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Its art, and not just from Kings from England. So what is your point, that 280 grand is a lot of money? That there are a hundred calligraphers in the white house making little money at $2,800 each or two calligraphers making $140,000 each?
Its art, and not just from Kings from England. So what is your point, that 280 grand is a lot of money? That there are a hundred calligraphers in the white house making little money at $2,800 each or two calligraphers making $140,000 each?
I can do/have done calligraphy. Where / how do I sign up?
It used to be quite a craft, but the computerized "calligraphy" options work well to do things like certificates or paper Merit Awards {the name of the recipients}
Used to take some words of the theme of some thing: for example the Poem "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer was worded into the shape of an Oak tree.
{poem goes like this:
"I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree."
and The Pledge Of Allegiance in the shape/color of the flag!
Boy is it fun. Never did make much $$ at it though, but didn't really try hard. It was more of a hobby. Now where is that cushy job in Washington DC??
This isn't a political party thing, they have three on staff making around 90k each. The 280,000 dollar figure is just raw salary. All three get nice government employee benfits including a nice fat pension. The true cost is likely 400k per year when all benefits are considered.
Aren't there computers that could do the job? Just because it is a small line item in the budget doesn't mean we need to keep them on staff.
This isn't a political party thing, they have three on staff making around 90k each. The 280,000 dollar figure is just raw salary. All three get nice government employee benfits including a nice fat pension. The true cost is likely 400k per year when all benefits are considered.
Aren't there computers that could do the job? Just because it is a small line item in the budget doesn't mean we need to keep them on staff.
Undoubtedly there are but then you'd have to hire at least a couple of techies to run/maintain/monitor the program, and techies cost a lot more than artists, so you'd probably end up spending more on hardware, software, and staffing than you are now. The WH doesn't employ enough calligraphers or produce enough documents to benefit from automating the process.
And the best part of this attempted political hack is
Quote:
Thus began "calligraphy-gate," says James Joyner at Outside the Beltway. The scandal is apparently that "the White House employs calligraphers. And pays them money!" It may seem "a little silly that we're paying people good money to do fancy handwriting while threatening to furlough people doing real jobs," but it's worth remembering that "the White House is, after all, home to the head of state of the most powerful nation on earth." Hiring three people to hand-write all the invitations for state dinners and other ceremonial functions is hardly shocking, and it's not like Blair is one of Obama's "Chicago cronies" — she's held her position since at least the Bush administration. As for the salaries:
Presumably, these individuals are members of the U.S. civil service. The White House is subject to the locality pay for the Washington-Baltimore area and pay is standardized. So, that means Blair and [deputy Richard] Muffler are either very senior GS-12s or a junior GS-13s. [Deputy Debra] Brown is likely a mid-level GS-12.... Is that too much to pay people to do fancy handwriting? Maybe. It's more than a lot of learned professionals make, even in the DC area. Then again, one imagines the White House has rather high standards and these three individuals are among the best calligraphers in the country. I haven't a clue what the market is in that industry, but mid-grade civil service pay doesn't strike me as inordinate.
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