Will government employees do themselves in by being GREEDY?
February 18, 2011
What is going on in Wisconsin will come soon to a neighborhood near you. All governments, city, state and federal, are running out of money. Every night on the news stories of budget deficits abound. This could be a good thing. Bloated salaries and outrageous benefits for public sector workers was easier to overlook when the economy was rosy and the impending disaster “can” was being kicked down the road. But now that everyone is out of money and the economy is in trouble, it is difficult to ignore the elephant in the room. It is time to confront the issues that are sending almost all governments (especially those in blue states) into bankruptcy.
The silver lining? There are more of us in the private sector than there are in the public sector. Believe me, that is not for lack of trying by liberals who continue to expand government programs and bureaus within the bureaus. But what politicians seem to overlook is that no government jobs can exist without some people in the private sector paying taxes to support them. Now is the perfect time to get people who have not been paying attention to start taking notice.
Those of us who make a certain salary are supporting our counter-parts in the government who make more than we do. Government salaries have been shown to be higher than those doing the same job in the private sector. Not only that, but we are responsible for their retirement and healthcare for life. They may participate toward those benefits, but it has been minimal. It is time to join the rest of us and make the sacrifice, government employees.
Back when money was plentiful and the agreements were made, many of us chose to look the other way, even when conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation told us this day would come. The tipping point. Now it’s here and none too soon.
To see the images on television you would think there were a majority of people against the budget cuts than there are for them. But polls show these people, however plentiful they may look in every news story I’ve seen this week, are still in the minority. The Governor was hired to balance the budget and cut waste, and that’s what he’s trying to do.
You know the most appalling thing about this whole protest? Government workers in Wisconsin who are on strike are being PAID even though they are not at work! If I don’t show up, I don’t make a dime, but not so with these people. And there are stories saying many of these protesters are not even from the area and have been bussed in! They even have their students participating! Interviews show that most of the youngsters don’t really know why they are there. It’s probably just another day out of school for them. I predict as more states tackle these same issues, the numbers of protesters will dwindle as “immigrants” go back to their home states to carry on with the protests. After all, this is not an altruistic movement. It is purely selfish.
I was unable to find the numbers, but from what I hear, the Governor is asking for state workers to take a small pay cut plus pay more toward their pensions and health insurance. Even so, it is far less than those of us in the private sector have to pay for such benefits. What I think conservatives should point out is that the Governor’s alternative is to lay off as many as 5,000 state workers who would then get NO salary. I bet that would thin the herd in the Wisconsin Capitol and possibly get them to start fighting amongst themselves. After all, those hired last will be the first to go. Wouldn’t you think that all of them taking just a little less to keep 100% of the work force would be the fair thing to do? After all, that is what they always ask from people in the private sector.
Bay Area Patriots sent out an e-mail with a couple of action items that are worthwhile. One of them was to post a “Like” on a Facebook web page called “Stand With Wisconsin” which can be found here. The other was to send an encouraging e-mail to Governor Walker. I did both of these things in just a couple of minutes.
Regardless of the negative spin the news outlets are trying to put on this, this is a continuation of the Tea Party effect. If elected officials don’t step up and do the right thing for voters who are paying the tab, it will be another blood bath in the 2012 elections for those who oppose REAL CHANGE.
Mick Orton
API Talks about Higher Energy Prices
January 24, 2011
Editor’s note: Does anyone wonder why energy prices are going up? If they were factored into the infation number…
APR – I’m sending you some new materials about the various EPA proposals that have been making headlines recently.
First, here is a video that provides an overview of three of EPA’s proposals, including the ozone standard, the E15 fuel blend, and the greenhouse gas regulations.
Second, we have an updated briefing paper that outlines our concerns with these proposals. For example, under the EPA’s proposed ozone standards, even Yellowstone National Park would be out of attainment.
And finally, check out the OMB Watch graph in my blog post about last month’s EPA-themed blogger conference call. It shows that, in the first 18 months of the second Bush administration, the EPA proposed 16 significant regulations with an annual economic impact of $100 million or more. In the first 18 months of the current administration, EPA has proposed 42 significant regulations.
Jane Van Ryan
API
The Democrat Project
December 18, 2010
Has anyone else heard about this? With all the harping that Democrats have been doing about tax cuts for the rich, they have actually decided to take matters into their own hands. It’s called the Democrat Project.
