Online story: "Utah has passed a bill that would make it the only state to allow firing squads for carrying out a death penalty if there is a shortage of execution drugs." -- Now Utah can ask two "last questions": 1 - "Steak, Fish, or Chicken?" and 2 - "Full Metal Jacket or Hollow Point?"

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Online headline: "ISIS video purports to show child killing an alleged Israeli spy" -- Once again.. Islam is not a religion.. it's a political agenda disguised as a religion.

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Target recently announced it was closing all its Canadian stores, and yesterday announced it was laying off 1,700 employees and eliminating another 1,400 currently unfilled positions. That's about 22% of it's work force that want be working soon. Still think a $15.00 per hour minimum wage future is going to reduce poverty?

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Hillewinsky spoke --

CLINTON: "CLINTON: "Others had done it."" -- Not only False, but wanna bet her mother told her at least once that if all your friends jumped off a building, would you do that, too?

CLINTON: "I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email. There is no classified material." -- Not verifiable as it appears lots of dates are missing that communications should be accounted for.

CLINTON: "It had numerous safeguards. It was on property guarded by the Secret Service. And there were no security breaches." -- Fact Checker laughed.. is she talking about "THE" Secret Service that guarded her husband... from her.... ..., and "THE" Secret Service that has been reprimanded for "bad behavior" on Obamageddon trips, or "THE" Secret Service agent she called a liar because of the book he wrote about her and Bill in the White House?

CLINTON: "When I got to work as secretary of state, I opted for convenience to use my personal email account, which was allowed by the State Department, because I thought it would be easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal emails instead of two. Looking back, it would've been better if I'd simply used a second email account and carried a second phone, but at the time, this didn't seem like an issue." -- Fact Checker is ROFLIAO! One device? "Clinton told an event in California's Silicon Valley last month that she has an iPad, a mini-iPad, an iPhone and a BlackBerry. "I'm like two steps short of a hoarder," she said. She suggested she started out in Washington with a BlackBerry but her devices grew in number."

And my favorite---

CLINTON: "I fully complied with every rule I was governed by." -- Good grief.. this is like a Perry Mason show where the dead person's personal masseuse breaks down on the witness stand and confesses to murder.

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Online headline: "Tom Cruise's 10,000-square-foot paradise listed for $59M" -- Hmmm.. he must have had the same no-bid contractor the MCSD uses to build $312.00 a square foot wrestling buildings...

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No one doubts there are "needs" within the MCSD.. unfortunately, the MCSD/MCSB has it's eyes on too many "wants". Slow this freight-train-to-nowhere down.. a "no vote" will allow for proper evaluations and determinations over what the priorities should be, and it can be voted on again next year.. One year is a short time compared to the obvious wastes included in the current SPLOST proposal.

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Question one for any voter should be whether to give an additional $192,000,000.00 to a group that's been in charge while our system while it has suffered a melt-down in both property and education values.

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We are blessed to have former MCSB member Fife Whiteside contributing his experiences .. and frustrations.. of being a voice for children and taxpayers surrounded by too many people who like to squander other people's money. Follow him at https://curmudgeoncommentary.wordpress.com/

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I've been thinking..... maybe we should think BIG about what we give to the MCSD in the way of taxes so there'll be no excuses about what our kids know. I know ..let's give'em $3 BILLION DOLLARS and 10 year span and see what happens. Yeah!.....Oh...wait a minute..that's exactly what we have given the MCSD in tax revenue over the past 10 years, and you see what a Board of elected politicians has given us.

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I will not.. cannot.. let this fact go unmentioned. With all the "needs", such as autism equipped rooms, handicap accesses, Spencer foundation repairs, and text books for our kids, that the MCSD/MCSB says it "needs" to fix..NOW....it has sat on $30,000,000.00 set aside to build an unneeded Fine Arts School in the future. The MCSD/MCSB has literally ignored fixing immediate problems in order to eventually build a "want". Shame on them!

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Online headline: "2 Stabbed, 15 Shot During Chicago's First Warm Weekend" - Spring has sprung, and love, Chicago style, is obviously in the air.

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Online headline: "Obama: I'll Make Case to American People After Iran Deal Is Made" -- Hmm, maybe Iran will finally learn what we have following OObamaCRAP.. Iran will have to sign it before it can read it, and HEBDObama says he will let Iran keep its nuclear program if Iran likes it.

