by Jack Lee
The phenomena of the American Tea Party movement is growing like a snowball rolling down the mountain. All across this state and the nation meetings are held to organize people into a force equal to the enemy...big government!
In Chico, the meetings that are held at Logan's Road House on Tuesday evening at 7 pm are reaching near maximum room capacity. All the people showing up who typically say they never show up to such things are coming out now and they're mad! They are expressing their discontent and giving patriotic speeches, this is exciting stuff folks! It's democracy at it's best! As a lady sitting next to me said, this must have been what it was like back in the 1700's as the United States was being born. I've heard that sentiment expressed many times and I agree, It is really something to see.
People, we are witnessing something here that is big, really big. Nobody knows exactly how it will all play out, but one thing is certain, this is no flash in the pan movement. It's gone way beyond the old "United We Stand" movement and in half the time!
In Chico, we like to refer to ourselves as a "non-partisan mob" and that is pretty accurate. We pay no dues, we have no officers, we have no regulations, but we DO have an agenda! That agenda is to force our state legislature and our federal government to listen to us! We are not asking, we are telling them - you better stop the horrible waste, fraud and abuse you have committed as our representatives and stop growing government!
We want to counter the unrestrained growth in an incompetent, unresponsive, top heavy government in the only way we know how, by a massive force of numbers! We intend to send the politicians in Sacramento and Washington a real clear message: "Stop it! We're disgusted and angry for being taxed and regulated to death! You stop your crazy spending or we'll stop you! We'll come after you personally and we'll force you out of office. We've got the numbers to do it!
We've had it with being over-taxed and over-regulated! It doesn't matter if you are a republican or a democrat...we see both parties as failing the people. We see you both guilty of spending us into the poor house, and just because one party does it slightly slower than the other it doesn't let them off the hook. Both sides... must stop the wild, irresponsible spending!
The Tea Party movement is about peaceful resistance, but make no mistake...
We would sooner see the death of treasonous politicians who are undermining the Constitution, than to sit by and watch the slow death of a free America.
Want to know more? Click here. But, keep in mind this is just a starter site. There will be improvements. The movement is trying out UTube, Facebook and more. Anywhere we can get a podium is where you will find us!
You all definitely need to get together and work on the message, because if we see much more of this:
"Hunger can be a positive motivator."
-- Missouri State Representative Cynthia Davis, in opposing subsidized school lunches
... well, then, we are all going to know what you REALLY mean when you grouse about excessive government spending.
Big government has been a problem forever.
How come you guys only showed your faces after we elected a Black president?
Libby we can all quote from some dufus, but it does nothing to reflect the real intentions of many millions of Americans that are fed up with government run amuck! Now if you want to get out your broad brush and start painting conservatives the same as this fool, I will do the same and what will that do for us? Nothing...absolutely nothing.
But you never do say what you mean by "government run amok", except every now and then when somebody like Cynthia lets something slip.
Think about ol' Cynthia, right down there in the trenches, confronted with the quandary: hungry school children? or no new tax? Lovely woman. She has lots of company in our very own Leg, too.
If you're bummed about the $750 billion, I don't blame you. I'm not very happy about it either. A person will fantasize about tracking down AIG executives and doing dreadful things to them, but, you know, that description of the probable consequences of implosion was pretty horrifying. We'll have to pay it off, and we will.
And PLEASE don't try and tell us again about the efficacy of the private sector in social service, because we all know that's a crock. We all know that the private sector's rip-snorting inadequacy in this regard is how the government got into the social service business in the first place.
So, what do you mean by government run amok?
"Hunger can be a positive motivator."
Please explain to me where the fallacy lies in that statement?
If more people were forced to chose between starving and working maybe less would be on the dole. Or have you not noticed how "Fat and Lazy" 90 % of America's so called poor are?
Quentin said
How come you guys only showed your faces after we elected a Black president?
Why is it Quentin only comes out of his cage when a black President is attacked?
By the way, did I tell you that Quentin is a proven liar?
This is where Quentin lied about me, while OV and Freepmanchew backed me up with evidence to prove Quentin lies.
