|
Posted: 10 Sep 2012 10:31 PM PDT
Illegal crossing the border into the United States from Mexico is a crime and a demonstrable breach of American sovereignty. If for no other reason than national security and restricting drugs, human trafficking and political agitators, elected officials on both sides of the aisle should be upholding their oath of office to preserve, defend and protect the United States Constitution and the California Constitution rather than aiding and abetting criminal acts.
Individually, people who cross the border to improve their opportunities and to provide for their family need to be accommodated by a rational immigration law – not unlimited and open access to our treasury and infrastructure in ways that disadvantages American citizens and legal immigrants.
Why the California democrats continue to pile tax upon tax, regulation upon regulation, to drive productive Californians and their companies into other states while importing poverty, illiteracy, disease and crime is not beyond comprehension. They are doing it to enlarge the membership of the unions, provide a cheap source of labor and to pander to the special interests who provide them with campaign funding and voter support.
Why the California democrats continue to spend billions of dollars on a train to nowhere is not so incomprehensible … as they are courting the unions and special interests. It doesn’t matter that any sane person can see that this rail project is a boondoggle and is likely to never have any return on investment. Requiring subsidies until it is deemed and eyesore and dismantled in favor of the next spending scheme.
According to Ira Mehlman, Media Director of FAIR (Federation for Immigration Reform), here is what you need to know about the impact of illegal aliens on California’s legal, medical, and social infrastructure …
California By the Numbers
- Total Population: 37,691,912
- Unemployment rate: 10.7%
- Illegal Alien Population: approx. 3,000,000
- Illegal Aliens Eligible for Obama Amnesty: 450,000
- Incarcerated Criminal Aliens: 102,795 (GAO, FY2009)
- Credit Rating: A- (worst in the country)
- Deficit: $15.7 billion
Cost of Illegal Immigration to California Taxpayers
- K-12 Education: $9.2 billion
- Limited English Proficiency Programs: $1.9 billion
- In-State Tuition: $87.9 million
- Justice and Incarceration: $3.2 billion
- Medical: $2.9 billion
- Welfare: $1.6 billion
For those seeking further information, you may wish to read FAIR’s The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on U.S. Taxpayers for further details.
Add it up for yourself … we can no longer afford to support illegal aliens and 30% of the nation’s welfare cases.
Bottom line …
YOU CANNOT TRUST THE CORRUPT DEMOCRATS AND THEIR MEXICAN SOCIALIST FELLOW TRAVELERS TO PULL US OUT OF THE RECESSION AND WE NEED TO TOSS THEM OUT OF OFFICE!!!
-- steve  
|
|
Posted: 10 Sep 2012 02:45 PM PDT
Face it, teachers unions are a socialist manifestation of the democrats. They overwhelmingly support the democrats because they know that they are a corrupt political party with corrupt politicians and can be bought in return for campaign contributions and voter support.
But it is the parents and taxpayers who should be outraged …
- In this time of economic turmoil, when the average citizen is suffering mightily, why should there be a protected class of citizens who can simply demand more and more while delivering less and less? Job security for life that is not linked to competency or performance. Fully-paid medical benefits when most people pony up a significant portion of their insurance costs. Defined benefit pensions that a manipulated to give unearned benefits and which represent an increasing burden on the taxpayers. Unlike the private sector who makes do with defined contribution pensions such as the 401(k).
- Why should there be a protected class of citizens who account for large portions of the budget, but have failed our children time and time again?
- Why should there be a protected class of citizens who allow a 40% dropout rate while telling you that “it’s all about the children.” Especially when the average person can plainly see it is about the wages, benefits and pensions. They are not striking to keep children in school longer, for better textbooks and teaching materials, or better facilities. They are striking because they want more of the taxpayer’s money.
- Why should the people’s representatives work against the best interest of the people, giving in to those who trade political power, campaign funding and voter support for the right to force the taxpayer out of bargaining decisions and into taking the worst possible deals?
- Why should their be public employee’s unions in the first place since they are no more than an organized criminal activity that preys upon “We the People?”
No student is going to regain the little education that they are missing during the strike. And truth-be-told, the teachers are counting on the hooliganism of thousands of out-of-school children or the need for parents to provide babysitters to demand that their political representatives settle quickly – similar to a garbage handlers strike.
Chicago teachers walk picket lines for first time in 25 years
Chicago Teachers Union Contract Talks by the Numbers
- 1987 = last CTU strike, 19 days.
