Homestead mailing list

["Lynda" <lurine AT com-pair.net>]

The answer to part of your question is in the link you sent "Specifically, 
they are questioning whether NAFTA and World Trade Organization rules will 
apply to state and city governments receiving stimulus money for local 
infrastructure projects."  If the states tell the Feds to buzz off, then the 
Feds are going to be left playing make-nice with other countries without 
anything to back up their claims.

And, I think Marie's statements give you the answer to her angst.  Bob said 
that taxpayer funded employees are a drain.  Marie is a taxpayer  funded 
employee.  Bob's comment was a generalization and I'm thinking Marie took it 
as a personal attack.

Now, having worked for the Feds and at the county and city level, and having 
collected a pay check from those same taxpayer dollars, I can tell you that 
a great big % of my fellow employees were professional gold bricks!  I 
personally think that the whole paid holidays and sick leave thing are 
ridiculous with the sick leave being massively abused!  Anyone, and I mean 
ANYONE who says otherwise is playing pretend!  Government employees, in 
general, take longer breaks, longer lunch hours, do more personal business 
on the clock and take more items home than private sector employees!

Ya know, I was no model employee and I'm certainly not a whiz kid at what I 
did.  What I am is someone who is easily bored <g>  I need to be busy.  I 
couldn't spend my time wandering the halls or sitting in the break room 
yapping.  In 6 months, I set up a new filing system, completely updated and 
cateloged and set up job specific binders to put in all the city's vehicles. 
Something that had been worked on for FIVE YEARS and gotten no where!  Three 
employees had been working on it.  Now, do the math on the wages and toss 
that money down the drain!  Five years, three employees!  Something that 
could be and was done in 6 months!  That is typical.  So, Bob is right.

And, the worst of the waste of taxpayers money is in the very projects that 
a big portion of the supposed "stimulous" package is going to fund! 
Davis-Bacon is a farce!

BTW, CA beens doing something of this nature, plus sueing the Feds on and 
off since they became a state <g>  I would say that the tipping point came 
with NAFTA and NCLB and this latest bit is the straw that broke the camel's 
back!

Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "EarthNSky" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>

> Well, I certainly did not expect the responses I've seen on the list
> today.  I had heard about this before, but as you all know, politics
> ain't my thang, so I posted the article hoping to learn something from
> the great Homestead minds<g> since so many of y'all's states were
> listed(CA, MO, AZ, WA, ME, PA, CO, etc. etc.).  I 'figured' you guys
> would explain the thinking on the legislation and what prompted it. It
> is not hard to guess AZ and CA's beef with the border situation being
> what it is, but that is just a guess on my end.  When I followed the
> links in the article, I saw that some of the 'legislation' dated back
> into the 1990's and spanned multiple administrations, so many, if not
> most would have nothing to do with the bailouts, but I am sure that is
> adding fuel to the fire.  I just want you to know that I did not post
> the article as some kind of backhanded slur on the Obama administration.
>  (For that kind of thing, see the P.S<g>)  Alas, I suppose I will have
> to read all of that stuff and research it on my own.
>
> Marie McHarry wrote:
>
> > Oh. Give. Me. A. Break.
> >
> > Most if not all of these states are running severe deficits and are
> > praying that the feds will throw them some dollars.
>
> Probably.  I believe GA falls into that category if I have understood
> the news stories correctly.  My thinking on this is that they are
> probably playing both ends again the middle.  Perhaps GA files the bill
> to protest, basically a follow the leader/cover thy ass/yeah, what he
> said kind of motive, but since our bill was from 1995, things and
> leadership has changed and yeah, everyone wants a handout these days.
> Georgia is apparently no different than the city of Atlanta, Fannie Mae,
> and other fiscally troubled institutions.
>
>
> The Republican
> > governors supported the stimulus because they don't want to see
> > massive layoffs in their states. It's not like we're a poor country.
>
> Again, this whole thing predates the stimulus in most states, so I
> really don't think it is relevant.
>
>
> > Here's a comparison of individual state economies to those of other
> > countries. I think it's the whole tax cutting craze that has hurt
> > many states: hello, states have to collect revenues to spend on
> > public projects (roads, bridges, schools, safety net programs, etc.)
> >
> > http://tinyurl.com/bnnkeh
>
>
> You are making mental jumps that I can't make Marie.  I don't understand
> the connection between a state's economic equivalent and saying that the
> Federal government has overstepped it's responsibility and has tied the
> hands of the states.  I do like the map, however, and was happy that
> GA=Switzerland instead of some third world economy. <g>
> Maybe I am just naive and simple, but we are the _United_ states, with
> states being the noun.  We were states first, and a nation second.It is
> my understanding that when the states decide that the Fed no longer
> represents their interests or has fallen down on their
> responsibility(like protecting the borders), it is a State's right to
> dismantle the Fed and reformulate it.  I thought that was what the
> article was about, and I am missing the association with state's
> economies.
>
>
> And in another post:
>
> > That used to be called taking care of the community. Do you want to
> > live in a gated community with your own rentacops? Or do you want a
> > community with police, fire, roads, public health services, etc?
>
> Neither.  I just want to be left alone.  I can't rely on police or fire
> as it is, and my road almost tore the runners off my truck today-riding
> my bike is freaking dangerous.  I've never used public health services
> as an adult.
>
> > Some days, I think you're a jackass.
>
>
> I feel really dense.  I went back and read and reread Bob's comments and
> your comments.  I don't understand what prompted the above remark.   It
> is not like you to say something like that unwarranted, so if you will,
> please spell out your motive for saying that.  I am blonde, you know. :)
> I kept thinking that maybe there was a post that I was missing, but 12
> hours on, I don't think so.
>
>
> P.S.  This is too funny..
> http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/17/buy.american/index.html
>
> Load the CNN page and step back a bit from the computer to fuzz your
> eyes(or just take off your glasses<g>)  You know that Enzyte commercial
> with Smilin'Bob???  LOL...
> Tell me that Obama doesn't look like Smiling Bob..
> Schwing!  Now, now ladies, snap out of it!!!
>
> B
>
>
> --
> "Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will
> not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius
> will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the
> world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone
> are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve
> the problems of the human race"
>
> ~ Calvin Coolidge
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