Evidence Quentin Lies
But you never do say what you mean by "government run amuck". Sure I do Lib, I say it practically every darn day here. Okay, let me be real specific and this is just one small sampling in just one area of what is wrong with California government and title this "waste, fraud and abuse", now the Fed is another story, it's even worse! But, you wanted some specifics so here you go:
• California is now spending $820 million for contracted-out prison health services. That’s $542 million more than when Schwarzenegger took office – a 300% increase (Appendix B). California spends $1.48 billion overall on the prison healthcare system – an increase of 53% since Schwarzenegger took office.
• “Information that strongly suggests contractors may have engaged in abusive contract practices and that these issues have not been properly and promptly addressed.”
• “Excessive delays in contract processing and procurement of medical equipment and supplies resulted in unnecessary expenditures, compromised services, and raised health and safety concerns…”
• “CDCR initiated action to renegotiate contracts that resulted in the department paying considerably more to the contractor.”
• “Some contractors may have been able to generate significant profits through their contracts with the CDCR with relatively little effort.”
• “The CDCR’s need for outside hospital services increased, as at least two of the department’s four acute-care hospitals are functioning at a fraction of their capacity, resulting in increased costs for contracted services.”
• “Internal controls at State prisons are ineffective in identifying and preventing overpayments and billing abuses.”
It costs $3,850 per year to provide health insurance to the average California worker. CDCR spends $7,000 per inmate per year on healthcare.
Libby, I hope this is this specific enough, but I can give you more if you want? I have more examples, lots more and this is why I say people are absolutely livid with our government! Do you see why the Tea Party movement is gaining so much traction with voters?
Hey, Lib. Sorry to bust your dream, but there are no hungry children in America. People can get free food in every city in the USA. Obesity is our number one health problem, and the cause is simple: too much food. The only people who go to bed hungry in America are women on diets.
Now, as I recall, the DOC was reamed by our courts over the appalling lack of medical services provided to inmates resulting in numerous documented and unwarranted deaths. Now, you want to complain about how Arnold's government addressed the issue, you complain to Arnold's government.
One of the other things that EVERYBODY knows ... is that every government mandate for the last twenty years has been handled as a subsidy to private industry ... which ... in turn ... either DOES NOT provide services, or provides them at extravagantly inflated prices.
You can, rightfully, complain that civil servants, being politically immune from dismissal are disinclined to do their work, but private contractors, with no oversight, behave just the same.
We are screwed, people. But we can be unscrewed ... if we apply ourselves.
*We are screwed, people. But we can be unscrewed ... if we apply ourselves.*
Please explain how we can "apply ourselves" and bring an end government excess, waste and fraud. And while you're at it, please explain how whatever plan you invision will be funded since you find private enterprise and risk such a terrible danger to society.
Libby...we're all ears.
"If more people were forced to chose between starving and working maybe less would be on the dole. Or have you not noticed how "Fat and Lazy" 90 % of America's so called poor are?"
Ah, no changing the subject. We're talking about funding school lunches for little children. And you know what us progressives will repeatedly tell you. If the children of the poor were properly nourished and educated, there is a better chance that they won't grow up to be fat and lazy poor people like their parents. And if you won't pony up, then you don't get to complain about the consequences.
Well, if you want to keep on with this privatization thing, and I don't recommend it, you'll have to pony up for a vast herd of government auditors to make sure that the weasels do what they've been paid to do, and initiate prosecution when they don't. Do you know what it costs to take a corporation to court?
It would have been way, way cheaper way back when to NOT elect Ronald Reagan and just modify the state's civil service rules. But no, you bought that whole "government is the boogieman" spiel ... and here we are ... most of us ... stony broke.
*We all know that the private sector's rip-snorting inadequacy in this regard is how the government got into the social service business in the first place.*
That may be the biggest LIE you have told yet.
How the government "got into the social services business" was through progressive petitioning one little bite at a time...pushing that progressive agenda.
Progressives would rather use their time, energy, and MONEY (George Soros has spent millions) petitioning for government to take control of every aspect of our lives than go out and do the work to construct a business that addresses those problems in their own communities.
