district collects almost $13,000 per student, one of the highest revenue per student figures in the county. And the number increases a very healthy 4 - 5% every year, well in excess of the inflation rate. Schools don't have a revenue problem. They have a spending problem.

Andy,

Please write a summary of what you know about the term: "unfunded mandates"
You may have some reason to complain about spending, but that was not my issue when I wrote this blog.

re: Reading 101

had to comment — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 05:50:09 GMT

I had absolutely no problem reading the whole thing and at a rather quick pace. I would never have thought it possible if I didn't see it for myself. That was fun....and will be fun to show other people. Nice interesting tidbit of info Paul.

re: Hooray for the writers strike

Kimberly Laczniak — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 04:09:06 GMT

Ha! So you won't be going on strike I take it? ;-)

re: What is happening here?

had to comment — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 04:42:14 GMT

Probably the Pledge. If you're trying to say Obama is not patriotic because his hand is not over his heart than I would like to say I know a lot of wonderful very patriotic people who say the Pledge with their hands behind their back or folded in front like he is.

It is kind of odd nobody is looking in the same direction though. Maybe there are flags all over the place or the Pledge had just come to conclusion.

For a really interesting discussion about the Pledge go to the following website....I was kind of shocked about some things regarding the pledge.

rexcurry.net/bookchapter1a1c1.html

re: Conservatives and War

Unabashed Conservative — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 13:00:14 GMT

As for Iran, their leader has openly stated he wants to wipe Isreal off the face of the globe. Once they become nuclear, do you really want to take the chance that they won't follow through on that statement? Iran is known to be supporting the terrorists in Iraq. Do you want to take the chance they will pass on their nuclear weapons to terrorists?

re: Conservatives and War

Unabashed Conservative — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:55:41 GMT

Your statement that conservatives are "drooling" for war is simply false. You seem to forget that virtually all of the leading Democrats agreed with the decision to invade Iraq (not to mention many of our allies). And the war now is a battle with Al Qaeda. The terrorists are desparate that democracy does not take hold in Iraq. Better to fight them over there than here in the US. It is far from a hopeless war; in fact, the recent troop surge is showing signs of significant progress.

re: Conservatives and War

Fred Keller — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:07:38 GMT

I am puzzled by how you can seemingly call this a Republican war. Like it or not, the UNITED STATES is at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, not the Republican Party, as you suggest.

This link may help jog your memory as to how the United States got there: www.senate.gov/.../roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm

re: Shutting Down Government - A Short Blog

Right-ON! — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 19:46:18 GMT

Agreed Mr.Wickesburg. If only you had the same opinions when it comes to local politics. While I admire and hope you continue your current position on Doyle and the budget...one could only hope people like you would see the light on local politics. No one said you were perfect! At least you are backing up your statements with a picture and your name now. Seriously though, this budget issue premise continues on the local level. We in the falls will not attract businesses/restaurants or corporations with a negative business climate, this should be thought about constantly, especially during the perception of "bad economy" we are experiencing.

re: Menomonee Falls PAC Meeting comment

ktaubenheim — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 01:39:15 GMT

Silent, If you desire to quote me and things that I have written please do so accurately. You have completely made a false representation in the quotes that you took from my August blog are piece mealed together.

The final sentence that you claim is a quote of mine from my blog titled, "Annual School District Review" is false and made-up. It is not in the blog entry. See for yourself:

www.menomoneefallsnow.com/.../index.aspx

I beleive that Paul would be uncomfortable with someone not being honest on his blog and hope that he would do the right thing in requiring commenters on his blog to be accurate and truthful.

Secondly, you should know that the blogs that are printed in the paper are edited and condensed for size. I have no control over that, it comes down to layout and space available. Again I urge you to read the entire blog entry to see what I said, unedited.

www.menomoneefallsnow.com/.../index.aspx

Third, EVERYONE knows that blogs are people writing about their opinions on a variety of topics. If you don't like or agree with my opinion, then don't read it. No one is forcing you to click the button.

http://menomoneefallsnow.com/

TrackBack — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 23:41:05 GMT

re: Menomonee Falls PAC Meeting comment

Ted Klumb — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:26:10 GMT

Greetings:

I am a member of the MF School Board and am pleased to serve all citizens of this community. For those of you who do not know me, or my position on issues please refer to my web site. www.tedklumb.com It was constructed before I was elected and left intact except for the removal of our family picture. I left it unchanged so you can see what has and has not changed since I was elected. A more current picture of me is on the site so that if you see me at Pops or around town you can identify me and ask me questions or give me suggestions.

I send out an E-newsletter on a semi regular basis to people who have contacted me on school matters in the past. You may contact me at ted@thatsbrilliant(REMOVE THIS).com and ask to be on this list. I will be conducting a town hall meeting on November 30th at 7pm, at Holy Cross Lutheran Church. The public is invited. Email me if you would like an invitation.

My home phone number is 255.0931 but I ask that you respect my family dinnertime from 5:00 to 7:00 and not call then. Thank you.

Ted Klumb

re: Menomonee Falls PAC Meeting comment

SILENT MAJORITY — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:15:52 GMT

Wha'da ya know! 2 sides to this story. This great community has great people trying to do the best they can during trying times and all we hear from are those that sit and complain. I listened to the annual meeting replay on TV and heard three staggered voices vote against the budget and over 100 voted for it. When I read about it in the paper and in the NowBlogs I saw a different version. Here are a couple of excerpts from that Aug. Blog... "Then I was surprised at the turn-out. I have been told that these meetings in past years usually take place in near empty rooms. If I had to guess, I'd say a hundred or so people were there." " Probably the most surprising event of the night occurred when it came time for the public to vote on adopting the budget including the 8.8% tax levy increase. For the first time in many years, the vote was not unanimous. I am not sure how many people voted for or against, but the fact that this school board and administration heard that some people are not in favor of this excessive increase was a good thing." "Those of you who voted for it have demonstrated an absolute disregard for the taxpayers in this district."

An uninformed reader would have taken theses comments as fact. Why is it that a 3% vote is encouraging and a 60% referendum is a landslide? It's all in the spin. Here's a note to all bloggers, state your opinions loudly and proudly, but remind people they are your opinions and not necessarily fact. If not, you sound more like the people you are accusing of conspiracy. More suggestions with less complaining and finger pointing might help.