PAUL GEORGES HOLDS THE CITY OF LOWELL PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM HOSTAGE LIKE A CHEAP HOODLUM HOLDING UP A BANK SURROUNDED BY POLICE. NEGOTIATING A SURRENDER ONLY UNDER HIS TERMS THREATENING TO SHOOT INNOCENTS, (in this case the Media Specialist and young teachers and others that the School Committee will have to cut if the Union doesn’t make concessions.) HE WILL NOT GIVE UP UNTIL the 11th hour and TO HELL WITH DECENCY, COOPERATION AND WORKING TOGETHER.

Once again PT Barnum is proven right, there is a Sucker Born every minute and today courtesy of Paul Georges and the Teachers Union it was myself and all of us in the City that read and believed what the Sun published TODAY.

My name is Gerry and for believing Paul Georges I AM AN IDIOT!

In the Sun Today we read: Union President Paul Georges said members voted to make orientation day, the first day of school for teachers, an unpaid day this year. That move should save $400,000 to $450,000 he said. Orientation day comes a day before students arrive.

The union also voted to implement an “aggressive education program” aimed at getting more teachers and paraprofessionals educated about the three health-insurance plans the city offers.

But at the School Committee meeting which began at 7:00 instead of 6:00 Paul Georges was No where to be found, no formal announcements and a growing sense of frustration from committee members especially John Leahy and Jim Leary who looked ready to rip someone apart but kept their cool and composure.

Georges is apparently holding something back,not agreeing to anything until the last possible moment and to hell (again) with anyone except the Teachers Union. He seems to want to wait until the actual numbers from the State come through and to see how many people change their Health Care before they give up anything.

The Public doesn’t know what is going on and no one outside of King Paul and the School Committee will know because George is using the Shield of Collective Bargaining to play his hostage game and frustrate the School Committee.

I’ll offer Paul Georges this space to justify to all the parents, young teacher’s and city residence his selfish and arrogant stance but like others who I have offered this space to don’t hold your breath.

King Paul doesn’t give a care about anyone but his Union and Union members and to hell with a first year teacher or media specialist it’s all about seniority and what the older members DON’T want to give up.

My Friend keeps saying “We have every intention of doing our part. We’re waiting to see what the State and the City are going to do”

What she and Paul Georges failed to tell us is that they will wait and wait and wait and make life for young teachers, media specialist and the Lowell School Committee as trying, nerve-racking and uncomfortable has possible for has long as possible just to show them all who the real boss is. He is in control and only until he is ready will the School Dept.and the School Committee be able to set a real budget.

Very busy but wanted to recognize that the Lowell School teachers Union is stepping up has promised. So far they are letting it be known that they are all taking 1 furlough day and will have more informational workshops to educate their members on the Health Care choices in order to try to save jobs and assist the School Committee and School Dept. as they look at another million dollars in cuts.

Kudo’s to President Paul Georges along with School Committee members Jackie Doherty – John Leahy – Jim Leary who are all working hard and trying to come up with cuts that hurt the least for the students of Lowell.

2 Great Examples of stepping up for the City Schools and the kids are Linda Lee and Bill Manolopoulos are retiring at the end of the month. But, they will be right back at their desks in the principal’s offices at the Shaughnessy and Pyne Arts schools when school starts again in September.

The veteran educators, both of whom have worked for 38 years in the district, have agreed to stay on in their current positions, working for a fraction of their current salaries.

The Sun has the story here and you can read it and subscribe to the Sun or buy the paper as I do to keep a Local news presence.

Generally I approve comments so they appear in the Item I posted. However this person who is part of the national popular vote movement went to great lengths and posted 5 comments that combined make 2 pretty good stand-alone postings so I have combined the first 2 here and will combine the other 3 in a later post and Thank the Group for their efforts and for sharing their position

The current system of electing the president ensures that the candidates do not reach out to all of the states. Presidential candidates concentrate their attention on a handful of closely divided “battleground” states. In 2008, candidates concentrated over two-thirds of their campaign events and ad money in just six states, and 98% in just 15 states (CO, FL, IN, IA, MI, MN, MO, NV, NH, NM, NC, OH, PA, VA, and WI). Over half (57%) of the events were in just four states (Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and Virginia). In 2004, candidates concentrated over two-thirds of their money and campaign visits in five states; over 80% in nine states; and over 99% of their money in 16 states, and candidates concentrated over two-thirds of their money and campaign visits in five states and over 99% of their money in 16 states.
Two-thirds of the states and people have been merely spectators to the presidential elections.

Candidates have no reason to poll, visit, advertise, organize, campaign, or worry about the voter concerns in states where they are safely ahead or hopelessly behind. The reason for this is the state-by-state winner-take-all rule enacted by 48 states, under which all of a state’s electoral votes are awarded to the candidate who gets the most votes in each separate state. Another shortcoming of the current system is that a candidate can win the Presidency without winning the most popular votes nationwide. This has occurred in one of every 14 presidential elections. In the past six decades, there have been six presidential elections in which a shift of a relatively small number of votes in one or two states would have elected (and, in 2000, did elect) a presidential candidate who lost the popular vote nationwide.

The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).

Every vote, everywhere, would be politically relevant and equal in presidential elections. Candidates would need to care about voters across the nation, not just undecided voters in a handful of swing states.

The bill would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes–that is, enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538). When the bill comes into effect, all the electoral votes from those states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).

The bill uses the power given to each state by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution to change how they award their electoral votes for president. The National Popular Vote bill does not try to abolish the Electoral College, which would need a constitutional amendment, and could be stopped by states with as little as 3% of the U.S. population. Historically, virtually all of the major changes in the method of electing the President (for example, ending the requirement that only men who owned substantial property could vote) have come about without federal constitutional amendments, by state legislative action.

The bill has been endorsed or voted for by 1,922 state legislators (in 50 states) who have sponsored and/or cast recorded votes in favor of the bill. In Gallup polls since 1944, only about 20% of the public has supported the current system of awarding all of a state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in each separate state (with about 70% opposed and about 10% undecided). The recent Washington Post, Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University poll shows 72% support for direct nationwide election of the President. Support for a national popular vote is strong in virtually every state, partisan, and demographic group surveyed in recent polls in closely divided battleground states: Colorado– 68%, Iowa –75%, Michigan– 73%, Missouri– 70%, New Hampshire– 69%, Nevada– 72%, New Mexico– 76%, North Carolina– 74%, Ohio– 70%, Pennsylvania — 78%, Virginia — 74%, and Wisconsin — 71%; in smaller states (3 to 5 electoral votes): Alaska — 70%, DC — 76%, Delaware –75%, Maine — 77%, Nebraska — 74%, New Hampshire –69%, Nevada — 72%, New Mexico — 76%, Rhode Island — 74%, and Vermont — 75%; in Southern and border states: Arkansas –80%, Kentucky — 80%, Mississippi –77%, Missouri — 70%, North Carolina — 74%, and Virginia — 74%; and in other states polled: California — 70%, Connecticut — 74% , Massachusetts — 73%, Minnesota — 75%, New York — 79%, Washington — 77%, and West Virginia- 81%.

The National Popular Vote bill has passed 30 state legislative chambers, in 20 small, medium-small, medium, and large states, including one house in Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Oregon, and both houses in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. The bill has been enacted by Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, and Washington. These five states possess 61 electoral votes — 23% of the 270 necessary to bring the law into effect.