Working With Idiots Can Kill You!: "Idiots in the office are just as hazardous to your health as cigarettes, caffeine or greasy food, an eye-opening new study reveals. In fact, those dopes can kill you!"

I may have to rethink going to so many meetings.

EVERYTHING ON THIS SITE IS TRUE! Although there are many who would like to sue me you can only do that if what I say isn't true. I have been doing this now for three years and nobody has sued me yet!

Keeping a Preble GOB busy. One of the things we might try to do is to keep the GOBs occupied so they will not be able to do more harm to Preble. To that end I have information on things to do to keep a GOB busy on this page: CLICK HERE

TOWN OF PREBLE: This is a new working link to the Town Officials to replace the one on the left until I get around to fixing it.

Sun exec: 'Practically every' employee owns a Mac: "Jonathan Schwartz, executive vice-president of Sun's software group said in an eWeek article that practically every Sun employee owns an Apple desktop at home. 'We would love to partner with Apple,' he said. 'They're everyone's favorite company, and iTunes is really cool.'"

As a Mac user since 1984 I relish this kind of stuff. Sure they cost a bit more, so does a Porshe and that proves you get what you pay for.

TOWN POSITIONS OPEN

Below is a list of open town positions that you can try for at the caucus. I'm giving the salary amounts from memory because I'm too lazy to look in my piles of junk to find the budget. It's here somewhere...

Voting positions open:

Supervisor - Pays about $6,500 a year plus expenses. Lot of work - 2 Year term

Town Board member - Doesn't really pay but you get $1,000 a year for expenses. - 2 positions for the regular 4 year term and because of resignations there are 2 other positions open with 2 years terms. Total of 4 open positions.

Non voting positions open:

Town Clerk - Pays about $6,500 a year, nice job for a semi-retired person. Lot of part time work - 2 year term.

Highway Supervisor: - Pays about $30,000 or so - Lot of work. - 2 year term.

Town Justice or Justice of the Peace - Pays about $7,000 plus another 2 or 3 grand for the Justice's clerk. Currently they are a wife and husband team so it's all in the family. Another nice job for a semi-retired couple. - 2? year term.

The town board members are 4 year over lapping terms. This is done to have continuity and to have at least 2 town board members with at least 2 years experience. This year 2 board members resigned and that is why all 4 positions are open. 2 are 2 year and 2 are 4 year.

Of all the jobs above the town board member position is the least amount of work and even the busiest person could fit it in their schedule. Once a month there is a meeting that usually lasts less than an hour. (Second Monday at 8 PM) If there is an issue before the board (Jet Skis on Little York lake etc) it can run longer. It is rare to have it run two hours. There are occasionally extra meetings called when there is an issue before the board that requires public comment such as a rezone or looking at the year end budget. I'm guessing this happens 3 or 4 times a year. You might also be called upon to drive somewhere in town to look at something which you can do whenever you're out and about. A case came up a few months ago for a request for a streetlight on route 11 and everyone was asked to look at it between meetings. You would also likely get calls from your neighbors asking for help on issues relating to the town such as a streetlight. You would also have some issues to read up on and I've seen members doing this at the meetings. Some take the papers home to read too. Being on the town board can be fun and you can help your neighbors who are not currently being represented. You can also help keep the town out of trouble by speaking up and voting against things that will generate lawsuits. You can also be a supporter of good by pushing for issues that help all of the people of Preble rather than a select few.

We need a more diverse group on the town board that represents all of the people. Right now only one segment of our diverse town is represented and that has been the basis for all the problems in the past. You CAN make a difference, you CAN find the time and you SHOULD run for office.

Irish take lead with plastic bag levy

"Environment blight nearly eradicated by charge on shoppers
By Sean Federico-O'Murchu MSNBC

DINGLE, Ireland, Aug. 4 - The shopping experience in this picturesque Irish town is not dissimilar to buying groceries in New Jersey or Texas - except at the checkout. Garvey's Supervalu will happily take your euros or your credit card, but the staff won't offer any shopping bags unless you are willing to pay for them."

THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER?

Hot humid muggy, kids swimming in the lake, boaters boating, water skiers skiing. At least the grass isn't growing as fast and I can delay mowing for another week.

Sometime this month a notice will appear ten days before the caucus's. It is likely the Democrat and Republican caucuses will be on different days. Usually the dems go first but that isn't certain. If there is a lot of interest there will be about 110 Republicans and somewhat fewer Democrats at their respective caucuses. The list of people who go is public record so you should be able to get it from the BOE. It would seem that all you need to do is show up, have a friend nominate you and another second it and if half of the people plus one like you you're in. The trick is getting that half plus one. If you're not a GOB that could be a problem. Here are some stats you might find useful. There are about 900 registered voters, only 450 to 600 vote. There are about 225 Republicans and 110 Democrats that vote the party line which is an advantage for the reps. In the past the GOBs used the technique of cross endorsing. This is how Peter Knapp got in. He was on both the dem and rep line but got the fewest votes as a rep of any candidate but because he was also on the dem line he got in. Do the math and you see a cross endorsed candidate gets 300 plus votes without doing anything. And that makes it impossible to beat a cross endorsed candidate.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING HONEST

What bothers me about cross endorsing is that it steals the rights of voters to have any choice on election day. Sure you could do a write in but it wouldn't work. My opinion is that if there is a candidate of your party at the caucus, that candidate should get the nomination and let the voters make the final decision on election day. When a legitimate candidate is beaten at the caucus by the GOBs they are, in my mind, stealing the rights of the voters by making their vote meaningless. It is just plain wrong and not what any true American should do. If you go to the caucus and there are two candidates for a position, one from your party and one from the other then it is wrong for you to vote for the one from the other party. It may be legal and the way it has always been done in the past but it isn't right and you should be ashamed of yourself if you participate in that scam. Let your friends and neighbors decide with their vote, be honest and honorable and don't take their vote away from them. Be a good citizen, make sure every vote counts.