- 350,000 = students affected (50,000 others in charter schools not impacted).
- 30,000 = CTU teachers & educational personnel planning to walk out.
- 144 = CPS strike-contingency schools offering food & activities (8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.).
- 11,000 = CPS athletes whose fall sports could be impacted.
Chicago teachers began walking the picket line for the first time in 25 years Monday morning at the nation’s third largest school system, leaving parents to scramble for alternatives for their children.
Ignorant people, knee-jerk reactions …
Martina Watts, 38, was one of the parents dropping her kids off at Hefferan Elementary in Garfield Park as teachers marched up and down chanting, “What’s disgusting? Union busting!”
Watts said the strike had messed her day up and forced her to stay away from her temporary job as a machinist so that she could pick up her daughter, Trinity, and son, Jayvon, when the school closes early at 12:30 p.m.
“I might be losing my job over this,” she said. “As long as they’re on strike, I can’t work either. I’m not getting paid, either.”
Still, Watts blamed the mayor, not the teachers.
“The teachers are standing up for what they believe in, and I have to respect that,” she said. “I don’t want my children to be taught in classes that are too big or by teachers who aren’t being paid enough.”
Watts said she was going home to get changed, then “I’m coming back to join the teachers on the picket line to show my support,” she said.
“This would never have happened under Mayor Daley,” she added. “He would have got everyone around the table and made a deal that was good for the teachers, the parents and the kids.”
Here is a person who apparently has lost her ability for critical thinking. She is severely impacted financially and she still supports the union. She wants a larger portion of her income to be given to teachers who continue to underperform and turn out poorly educated students. And how can she justify the 40% drop out rate? She doesn’t understand that class size does not always correlate with scholastic performance. The smallest class with an incompetent or mediocre teachers is still an exercise in babysitting. Why isn’t she demanding better teaching in return for better wages?
Why are they getting raises when they should just be pleased to have good-paying jobs in this time of economic uncertainty?
The school board’s last offer included a 3 percent raise the first year and 2 percent raises the next three years — a slight increase from an earlier offer of two percent raises in each of the next four years. The package, which would cost $400 million, keeps increases for experience and credentials with some modifications.
Vitale said the contract amounted to a 16 percent raise over four years for the average teacher when factoring other increases. And the raises could not be rescinded for lack of funds — which is what happened this past school year, angering teachers and helping to set the stage for Monday’s strike.
“This is not a small commitment we’re making at a time when your fiscal situation is really challenged,” Vitale said. A $1 billion deficit awaits the system at the end of this school year, officials have estimated. And thedistrict drained its reserve funds to plug this year’s budget.
This is insanity …
Here we have a financially over-burdened city and a near-bankrupt school system and the unions are demanding more from bought-and-paid-for politicians. Politicians who have no choice other than to raise taxes on everyone lest the drop off the cliff to insolvency and potential bankruptcy.
Like every other enterprise in the economy, there should be salary and benefit cuts to balance budgets. Their should be a down-sizing of staff by weeding out the incompetents and those who are grossly overpaid for their positions. The idea that anybody should pay salary differentials to have a teacher with a masters degree in a second-grade classroom is ludicrous. Ditto for paying coaches the equivalent of physics and mathematics teachers. These are not creative, productive individuals such as those who compete in the private sector. These are people who require a limited scope of knowledge and teach to prepared textbooks. They are, by no means, geniuses who should be rewarded for their stellar contributions to society.
Bottom line …
There is a solution.
- Outlaw public employee unions. (They work against the public interest, add to political corruption, and promote mediocrity over merit.)
- Fire all of the teachers who do not return to the classroom immediately and make them re-qualify for their positions. Losing seniority and converting their pensions to 401(k) plans.
- Reward politicians for making tough calls by re-election; removing those who cave in to extortion from office.
- BREAK UP THE POLITICAL-UNION MACHINE WHICH DOES NOT SERVE THE CITIZENS.
It is time to take the blinders off and treat teachers like any other class of employee. Peg salaries and perks to performance. Do not hire overqualified people for the positions they hold. And certainly discard the myth that “it’s for the children.” It’s about adults, a protected political class, extortion and political corruption. We need to eliminate the public employee unions who do not serve the public, only themselves, their political allies and the union bosses who control, and in some cases, manipulate billion-dollar pension funds. Another form of organized crime in my humble opinion.
-- steve
Reference Links …
Chicago teachers walk picket lines for first time in 25 years - Chicago Sun-Times
|
No comments:
Post a Comment