"Whether we like it not"

"It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled into them," Obama said. "And that ends up costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure." President Barack Obama April 2010

This man is in control of our military and he has the audacity to say this? "Whether we like or not?" Well, Mr. President you could lay down and stop being the superpower we are if you're not proud of it. Oh, wait, you already have. Giving up our nukes, bowing to other leaders, and disregarding our Constitution.

When did being a proud American become a bad thing?

I am a proud American.

I am proud that we are a superpower in the world.

I am proud of all the men and women who go where they need to go and do what they need to do.

I am proud of the strength, endurance, and wisdom of the American people.

I am proud to be an American.

Department of education

It doesn't make sense that we send our local money to the federal government for them to send it back to us in the form of Title 1 money where they get to tell us how to spend it. The department of education was formed in 1979 have we accomplished anything other than giving up our control of our money?

Federal government should have never been involved in the schooling of our children. That is a state issue.

The state of California needs to grow up and get off the "government is going to take care of me bandwagon". Stand up and show our kids that we know best not some official with a suit.

What would they say today...

“To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas
he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
Thomas Jefferson

What would he say today?

What would they say today...

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety"

taken from: "A Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania,"

What would they say today?

Health care takeover

BREAKING NEWS:

Takeover of health care has begun. It is a sad day in America. A few minor adjustments to the bill they have pushed through and it's done. America will be bankrupt in 4 years. If we last that long. I predicted rioting in the streets weeks ago if this bill passed. I hope and pray we can keep our heads while we figure out how to fix the mess this administration is creating. What is the answer?

STOP! Stop spending our money. It's not yours to spend. We don't need Government to tell us what to do we need government to remember it's job. Federal government is supposed to be for external uses like war, peace, negotiations, and foreign commerce. That is what they are supposed to spend money on. The individual states were supposed to be in control of their own environments so they were put in control of the interior like our welfare, education, and in essence the improvement and prosperity of the state. At this point I hope the states rise up and remind the Federal government that the individual states have rights but I am not holding my breath.

What would they say today...

“How can limited government and fiscal restraint be equated with lack of compassion for the poor? How can a tax break that puts a little more money in the weekly paychecks of working people be seen as an attack on the needy? Since when do we in America believe that our society is made up of two diametrically opposed classes—one rich, one poor—both in a permanent state of conflict and neither able to get ahead except at the expense of the other? Since when do we in America accept this alien and discredited theory of social and class warfare? Since when do we in America endorse the politics of envy and division?”

-Ronald Reagan

What would he say today?

What would they say today...

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
- Thomas Jefferson

What would he say today?

Have to admit......

I'll have to admit that we are in trouble with the budget. If the State of California is not paying it's bills on time how is anything supposed to function on time? I went to the RUSD board meeting last night. What I heard is we are literally in the red and out of money. There was talk of a parcel tax of $100 and how the residents of Riverside would not vote for that. I will have to say something needs to be done but it needs to be done without asking for any form of money from taxpayers. We pay. Let's talk seriously about possibly reforming the whole system from the top down so to speak. I don't pretend to have all the answers but I do know the answer is not more money.

My response:

Anonymous said...

American Angel, Effective educators care about the 'whole child'. Maybe during the 1950's teachers could just teach, but society is different today. Children come to school with a variety of issues; emotional, social, not to mention learning disabilities. You may make the comments that you make because you are only raising YOUR kids, but in my classroom; all of the students are MY kids, so I am teaching a village, which often means being the 'social angel' in an effort to provide the very best, free public education for my students.

March 12, 2010 8:51 PM

Anonymous said...

American Angel,
Last I checked, as a teacher, we don't just "have kids for 7 hours"....we take our kids home with us. Teaching is not just 7 hours with kids that disappear when we step off campus.

March 12, 2010 11:26 PM

It is this thinking that has put us in the situation we are in now. How happy are you that the students you claim to care so much about are now in a class with at least 39 other kids? How are you going to worry about the emotional well-being of 40+ kids in your own class? How are you going to be socially involved with 40+ students? You won't be. More kids will slip through the cracks of education because you have to be social angels.

When "free" education also means "free" psychology visits, "free" bi-lingual education, "free" meals, "free" mentoring, "free" babysitting, and "free" tutoring it is no longer free. It costs!!! As a society we cannot be the crutch to all who feel the need to have one. We are losing good kids, smart kids because this other one "needs" something more. Focus on teaching or go get a job at social services. You can't have both and we can't as a society afford to pay for it anymore.

The path to citizenship

Here is the path to citizenship just as I thought it seems simple. Nevertheless, I disagree with step 1 that if you're born here you're a citizen of America. I feel that the 14th amendment is being misused in this manner. It was put in there for the slaves and unless you are a slave today you should have to go through the same steps as everyone else.

Step 1

Understand that you have three options for becoming a legal citizen of the United States: you were born in the United States; you were born to an American citizen anywhere in the world; or you go through the naturalization process.


Step 2

If you were not born in the United States or born to at least one American parent, you can become a legal United States citizen if you go through the naturalization process. To begin the process, you must first come into America legally.

Step 3

Apply for permanent resident status. Once you are granted a permanent resident card, you are required to remain in the United States for a total of three years if you’re married to an American or five years if you are not married to an American.

Step 4

Once you have been in the United States for the required length of time, you must fill out Form N-400, the Application for Naturalization and pay the required fee.

Step 5

Upon reviewing your application, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will inform you that you need to be fingerprinted and where you should go to get fingerprinted.

Step 6

You will be required to attend an interview with USCIS. Remember, during the interview, it is essential that you are completely honest with the interviewer, even if your answer isn’t flattering to you.