Meanwhile those same powerful progressives (think Franklin Raines) scrape millions from the system for themselves ($90 million in Fannie Mae cooked books bonuses)...he got rich off of a taxpayer enabled "social service" (homes loans for those who can't pay) business.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17241-2004Dec21.html
The government-sponsored company has been on the defensive since September, when OFHEO alleged that Fannie had systematically manipulated accounting estimates, ignored accounting requirements it had lobbied unsuccessfully against and operated with weak internal controls that helped obscure the other problems. The report said Fannie Mae delayed booking $200 million of expenses in 1998, which allowed Raines and other top executives to receive millions of dollars in bonuses linked to Fannie's profit. ***
Some corporate governance specialists were stunned by allegations that Fannie engaged in accounting manipulations years after the watershed scandals at Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc. Those debacles inspired tough new legal penalties for accounting manipulations, served a warning to corporate bosses and seemed to bring about a change in the culture of America's boardrooms. *** In the aftermath of Enron's collapse, Raines became a spokesman for the cause of good corporate governance. On behalf of the Business Roundtable, a group of chief executives of many of the nation's largest corporations, Raines led a task force that prescribed best practices for corporate leaders, and he publicly criticized executives who disclaimed responsibility for wrongdoing within their organizations. *** Raines and Fannie Mae "have been so arrogant, not just to shareholders but so arrogant in Washington, that it's kind of a well-deserved comeuppance," said Sarah Teslik, former head of the Council of Institutional Investors.
I guess so...he displayed human arrogance and greed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Raines
In 2006, the OFHEO announced a suit against Raines in order to recover some or all of the $90 million in payments made to Raines based on the overstated earnings [6] initially estimated to be $9 billion but have been announced as 6.3 billion.[7].
Civil charges were filed against Raines and two other former executives by the OFHEO in which the OFHEO sought $110 million in penalties and $115 million in returned bonuses from the three accused.[8] On April 18, 2008, the government announced a settlement with Raines together with J. Timothy Howard, Fannie's former chief financial officer, and Leanne G. Spencer, Fannie's former controller. The three executives agreed to pay fines totaling about $3 million, which will be paid by Fannie's insurance policies. Raines also agreed to donate the proceeds from the sale of $1.8 million of his Fannie stock and to give up stock options. The stock options however have no value. Raines also gave up an estimated $5.3 million of "other benefits" said to be related to his pension and forgone bonuses.[9]
An editorial in The Wall Street Journal called it a "paltry settlement" which allowed Raines and the other two executives to "keep the bulk of their riches." [10] In 2003 alone, Raines's compensation was over $20 million.[11]
Libby it is a fact that faith based social programs do a better job for less money and nobody has his arm twisted in the process.
Also, the rediculous notion that people do illegal bad things only in private corporations is a complete denial of the basic human condition.
Your exageration about what would be needed for oversight is also rediculous.
What is needed is sensable regulation, not regulation designed to totally undermine financial institutions and not regulation that punishes or rewards particular segments of society.
BIG government is the boogieman. BIG government forces participation...I don't get to choose where MY DOLLARS go. It is particularly annoying that people like you see government as "special" and the answer to every social ill, including greed.
"How the government "got into the social services business" was through progressive petitioning one little bite at a time...pushing that progressive agenda."
Indeed. Because we really, really felt that a woman shouldn't have to put her children into an orphanage when the husband ran off. And this was the best that the private sector, i.e., the Catholic Church could come up with. From those Protestants ... diddly.
You wanna deny this, I can't stop you. But it's the truth.
"BIG government is the boogieman. BIG government forces participation...I don't get to choose where MY DOLLARS go."
I'm sorry, Tina, but all this boils down to is: "I don't want to pay taxes."
Tough. Move to Somalia and you won't have to. In Somalia all you need to keep the hoards at bay is a gun ... well, lots of guns. Here, it's social services that keep the hoards at bay. See, I'm not no Pollyanna ... just a somewhat more civilized oppressor than you are.
*Indeed. Because we really, really felt that a woman shouldn't have to put her children into an orphanage when the husband ran off. And this was the best that the private sector, i.e., the Catholic Church could come up with. From those Protestants ... diddly.*
Is that right? Well from the many many many Christian based charities lets look at one of the most prominent:
The Salvation Army began its ministry in the United States in October 1879. Lieutenant Eliza Shirley left England to join her parents who had migrated to America earlier in search of work. She held meetings that were so successful that General William Booth sent Commissioner George Scott Railton and seven women officers to the United States in March 1880 to formalise the effort. Their initial street meeting was held on the dockside at Battery Park in New York City the day they arrived.
In only three years, operations had expanded into California, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Family services, youth services, elderly services and disaster services are among the many programmes offered in local communities throughout the United States, in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Marshall Islands and Guam.
