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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Lynda wrote:
> 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.

OK


> 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.

Ah! <Bev slaps forehead>  I get it now.  Okay...that sheds some light.
I hope Marie will clarify if this isn't the reason.  When I worked at
the PD, I suppose I, too, was a taxpayer funded employee.  I never
thought of us as a drain.  In fact, most of us could have made more
money in private service/corporations, but it was a sense of duty, a
love of the job, that made up for the pay.  For me, I felt a sense of
obligation.  I said earlier that I had not used public health services,
but I suppose I have.  When the kid was little and first diagnosed with
asthma, we had so many medical bills that we almost lost our house and
were heading for bankruptcy.  The county wrote off 99% of our debt and I
personally felt that I need to serve-to pass it on, so to speak.  At
that time, the cops I worked with risked their lives for $11/hour
(1993)-firefighters started at $15 and EMTs at $12.  I think if people
had known how little cops make for what they do, they would give more of
their income to state and local governments.  BUT, most people are not
like me.  Most people hate cops.  I have blue in my blood, so my bias is
on the side of government employees, state and local in some cases, federal.
> 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!

I don't know, but the generalization doesn't sit well with me.  I think
it would depend on where you are and what 'government' agency you work
for.  Of course, there are slackers everywhere, and unions support
slackers, too...but I think there would be a difference between someone
in public safety, like a firefighter or a 911 operator, and a
transportation worker or Arnold's admin assistant.<g>
> 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.

I'm like you in that regard.  I hate being bored.  I think Bob
generalized, too, and he definitely played on the stereotype.  Lynda I
think many people like me and you just don't fit with the generally slow
beauracratic pace of government work.  People who are type A, classical
busy bodies, generally find more 'active' jobs.  They go off looking for
the challenge, not the paycheck.



> 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!

Yes.  I did pick up on the fact that this game has been played for quite
a while now.  I don't know if the Libertarian powers that be are just
digging up stuff to throw out there to stir the pot or if there really
is a growing successionist movement like some of the extremists(Corsi
and Jones) claim.  I like listening to all sides...the truth is usually
somewhere in the middle.  As you know, I am personally for smaller
federal government, so I am not real happy with the path the country is
taking.  For almost my entire adult life, I just see this huge sprawl of
the Fed, with them amassing more and more power and control and it is a
scary time for me.  The Bush administration pushed me over the edge with
the Patriot Act, but I'm not sure what the alternative should have been.
 Listening to Obama is mesmerizing, and I want to believe him, but he
has already gone back on so much of what he promised.  He touts this
stimulus package like it is the best thing since sliced bread, but I am
not buying the hype.  It looks like pork, It squeals like pork, and it
smells like pork.  He can call it whatever he wants, but I just can't
see how it will put the country back on track, save people's houses, and
make people want to buy a Chevy.<g>  The States will blow the money just
as quickly as AIG did.  They will be back asking for more within a year
of receiving the first check.  Our whole mentality is "give me" and the
chickens haven't come home to roost yet.  I wish I had a better
understanding of all of this.  To me, it all feels so insane, so wrong.
 I see lots of people excited about the stimulus package, but are they
just hopeful and trusting?  Has anyone read it yet?  I don't mind paying
my fair share of taxes if I think it will be used wisely.  I resent my
tax dollars going to federal aid for Octomom and her children, however.
 I've heard that she received a disability settlement and that is how
she paid her fertility doctor.  I'd like to know what her disability is.
 Obviously, she has a few screws loose, but seriously!  Sorry, I suppose
I should have more sympathy and empathy, but I believe in personal
accountability, and she just flies in the face of everything I believe in.

Bev


--
"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