Step 7

You must take a test that illustrates how well you know U.S. history and U.S. government. In addition, you must prove that you can speak basic English unless you meet specific exemption criteria.

Step 8

Once you have taken the civics and English tests, you will be informed whether you have passed or failed. In many instances, you may retake the tests if you have failed.

Step 9

If you’ve passed the civics and English tests, you must take an oath to the United States at an official ceremony. At the ceremony, you will return your permanent resident card and be given a Certificate of Naturalization upon taking the Oath of Allegiance.

Step 10

Congratulations! You are now an American citizen.

Enough is enough

"Anonymous said...

California should allot more than $5,500 per student per year. CA funding is 47th in the Nation. We need to do better than this. We spend $50,000 a year on a prisoner. There is something very wrong with this picture. We need to fund the future."

Here is my response:

California also has the highest number of students. Texas spends about $7358 per student does that sound like enough? That would add about what $10+ billion to the budget. Where do you expect this extra money to come from?

This argument about prisoners is ridiculous the prisoners unfortunately have to be housed 24 hrs a day, be fed 3 times a day, and be given medical care. You have my children for 7 hrs. and I pay for their lunches, school supplies, plus I participate in fundraisers.

We are becoming a society that is dependent on government spending (tax money they collect from society) and that cannot be sustained. There is a tipping point where there are more people with their hands out than people working and keeping their hands busy. We have hit this point and there is simply not enough money.

The money is not making it to the students anyway. More of it would go to the students if we had local control but we gave that up for Sacramento and the feds to run it and for that we are paying.

The lie about California's budget

This rumor about spending less per student than we do on our prisoners is just getting annoying. Let's look at the budget:

K-12 Education
2009-10 budget 35042
2009-10 revised 34554
2010-11 budget 36004
+4.2%

Higher Education
2009-10 budget 10547
2009-10 revised 10566
2010-11 budget 11836
+12%

Corrections and Rehabilitation
2009-10 budget 8210
2009-10 revised 8161
2010-11 budget 7983
-2.2%

Now by the percentages it's astounding. For the 2010-11 budget K-12 education is getting 31.0% while Higher education is going to get 10.6% adding up to 41.6% and Corrections and Rehabilitation is only going to receive 6.8%. With nearly half the budget of California going toward education you would think they could perform better but I guess it goes to show you that you can't just throw money at a problem and expect it to get better.

Rights

Life - It does not require anyone else for me to breathe

Liberty - It does not require anyone else for me to act accordingly to my will

Pursuit of happiness - It does not require anyone else to make me happy

Social Security - Requires a mass of people willing to work and pay into it

Medicare - Again requires a mass of people willing to work and pay into it

Medicaid - Same thing requires people willing to work and pay into it

A right is something that doesn't require action by someone else. Obviously the top three are natural rights being given from God and the bottom three are legal entitlements being given by laws. The legal entitlements in America are creating a society that is dependent on government. When do we say enough is enough? When do we say we cannot support everyone?

From the L.A. Times

1. 40% of all workers in L. A. County ( L. A. County has 10.2 million people)are working for cash and not paying taxes This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card.
2. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
3. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.
4. Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by taxpayers.
5. Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.
7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.
8. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.
9. 21 radio stations in L. A. are Spanish speaking.
10. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3.9 million speak Spanish.
(There are 10.2 million people in L. A. County . )

(All 10 of the above facts were published in the Los Angeles Times)

Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops, but 29% are on welfare. Over 70% of the United States ' annual population growth(and over 90% of California , Florida , and New York ) results from immigration. 29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens .

We are fools for letting this continue.

This land is our land

We had an armed conflict with Mexico from 1846 to 1848 it ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848.

Before we get into this though we should go back a little further. In 1823 a man named Moses Austin was granted a large tract of land with the dream of bringing American families to the land but died. Luckily, his son Stephen Austin was successful and brought 300 families to the land starting a trend of migration. At some point, in 1829 the Mexican government realized there were more Americans than Mexicans. The Mexican government then tried to end slavery and convert all to Roman Catholicism. The American settlers refused which then led the Mexican government to close Texas to immigration. People kept coming. General Santa Anna, in 1834, declared himself dictator and enforced Mexican laws in Texas which led to the American immigrants declaring independence and becoming an independent republic establishing diplomatic ties with Britain, France, and the United States.

This brings us to 1845 when President Tyler of Texas signed a resolution that led to President Polk of the United States signing a law making Texas the 28th state. It was this event that started the war with Mexico and America and ended with the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah and parts of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming being bought for half the amount offered before the hostilities started.

California became the 31st state in September 1850. Today California is one of the most populous states in America and the third largest by area.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR): Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools Into the Red Full Text

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR): Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools Into the Red Full Text

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Found this had to share it. Here is a quote from the article:
"The total K-12 school expenditure for illegal immigrants costs the states nearly $12 billion annually, and when the children born here to illegal aliens are added, the costs more than double to $28.6 billion."

Illegal Aliens

I am tired of this talk about a path to citizenship. There is a path. It may be unbelievable but it's been used for many years now. What you truly want is amnesty. We gave that already and we were told we would never have to do it again. I was young at that time but I remember they promised the border would be closed. Employers were going to be dealt with if they hired illegals. Well, it's been years and years, presidents have come and gone. The border is still open. Employers still hire illegals to avoid paying regular wages. And once again the illegals that have no rights here are screaming for citizenship. When will it be enough? Millions upon millions have come and millions more are waiting to come. We don't have jobs. We don't have money for social support. We don't have unlimited funds for schooling.