The National Headquarters was incorporated as a religious and charitable corporation in the State of New Jersey in 1982 as ‘The Salvation Army National Corporation’ and is qualified to conduct its affairs in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church.
Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.
Our work
From family tracing to disaster response, The Salvation Army offers a wide variety of services Worldwide.
Below is an overview of what we do. If you would like to find out more about any of the services we offer, please get in contact with the Salvation Army in your Country.
Addiction Dependancy
For those in need, the Salvation Army runs a number of addiction rehabilitation programs. We believe in taking the holistic approach, not just helping the subject to overcome their addiction, but attacking the roots of that addiction.
Health Services
Social Work
The Salvation Army is one of the largest social care providers in the World. There are social programs running in almost every country we operate in.
Emergency Response
From sites of natural and man-made disasters to places of human conflict, the Salvation Army is there to provide compassion and practical support to those in real and sudden need. The Army strives to provide first for the immediate physical needs but beyond that, ministry for the aching heart and the weary soul.
Family Tracing
The Family Tracing Service was officially established in 1885, when it was designated as 'Mrs Booth's Enquiry Bureau'. It has developed to become one of The Salvation Army's most distinctive international services in many territories where it continues to be in operation 120 years on.
The mission of the Family Tracing Service is to restore or sustain family relationships by tracing relatives with whom contact has been lost, either recently or in the distant past.
Its key objectives are:
To relieve the anxiety of enquirers, by assuring them of our concern, and the full support of our service
To trace relatives, in order to advise them of the enquiry
To open a line of communication between enquirer and enquiree
To act as intermediaries until such time as trust is established between the parties
Where appropriate, to seek to resolve the difficulties which brought about the break in the relationship
find out more here:
http://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/www_sa.nsf/vw-dynamic-index/B62A326A0E61A1EA85256E370074C6D6?openDocument
*I'm sorry, Tina, but all this boils down to is: "I don't want to pay taxes."
I have tax returns back to 1966 Libby...your assessment of my motivation is wrong and typical. You have failed to tell us how we can "apply ourselves" to stop government waste, excess, and fraud and so you make a nasty accusation to try to discredit me.
What I don't want to do is see my tax dollars used to keep people in a life of perpetual poverty, to turn out kids that can't read...it happens in poor neighborhoods most often and that is yet another reason those tax dollars shouldn't keep people in perpetual generational poverty. WAKE UP...the welfare giveaway approach to problem solving SOLVES NOTHING. It creates an entitlement mentality that KILLS the human spirit. If YOU can continue to PAY for such a system without getting physically ill there is indeed something wrong with your thinking...if I were you I'd accuse you of being racist since so many of the poor and poorly educated are POC! As Jack recently pointed out they are also having more babies (more out of wedlock babies too) soon that cart of needy folk will be so full they will be impossible to sustain.
It would be smarter to give them lots of incentive to get themselves some training and a good job. It would be wiser to give them incentives to have fewer children and to get and stay married. But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...you would rather defend and stick with the FAILED system we have and just throw more money at it. THAT IS STUPID.
"Its key objectives are: ..."
Everything BUT providing the means to keep an impoverished mother and child together.
We can all read.
"Everything BUT providing the means to keep an impoverished mother and child together."
There have been many programs to help her Libby. Government mismanagement is the cause of this fiasco.
Besides, it isn't really the governments job. How about a husband and father for that child...she didn't find it hatched from an egg in the backyard! How about she stays in school instead of playing around with the guys only to find herself in this predicament? How about she does what a lot of other people with no money, no means of support, no family...not even the language have done...work hard to pull themselves out of their cumstances. They do you know. Too many of the poor women you speak of simply live the life denying themselves and their children a better chance...because the government has given them little incentive to do anything else. The welfare to work program had some success...now it has been, or will be, crushed because democrats refuse to get that you can't make the source of revenue, the private sector, an evil that must be punished and taxed and at the same time sustain BIG government. It isn't a lack of compassion it is a practical reality.
"There have been many programs to help her Libby." Many government programs you mean.
But not the Salvation Army, the organization you proposed to defend my slur on the efficacy of private charity, especially those Protestants.
The Salvation Army is, in fact, all about rehabilitating men, those errant husbands and fathers, whose domestic virtue you tout in defiance of all reason. You gotta admire the SA's tenacity though. Well over a hundred years they've been at it, with precious little success.