I didn’t believe it myself, but this comes from a reliable source. Rich liberals like Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Ted Turner along with a host of the richest Democrat politicians including Nancy Pelosi, Jane Harmon, John Kerry and Al Gore have found the true meaning of Christmas and are banding together to give away money in San Francisco. They were all so upset that the tax rates remained in place for themselves, that they decided to go ahead and give it back to the people who really need it. How admirable is that?
You heard it here first. Although the date hasn’t been announced yet, these humanitarians are planning to give away $100,000 a person to the poorest San Francisco street dwellers in order to help make their lives better this Christmas. I am told it was supposed to be a secret so that what happened in Detroit didn’t happen in the City. But now the cat is out of the bag.
I am here to tell you I am really impressed by this gesture.
The challenge, I’m told, comes in how to choose who gets the money. Several ideas have been proposed at a secret meeting in the Pacific Heights home of a wealthy Democrat supporter who asked to remain nameless.
“We Democrats have long talked about helping the poor; now it is time to put our money where our mouths are,“ he said. “But then we thought about how were we going to start? With all the needy people in San Francisco we had to decide how to go about selecting the beneficiaries of our generosity.”
Right now the plan is to have people call a toll free number and register for their opportunity to receive the gift. Since the total amount of the pool has not been announced, we’re not sure how many people will actually end up being recipients. But what a great idea.
UPDATE: After careful thought, Democrats decided to hire union officials to disperse the money. After negotiations were settled, after salary, pensions and health care benefits to workers, there wash’t enough left to give away, so the idea has been shelved for now. Better luck next Christmas!
- FedUpEditor
Reaction to Mehserle sentencing mixed in Vallejo
November 6, 2010
Mixed reactions in Vallejo greeted a Los Angeles judge’s controversial decision to sentence a former BART officer to two years for the shooting death of an Oakland man.
For some members of Vallejo’s African-American community, the sentence was just the latest example of another white man, Johannes Mehserle, getting away with killing a black man, Oscar Grant III.
Yet for others, while voicing regret over the tragedy, justice was served for a man who made a fatal mistake in a case that has polarized the Oakland community and the Bay Area.
Former BART police officer Mehserle was sentenced Friday to two years in prison with credit for 292 days of time served for the shooting death of Grant.
“If you reverse the roles, without question, it’s almost automatic for African-American men — especially if he had killed a cop — his life would automatically be taken,” said Anthony Summers, pastor of Impact Bible Ministries in Vallejo’s Country Club Crest neighborhood.
But for others, like former Vallejo police officer Burky Worel, justice was fairly meted out.
“It went through the process, and the judicial system worked, like it always does,” said Worel, former head of the Vallejo Police Officers Association.
Race was not an issue in the case, argued Matthe Abinante, a student at Touro University whose father was killed in the line of duty while working as a deputy for the Colusa County Sheriff’s Department.
“We’re trying to move
past (race). … The juries are made to be representative of the public, and I don’t think race had anything to do with this,” said Abinante, who is white.
Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter with a gun enhancement in July, making him eligible for up to 14 years in prison.The Los Angeles trial judge dismissed the gun enhancement on Friday, lowering the maximum prison sentence to four years. The judge ultimately gave him two years with time served.”I’m disturbed about that,” said Lydia Pitchford, an African-American.
Pitchford, a former Vallejo Police Department chaplain, said it was disconcerting to know Mehserle would get off relatively lightly for killing someone.Pitchford said her son served five years in prison for a domestic violence charge in which no one died.Abinante expressed regret that Grant died, but defended law enforcement officers as men and women willing to put their lives on the line on a daily basis for public safety.
No one could know what Mehserle was thinking and whether he thought Grant was reaching for a gun during the 2009 New Years Day incident.”I’m really upset thatMr. Grant lost his life — for me, that’s a tragedy. But it’s even more tragic for (Mehserle’s) family that he has to go to jail for two years. … I think he was trying to do his job, and we don’t know what exactly went down.” Abinante said.
Both Pitchford and Summers expressed hope that the sentence would not lead to a repeat of the violent disturbances that tore through downtown Oakland in July after the involuntary manslaughter verdict was announced.
The Oakland Police Department has summoned mutual aid from other agencies, though none from Solano County were contacted to be among the primary responders Friday night, said Lt. Gary Faulkner of the Solano County Sheriff’s Office.
