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Group: Forum Members
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Here's the scoop:
Allentown had to lay off 39 members of the local Service Employees International Union.
Kevin Anderson, a candidate for Eagle Scout in Allentown, sought a good deed to do in partial fulfillment of that rank's requirements. He chose to clear an 800' "footpath" in a local park and spent over 200 hundred hours performing this community service.
The union got ticked off because he was doing union work for free. So the union files a grievance against the city because, according to their lay-off agreement, "No one except union members may pick up a hoe or shovel, plant a flower or clear a walking path."
Nick Balzano, local union president, was considering filing the grievance.
"We'll be looking into the Cub Scout or Boy Scout who did the trails," Balzano told the council.
Balzano said Saturday he isn't targeting Boy Scouts. But given the city's decision in July to lay off 39 SEIU members, Balzano said "there's to be no volunteers." No one except union members may pick up a hoe or shovel, plant a flower or clear a walking path. (poster's note: :roll: )
"We would hope that the well-intentioned efforts of an Eagle Scout candidate would not be challenged by the union," said Mayor Ed Pawlowski in an e-mail Friday. "This young man is performing a great service to the community. His efforts should be recognized as such."
Read the whole tale of the thoughtless Eagle Scout's selfish desire to self-promote over the poor, suffering union and its local president in Allentown's local paper if you'd like (Caution: Not for the squeamish: Outright altruism is expressed openly).
Yeah Unions are relevant. 
Now that he's president, if you question his tax policies, energy plans or health-care ambitions, you are “hoping he will fail” — and that, with the help of roundabout reasoning, is tantamount to hoping we cannot transcend race. -Jonah Goldberg, 8/20/09
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Group: Forum Members
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| I think the layoffs are a disaster. We are getting ready for a new layoff of teachers.
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Group: Forum Members
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tLIB (11/18/2009)
I think the layoffs are a disaster. We are getting ready for a new layoff of teachers.IMO they should start with the bloated, overstuffed, top-heavy Administration level and then, if needed, start on the teacher ranks and lay off according to performance: The least effective should be the first out the door.
Now that he's president, if you question his tax policies, energy plans or health-care ambitions, you are “hoping he will fail” — and that, with the help of roundabout reasoning, is tantamount to hoping we cannot transcend race. -Jonah Goldberg, 8/20/09
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Don't get me started. I attend the school board meetings. They are going ahead with construction of a new administrative building. Their excuse: This money is taken from a different pot. They can't use that money to improve the schools...
One elementary school afronts a busy street. Police have to park and slow down traffic every day at closing time.
But at least the administrators will have new offices...
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Group: Forum Members
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SO, I wonder (assuming some teachers are eventually laid off) if the union president or local shop steward will sue the boy scouts and the school board if a boy scout decides to go in and erase chalk boards to help out the school.
Now that he's president, if you question his tax policies, energy plans or health-care ambitions, you are “hoping he will fail” — and that, with the help of roundabout reasoning, is tantamount to hoping we cannot transcend race. -Jonah Goldberg, 8/20/09
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That could violate the law. 
Did you see the news today:
About 30 students stormed UCLA’s Campbell Hall and barricaded the doors with chains and bike locks early this morning to protest a student fee increase that is expected to be endorsed by the University of California’s Board of Regents today.
Me-UCfees19 [Updated at 8:39 a.m.: The UC Regents have started to meet, and hundreds of students have surrounded the building, protesting the proposed fee hike.]
Students who spent the night were sprawled outside Campbell Hall in sleeping bags. They carried posters and signs that read, “Don’t take our education away” and “Don’t privatize, democratize.” Many wore bandannas over their faces.
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Group: Forum Members
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This is why I like my Economic Plan. No debt. No taxes.
Here is the problem. In these downturns there is less tax revenue. Now they cut teachers etc.
Conversely, during boom times they hire more teachers etc.
Why not have a fixed budget every year that increases 4 percent for inflation?
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Group: Forum Members
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tLIB (11/19/2009)
This is why I like my Economic Plan. No debt. No taxes.
Here is the problem. In these downturns there is less tax revenue. Now they cut teachers etc.
Conversely, during boom times they hire more teachers etc.
Why not have a fixed budget every year that increases 4 percent for inflation?
WELL, it wouldn't promote innovation on one end (everyone knows they'll get $xxx.00 this year so why try to cut it down: Just spend what you get and keep quiet about it), and it would stifle any kind of competition amongst vendors on the other end (vendors come to know how much you have to spend and tend to tailor their demands on that amount).
It also does not account for any kind of R&D which might be minimal in down years but exorbitant in up-ticks...
Don't get me wrong, I like the idea: It's so easy even an elected representative can figure it out (well, for them, maybe "eventually"). But it's like the "flat tax" idea: There are too many loopholes behind which those who favor the status quo can hide (to mix my metaphors).
Now that he's president, if you question his tax policies, energy plans or health-care ambitions, you are “hoping he will fail” — and that, with the help of roundabout reasoning, is tantamount to hoping we cannot transcend race. -Jonah Goldberg, 8/20/09
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