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The US town that outsourced everything
Today, Maywood is America's (and possibly the world's) first completely outsourced city. Where other local authorities might privatise their traffic wardens or binmen, Maywood's council has gone the whole hog: sacking everyone from school crossing guards and parking wardens, to street maintenance workers, park wardens, librarians and even the clerical staff in city hall. The number of people it now has on its payroll?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-us-town-that-outsourced-everything-2036929.html
"Those who scream "socialism" want socialism for their profit, and "free markets" for everyone else."
The same people who claim to hate socialistic/humanitarian ideals actually do want these for themselves, but not for others.
Are ants and bees evil because they are socialists?
SB1070: Private Prison Lobbyists are Jan Brewer's Top Advisors
3 minutes into the video on this page http://www.kpho.com/news/24362212/detail.html it shows Jan Brewer fleeing the interview when the reporter asks her about her top advisors and their connection to the private prison industry.
From the report:
"CBS 5 News investigation revealed that there is one business that could profit from the implementation of SB 1070 and similar immigration measures. The private prison industry houses illegal immigrant detainees for the federal government. Those companies could gain contracts with state and local agencies to house illegal immigrants arrested for state violations.
"Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA, holds the federal contract to house detainees in Arizona. The company bills $11 million per month. CBS 5 Investigates learned that two of Brewer’s top advisers have connections to CCA.
"Paul Senseman is the governor’s deputy chief of staff. He is also a former lobbyist for CCA. His wife is listed as a current lobbyist for the company.
"Chuck Coughlin is one of the governor’s policy advisers and her campaign chairman. Coughlin’s company, HighGround Public Affairs Consultants, currently lobbies for CCA."
Surprise, surprise, surprise!
@Jeanie :
Who are "they"?
HI, MD, IL, NJ, WA, MA --
Six NPV (National Popular Vote) states --
should Top-Two states be excluded from NPV?
even if they allow write-in votes --
thank-you for your consideration --
GRATEFULLY EVERYTHING CHANGES --
with so many options
Pipeline Leaks, Over 800,000 Gallons of Oil Spew in Michigan
Published on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 by the Lansing State Journal (Michigan)
Environmental experts say it's too soon to know the full extent of the damage caused by this week's spill of an estimated 819,000 gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River watershed in Calhoun County. However, one thing is clear: The area's environment will feel the effects of the spill for years to come.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/07/28
59 "people" killed in Afghanistan this month? Does this count include citizens?
Thom's rant about how conservatives used to be (Ike) is great and all. Nice to know that at one time the Republicans did have something of a practical ideology. Now all they seem to care about is finding the latest greatest trick to get into power and pump money into the lobbyists bosses, so they get their kickbacks. They figured out that you can't be a criminal if you change the laws to make it legal for them to take bribes in various forms. No they aren't technically criminal, but they are immoral, unprincipled, self centered traitors to the American way.
N
Remember, back in the '30s (think Grapes of Wrath), California tried to stop people from other states (maybe Oaklahoma) from entering the state. The supreme court said they couldn't do that. The Fourth Turning strikes again!
is Gingrich forgetting that many Muslims are native-born Americans?
The attack on the Trade Center was against the Koran. Among other things, the Koran forbids killing the unarmed. Islam accepts the Old and New Testaments as being divinely inspired.
It interprets references in the New Testament that point to Christ being God...differently. It isn't a religion of hate anymore than Christianity is. ...and there are hate-mongers in both that subvert religion to suit their own purposes..
Gene, they also want "socialism" when they get sick or get robbed or want to drink clean water and eat non-tainted food. And they don't want to pay for it.
The "papers please" (or else) schema is nothing less than "prove to me (the state) that you are not committing a crime." There is nothing more dangerous than this concept. A democracy ceases to exist in this context.
If Medicare is "socialized medicine" what's the problem? Those who scream "socialism" want socialism for their profit, and "free markets" for everyone else.
The law in GA, to the best of my understanding, was designed to address loitering. There is a big debate, especially in Atlanta, around the issue of street people. It may just be a political ploy to get to the immigrant issue, but either way, it's hard to keep the human rights piece in front of all the shouting and power-grabbing.
Jan Brewer slashed funding for the poor, the disabled, people on Medicaid, and education in order to balance our budget. Refused to raise any taxes on corporations. Did put out to the people an initiative for a one cent sales tax, 2/3 of which would go to the schools (which we desperately need--our funding for schools is the absolute lowest in the whole country). It passed, thankfully.
(They had to restore the $$ for the federal CHIP program (healthcare for kids) or they'd lose the whole federal match [billions]. They knew this but acted only after it was publicized.)
When she slashed the budget, she said, "This is a good day for Arizona."
This is what a "compassionate conservative" does.
I wonder how come there's no money for a social safety net, but there is money to go to court for things like SB1070. And to fight the huge lawsuits that Sherrif Joe causes because of his people's brutality.
@sugarchai, I checked out tgat link. It seems to me that technically you don't have to legally carry an ID, there is no law against it, however if you're detained by the police "for reasonable suspicion" (which generally can mean any damn thing they want), if you don't have an ID, they can detain you until somehow your identity can be verified.
So if you don't have an ID on you if stopped, you aren't in violation of any law, and there doesn't seem to be any specific penalty except "detainment" (which seems to be a penalty by default to me). That and I'm sure police records will record that you were questioned, detained.... then arrested for assaulting an officer with foul language. ;-)
N
For an in depth presentation of how CCA, the insidious for profit prison industry juggernaut, operates - their abominable history, their government and private accomplices, the way they furtively find their way into the heart of town, maybe yours, in the midst unsuspecting townspeople - have a long look at www.pahrumplife.org. Also many links such as the Phoenix TV KPHO video, on the first page, abound here.
Callers on our local station (that carries this show) talk about things like police raiding a fast food place and, upon hearing a Spanish conversation, demanding to see ID and citizenship. People who do nothing wrong but need to prove citizenship. There's too many of these stories that somehow don't get into our paper (or if they do, they're buried deeply).
Our local Channel 5 did an investigation and tried to corner our governor Jan Brewer about the ties her close staff has with a rich private prison company, Corrections Corporation of America. Channel 5 says they would gain tremendously if SB1070 is allowed to go thru as is currently written. CCA says they had nothing to do with this law being passed and "currently" doesn't have a contract to house detainees.
"Paul Senseman is the governor’s deputy chief of staff. He is also a former lobbyist for CCA. His wife is listed as a current lobbyist for the company. Chuck Coughlin is one of the governor’s policy advisers and her campaign chairman. Coughlin’s company, HighGround Public Affairs Consultants, currently lobbies for CCA."
There's a video that I listened to on the afternoon show that was hysterical--Jan Brewer refusing to answer anything and running away when asked about the CCA. But I can't get the video to work now. A conspiracy!!!!
http://www.kpho.com/iteam/24362212/detail.html
Perhaps the caller is wrong about having to carry ID, but I thought there were legal issues if you didn't carry ID with you. I don't like it, and it would be nice if I have been misinformed. Does anyone out there know if there are such laws? Federally or individual states (say California for instance). I confess I never looked up the penal code, I just took the information at face value at the time and never really questioned it until now.
N
google jan brewer private prison conflict lobbyist
@ Maxrot - Check out the link I posted.
@Gene lol- morons in power much worse than regular morons---
Whoah, Thom. Don't jump to conclusions about laws in GA--or anywhere else for that matter. I live in GA, too, and my understanding is that if you are stopped and don't have identification, you may be detained until you can produce something or someone who can identify you. Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_and_identify_statutes#States_with_.E2.80.9Cstop-and-identify.E2.80.9D_statutes.