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L-E story: "Work will begin soon on a $1.02 million plaza at the east end of the Frank Martin Memorial Bridge after Columbus Council approved the project on Tuesday. * The cost of the restoration of the bridge was split 80-20 percent with the Georgia Department of Transpor tation. DOT will pay a little more than $800,000 and lo cal taxpayers will pay about $200,000." -- Wait a minute.. that 80% from the GA DOT came out of our pockets to begin with, so WE are paying it all for another of Mayor TomLYINGson's follies.

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L-E headline: "Superintendent: 'There was a lot of misinformation about the SPLOST'" -- Yeah.. supplied by the MCSB and the Superintendent himself!

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From above L-E story: (Superintendent Lewis said) "“I learned that there was a lot of misinformation about the SPLOST that I just assumed people had known because we’ve done the SPLOST in past years,” he said. “Even in the schools, I found several times, maybe because people were new to our district, I found that people were not fully informed or not aware of what the SPLOST could and could not be used for.” * The money collected can be used for only capital projects, such as: school construction, addition or renovation; technology; new buses; furniture, fixtures and equipment. SPLOST money can’t be used for: day-to-day operating expenses; salaries and other personnel expenses; to offset a budget shortage; books and curriculum." -- Good grief.. more misinformation while he explaining misinformation! Here's a quote about what the GA SPLOST law says:

"Capital outlay projects are defined as major projects of a permanent, long-lived nature, such as land and structures. Among the projects explicitly included are road, street, bridges, police cars, fire trucks, ambulances and garbage trucks. Georgia law allows counties and municipalities complete discretion over the types of projects selected for SPLOST funding.[2] * While funds cannot be used for most maintenance, SPLOST law explicitly allows the expenditure of funds for maintenance and repair of roads, streets and bridges.[2]"

The law.. that's the law EXPLICITLY prohibits maintenance to anything but roads, streets and bridges. I cannot see where reroofing or any other building "fixes" are eligible for SPLOST revenues to be used. I cannot see where regrading baseball/softball fields can be considered a road/street/bridge. Neither is rewiring a building or MUSEUM! and this list goes on and on.

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I'm beginning to believe that the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer is a public-private partnership involving the City and MCSD. The L-E seems to turn a blind eye on how public money is spent/wasted on City & School projects

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L-E headline: "Obama urges change for debt-ridden students" -- Hmmm.. hey teachers.. hey administrators.. grab your wallets.. Obamageddon is after them because your salaries are why education costs have soared!

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Did you know that the Superintendent has a $15,000.00 cap he/she can authorize expenditures without any other approval? We're not talking petty cash or "emergency" expenses, either.. Just what tickles his fancy. Between July 24, 2013 and January of this year, Dr Lewis has "approved" some $401,165.83 with his pen. A lot are questionable because they are technical purchases that should be reviewed by the board..such as:

School Specialty, Inc - JayPro Volleyball System (net/poles/winch) - $3,518.03 -- similar systems are available for under $2,000.00

The Prophet Corporation - Jump Rope Rack, Portable with casters - $2,530.07 -- good grief - an actual "rack" for jump ropes.. how many jump ropes are at a school and how many will a modern cardboard box hold like one did when I went to school? - Wait a minute.. I provided my own jump rope!

Rifton Equipment - Chair, Rifton R830 Small Hi-Lo Activity - $2,709.75 -- Google Rifton R830 small chair.. this is basically a indoor use, adult attendant-required childs' wheel chair priced by someone's brother-in-law.

Quill Corporation - Pencil Sharperner, Electric Made For - $3,278.15 -- The MCSD can't provide pencils but spends nearly $3,300.00 on a pencil sharpener?

School Specialty, Inc (again) - Mat, School Specialty 1287274 - $3,955.42 -- That mat (https://store.schoolspecialty.com/OA_HTML/xxssi_ibeSearchResults.jsp?type=search&searchType=productResults&minisite=10206&query=1287274) is a polyethylene (plastic) children's 4'X8' play mat listed onsite at $193.04 (with the 25% discount of unspecified reason..the "standard price is $257.39) - and "we have about 20 of these! Hmmm to boot, that's less than 1 per elementary school.

Sports Imports Inc - Upright, Revolutionarey (sic) carbon upright - $6,122.21 -- your guess is as good as mine

Now, my personal favorite is:

Muscogee Educational Excellence Foundation - Donation From David F. (Lewis.. I assume) - $50.00 -- You know.. this is the liberal attitude.. use other people's money and claim it as a personal donation. Reminds me of Congressman Bishop turning every federal grant he gives into a photo-op of him handing someone else an oversized check and taking the glory for doing so.

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You know.. just the fact that a single person can approve any expenditure of up to $15.000.00 is reason enough to validate a forensic audit of the entire system.