Frank Jackson, president of the Vallejo chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said police officers get out of line in the Bay Area all the time.Summers agreed.”It’s frustrating, seeing the repetition of how law enforcement has a tendency to be able to get away with major mistakes like that,” said Summers, who added there was no equity between taking a man’s life and the two-year sentence.
Read the entire article and opinions here.
Do the Math – and Vote for Jim Judd!
September 21, 2010
At the 6th CD Candidates’ Forum last night in Santa Rosa, Lynn Woolsey invited the audience to view her service from the perspective of a family with a child born when she took office 18 years ago. One of Congresswoman Woolsey’s first acts was to provide the deciding vote to impose Bill Clinton’s 4.3 cents a gallon tax on gasoline, to be used for non-transportation purposes. It took only two years after this tax increase for the voters to turn control of Congress over to Republicans, but President Clinton used the threat of a veto to keep this diversion of transportation funds in effect for two years after that. A typical commuter who drove a high-mileage car spent about 1 hour per day at 30 miles per hour, for the four years that this 4.3 cents per gallon was not available for transportation uses. This diversion amounts to about five gallons per week, for 200 weeks, 2/3 of the $30,000 annual salary for the median hourly worker).
After Democrats regained control of Congress (and Lynn Woolsey helped to elect Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House
Lynn Woolsey is enamored with the idea of putting everyone on Medicare.
Try to remember what you hoped eighteen years ago the world would be like now for your newborn child, grandchild or relative. Imagine what two more years in the same direction would be like, and join me in voting for Jim Judd, to provide a fresh approach in Washington.
Mike Halliwell
Cotati (2008 6th CD GOP nominee)
API Sponsors Job Rallies – Where are our Politicians?
September 3, 2010
Have you heard about the series of rallies being sponsored by API this month? The goal is to provide forums where interested citizens can voice their concerns about the economy, jobs, and ill-conceived energy proposals.
The first three rallies occurred yesterday in Texas and the turnout was truly incredible – more than 5,500 people attended.
While no rallies are currently planned for California, I wanted to share the following video recap highlighting the day’s events. With 15 million workers in unemployment lines, family budgets under pressure, and higher taxes looming on the horizon, I don’t need to tell you that these folks have enough to worry about, without adding even fewer jobs and higher energy prices to the list.
If you’re interested, more information about the rallies can be found at rallyforjobs.org, and, as always, let me know if you have any questions.
Jane Van Ryan
Senior Manager, Communications
E: vanryanj@api.org
Ethanol 15 – Coming soon to a neighborhood near you!
September 2, 2010
As you know, most of the gasoline consumed in the United States today contains up to 10 percent ethanol. Recently, however, the EPA has begun considering approving blends of up to 15 percent ethanol for public consumption as early as September, despite the fact that scientific reviews of E15’s impact on vehicle engines won’t be completed until 2011.
Needless to say, rushing to permit E15 could be a mistake. Higher-level ethanol blends like E15 could threaten vehicle performance and safety, void manufacturers’ warranties and confuse consumers. And it could cause air quality problems in California.
If you’re interested, here are some materials. First, a broad coalition of business, consumer and environmental groups, including API, recently wrote to the EPA to express their concerns.
I also recorded a podcast featuring Al Jessel, co-chair of the Coordinating Research Council (which is researching ethanol blends), discussing the EPA’s plan. Finally, I wanted to share an API briefing paper on the issue.
Jane Van Ryan
Senior Manager, Communications
E: vanryanj@api.org
Rep. Lynn Woolsey [clueless]: Fighting Childhood Obesity at School
July 2, 2010
Note: We are going to add comments in the body of the blog article to refute what she is saying. – Editor
It’s been 30 years since the regulations limiting junk food sales in schools were updated, despite big changes in nutrition science. Today, 23 million children and adolescents are obese or overweight. Obesity rates for children between 6 and 11 years old have more than tripled over the last 40 years. [Note: so has this ban helped? NO! Liberals think that by limiting something they can change people's behavior, but obesity is on the RISE! Take a look in the mirror, Lynn. You're getting up there yourself!]
Throughout their lives, these children are at greater risk for heart disease, Type 2 Diabetes, stroke, cancer, and social and psychological problems. One of the most important ways to help fight this epidemic is to ensure that higher quality, more nutritious foods are sold throughout the day in our schools. [Note: This will not solve the problem. What it will take is a change in mindset!]
