SPEAKING OF FURLOUGHS AND PAY CUTS.........

Our schools in the Hampton Roads area are living through a bit of paranoia this week after our new Governor's announcement of some massive budget cuts in the state, particularly in education. My wife is a state employees who works within a school system here and has relayed to me how stressful the week has been for teachers, administrators, and other school staff members. It led me to wonder, first of all, how many of THESE people are actually responsible for the state's high deficit. I am going to guess barely 0.5%, if that. Yes, it's the state government, who set these past budgets and did the actual spending who gets away, somewhat, scott-free! The same applies, obviously, to our federal government. Have we seen ANY senators or congressman taking pay cuts or unpaid holdays ("furloughs" as they are called)? If there is one, please tell me. These folks are the ones responsible for our government's budget being in the state it is yet we (and especially educators) are the ones who suffer. I think we would all be able to handle this situation in a more positive sense, if we saw our own lawmakers sacrificing as we are. Somehow, I don't feel this is a team effort. Let's hope we don't permanently debilitate our education system with these cuts.