The government won't touch that one, because, you see, the vast majority of welfare mothers come off welfare, eventually. Those errant husbands and fathers ... an intractable problem.
"There have been many programs to help her Libby." Many government programs you mean.
No, I meant exactly what I said and I wasn't excluding government programs. which only proves the point that you have very little to complain about regarding help for women...yet you continue to do so.
"The Salvation Army is, in fact, all about rehabilitating men, those errant husbands and fathers, whose domestic virtue you tout in defiance of all reason. You gotta admire the SA's tenacity though. Well over a hundred years they've been at it, with precious little success."
WRONG!
http://www.salvationarmydelaware.org/
EMERGENCY HOUSING RESIDENCE
RENOVATIONS UPDATE
On April 24, 2008, we hosted a "Renovation Celebration", exactly 25 years since the dedication and opening of the shelter in 1983. Many guests, including Wilmington's Mayor James Baker, New Castle County Executive Chris Coons and other community leaders, attended as we announced that the renovations would, at last, begin. Major Philip DeMichael said, "The Salvation Army is continuing to house homeless women with children in temporary accomodations in one of our adjoining buildings and is partnering with the YWCA to house single women. We thank the foundations and corporations who have provided much of the estimated $2.5 million to fund this project."
http://www.uss.salvationarmy.org/uss/www_uss.nsf/vw-dynamic-index/C611E0353AABE94180257367004C6FBE?openDocument
The Salvation Army offers assistance in a viariety of fields; such as Older Adult Ministries, Corrections, Day Care, Education, Emergency Assistance, Food, Housing, Substance Abuse, Youth, among others.
Housing:
Protective Shelter / support for battered women
Group Home - Children Youth
Rental Beds - Low Cost / non- permanent housing
Emergency Shelter care
Transients and Honless Adults
Food:
Food Assistance for Children
Commodity Distribution
Free Food Distribution
Congregate Meals
Education:
Literacy/Remedial Reading
Classes for General education
Certification
English as a secong languages classes
Computer lab from
Beaumont Foundation of America
Substance Abuse:
Adult Rehabilitation Centers
Residencial Program
Substance Abuse Outpatient
TX Dept. of Criminal Justice Residential Program
Corps Salvage Rehabilitation
Center - Work Therapy Program
Corrections:
Halfway House
Misdemeanant Program
Pre-release / Work Release
Transitional Care for Ex-Offenders
State Parolees
TX Dept of Criminal Justice Halfway House
Federal Bureau of Prisions
Youth:
Boys & Girls Club of America
After School Program
Summer Day Camp
Day Care:
Day Care - Children
Day Care - Adult
Older Adult:
Group Meals
Meals on Wheels
Mobile Meals
**
Those errant husbands and fathers ... an intractable problem.
YES...In greater and greater numbers since feminists went on the warpath! The feminist movement failed to acknowledge the value of men, they failed to raise responsible boys that grow up to be resposible men, they painted a very negative portrait of men (what are their boy children to think deep inside other than that their mothers see them as irrelevant at best and something to be reviled at the very least). Go peddle your man hating crap somewhere else, we're all filled up here...at least I am for now. (HT Jack Nicholsen - As Good As It Gets, paraphrased)
"The feminist movement failed to acknowledge the value of men, they failed to raise responsible boys that grow up to be resposible men, they painted a very negative portrait of men (what are their boy children to think deep inside other than that their mothers see them as irrelevant at best and something to be reviled at the very least)."
You keep making these claims with absolutely nothing to back them up.
What evidence do you have that feminists make bad mothers to boys? That is just such an absurd claim to me. It is based on nothing.
Most feminists do not hate men, nor think they are irrelevant. They simply do not want to have to rely on a man for everything, just like most men don't want to have to rely on a woman for everything. Feminism teaches men to have respect for women and men. Like I have said before, I have seen conservatives like Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Sam Schulman, David Klinghoffer and Dennis Prager make far more offensive and demeaning statements about men than most feminists.
Maybe feminists could focus on men a little bit more, but they are a little busy trying to prevent 1 in 4 women from being raped. The entire rest of the world is set up for the primary interest of men. One social movement that focuses on women is not going to make women completely take over. Would you ask Martin Luther King to focus more on white people? No.