This is why I have introduced H.R. 1324, the Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act, which requires that all foods sold in schools throughout the entire school day are based on the most current nutrition science. [Note: More nanny state government bureaucracy! We're too stupid to think for ourselves!]
This bill has 170 cosponsors and has been endorsed by over 90 public health, school, food and beverage industry, and nutrition groups, including the American Beverage Association, General Mills, and the American Heart Association. I am pleased that this language has been included in Chairman George Miller’s (D-CA) H.R. 5504, the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act. [Note: And if everyone said it was a good idea to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge, would you do it, Lynn? (Please say yes!}]
This provision does not affect school parties or foods sold during sporting events or band concerts in which parents are present. It only regulates foods sold in schools, and allows USDA to exempt foods sold as part of fundraisers. It’s also important to realize that schools that are switching to selling healthier foods and are not losing revenue.
Studies by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Center for Weight and Health at U.C. Berkeley found that the majority of schools switching to healthier foods in their vending machines and a la carte lines actually increased their total revenues.
In other words, it is a win-win situation for schools—healthier students and a healthier bottom line as well.
[Note: This is a lose-lose for our schools since kids will now go off campus to the 7/11 or Safeway to buy their junk, leaving less time for studies. Lynne Woolsey, you are a loser! Resign now and let the grown ups run the government!]
Lynn Woolsey’s Arrogance Shows Again
June 21, 2010
Hey, Lynn! The Marin taxpayers own half the Golden Gate Bridge if anyone does. Our tolls keep it open! – FedUpEditor
I am Lynn Woolsey, congresswoman from Marin and Sonoma Counties in California, which means that I own half of the Golden Gate Bridge, so that makes me perfectly situated to talk about poor people, right? No, but I am perfectly prepared because I was one, a person in need of a lot of the discussion that you have in your volume that I am going to participate in and I was honored to be able to contribute to the volume about how culture shapes the way people in poverty live. I mean, we have to think about that, don’t we? What a concept. Values, norms, beliefs play very important roles in the way people meet the challenges of poverty, and as one of the essays in your volume illustrates, they also play important roles in shaping how lawmakers choose to address poverty issues. And it is a shame, a lot of people that make these decisions around here have never lived through anything but a really comfortable, easy life. But you know what? There are also a lot of members, even though they have not, that they get the picture. Our speaker [Nancy Pelosi] is one; I mean, she has had a very nice life. She understands and she cares very much about people who have less. So you do not have to have lived the life that I went through with my children at one point when we were on welfare to really get the picture. But, unfortunately, too many don’t and you can see it when all of a sudden the light goes on because they have got a grandchild with a disease, diabetes let us say, or something that they are facing – oh my goodness, this does happen. I am going on about my colleagues, but it is very important that even if they have not lived through something that you help them see and this volume that I participated in I hope they will read. The lesson I take from all of this is that those of us in Congress must constantly re-examine the way we frame problems on Capitol Hill. We have to see if we are keeping up with the changing reality on the ground.
In my commentary, I examined one area where lawmakers’ thinking and legislating has not kept pace at all, and that is the relationship between work and family. We are just starting to talk about that now, but it has been clear for many years now that the typical American family has changed. We used to be a nation of predominantly nuclear families, complete with one breadwinner, usually the male, and one at-home, full-time parent, 99.9 percent the female, home with the children, after school, what a nice way to live, Ozzie and Harriet. For the first time in history now women make up one-half of the workforce. Today four in five families with children still at home do not consist of the traditional male worker and the female homemaker. In addition, nearly four in ten mothers are primary breadwinners – primary breadwinners – for their families, while nearly two-thirds are breadwinners or co-breadwinners, bringing home at least a quarter of their family’s earnings. While there is a growing cultural awareness of this change, the laws governing work-life balance have not kept up. In fact, our country, the wealthiest country on this globe, ranks at the bottom of industrialized nations when it comes to such issues as paid sick and maternal and paternal leave, access to affordable childcare, policies that promote flexible workplaces. Lawmakers have been slow to recognize that the traditional distinctions between home and work and between sole breadwinner and stay-at-home mom have collapsed. The worlds of work and home have become interdependent and our legislation needs to reflect this. I mean, we have a society-and we are very responsible for that as legislators-we have a society where if a child is lucky enough to have two parents, both of those parents are in the workforce, not always but usually, and if the child has one parent, that parent certainly is in the workforce. So we need steps to integrate our laws in a more holistic way of seeing the relationship between family and work. Most notably, the Family Medical Leave Act [FMLA] with its provisions for unpaid, protected leave. A bill I have introduced and reintroduced and reintroduced, called The Balancing Act, will carry us much further in the direction we need to go. It is comprehensive legislation, it is a package that includes bills introduced by other members of Congress; it is an omnibus bill, it is huge. And when I talk in front of Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs I watch the women business people at it, I watch the older businessmen – this is a surprise – who have daughters and in the workforce now-get it, and then there is the group in between who say, “Well, Congresswoman, this is all very nice but we cannot afford it,” and all I say is we cannot afford not to do this. Figure it out. The Balancing Act would provide paid family medical leave for workers to care for family members – so that they can bond with new children at the birth, and then not just the mother, the father too – or for recovering from an illness or helping a parent, there is this sandwich generation, I am looking around at you, a lot of you in this room are going to be taking care of your parents as well as taking care of children. So we would expand FMLA to cover more workers, to provide leave for children’s extracurricular activities, to allow workers time to cope with the effects of domestic violence. I mean right now, domestic violence – you do not get paid time off or you do not get protected if you have to take time off from your job. So the package also provides grants to build childcare centers and for schools to offer hot breakfasts, as well as to expand before- and after-school activities, and for voluntary universal preschool – so you can see it is huge. It has provisions to give part-time workers benefits – what a concept – and the bill would also encourage employers to allow their employees to telecommute and it supports flexible work schedules. There are other bills that recognize the new reality for American families, including efforts to permit employees to request flexible hours, expand the Family Medical Leave Act to cover domestic partners, and allow breast-feeding in the workplace. The fact that these bills have been introduced shows that more and more lawmakers are recognizing the new reality of the American family. The fact that none of these bills has passed shows that we still have a very, very long way to go. So your efforts here are not wasted on most of us; it will be good I think to make sure that we get that out to all members of the House and the Senate so they cannot pretend like they have not seen it and it will not be the first time they have heard about these issues but maybe they can concentrate on one or two of them. And staff, staff are very important, so make sure that legislative staff know that you have put together this wonderful, wonderful piece of work. So, I thank you all. I do not know if you want questions and answers or for me to just go away, I will do whatever you want.
Editor’s note: Remember, Democrats have been working on poverty since before FDR and have not solved the problem yet. As long as Woolsey thinks she can keep her job talking about solving the problem, she’ll appease everyone. Jim Judd, on the other hand, is a business man who has actually created jobs and wealth in his community of Cotati instead of talking about it. A vote for him will go a long way to putting Woolsey out to pasture where she belongs!
Lynn Woolsey Killing Jobs Again!
June 18, 2010
Editor’s note: This is not about protecting workers. This is about Congress getting its grubby mitts on 1099 employees’ salaries so they can steal the taxes! Don’t fall for this. About the only place employment is growing is contracting because companies can not afford to hire full time. If business is forced to hire them as employees, it will stifle the job creation. Woolsey needs to be removed before she kills all new job growth.
On Thursday, June 17, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on preventing employers from misclassifying employees as independent contractors. The hearing focused on the Employee Misclassification Prevention Act (EMPA), a recently introduced bill intended to reduce instances of worker misclassification through new record-keeping requirements, notice requirements, and the imposition of civil penalties for employer violations.
Chairman Harkin (D-IA) opened the hearing by arguing that independent contractors are not afforded sufficient protections under the labor law, such as those provided by minimum wage standards, overtime requirements, unemployment compensation, workers’ compensation, safety and health laws and antidiscrimination provisions. Harkin asserted that a few “unscrupulous” employers thus make economic challenges “even more difficult for their workers by intentionally misclassifying them as ‘independent contractors’ to gain an advantage over their law-abiding competitors.” Harkin also argued employee misclassification costs federal and state governments “billions of dollars in unpaid revenues.” For example, it deprives governments of the payments that support unemployment and workers’ compensation systems, as employers are only required to make these payments on behalf of employees and not independent contractors. Accordingly, Harkin posited that while employer misclassification laws are currently in place in several states, a federal legislative response is necessary.
Read the entire article here.
