As a incoming funraiser for the Da Valera Memorial Committee for North America, permit me to make some key points about slurs.
1. A columnist for METRO recently wrote that there were “paunchy Polish janitors with exposed butt cracks…” Why would all janitors be Polish or fat? Wouldn’t it be just as nasty to write about kitchen workers who were “short Filipinos with bad teeth?”
Of course it would, and all profiling is horrid. Look at what happened to Skip Gates. To profile him for being African American is just as wrong as laughing at the term “paddy.”
2. Mr. Campbell and a current San Jose City official were making Irish American jokes, and neither have ever been called to task. What some people do in their past continue to manifest themeselves. Campbell attacked Cesar Chavez, who is a great idol for ALL WORKING CLASS people, and the San Jose city official who put down Irish and other working class people now works in Economic Development, and acted to deny an Irish activists some money last year, and was heard muttering the term “paddy” to himself. People who profile Lstinos or Aftican Americans in the course of public business should be FIRED on the spot.
3. California Assembly Member Paul Fong earned international praise, snd rightly so, for seeking an apology for Chinese immigrants who called “Celestials” and “Heathen Chinee” Fong was right, and we seek an apology from the City of San Jose for Campbell’s attack as a city commissioner along with the current economic development staffer for using the words “paddy” Fong is a great man for working for the Chinese, and we seek the same protection, not more, just the same, for Fong has a right to protest.
4. What Kathleen and Christian do not appreciate is the old fashioned Irish boycott. Campbell and other ethnic slur makers, be they against Hispanics, African Americans, Filipinos, or the Irish, deserve what they get.
Until people realize that all ehtnic groups must be respected, professors will continue to arrested for simply entering their own homes, Latinos will still be suspected for not being citizens, and Irish people will continue to be insulted on city time.
I grew up dreamin’
Of bein’ a liberal
Livin’ the Leftie way.
Pursuin’ the dreams
Of my tax and spend heroes
By votin’ our freedoms away.
Dependin’ on agencies, bureaus, and programs
To see after my every need.
Convincin’ myself that society owes me
And I’m not the one with the greed.
My heroes have always been Lefties.
They still are it seems.
Sadly in search of and one step in back of
Their hopeless utopian dreams.
Sadly in search of and one step in back of
Their hopeless utopian dreams.
#1-Helmut Newton,
“All profiling is horrid.” I would agree with you on that statement 100%. Now it is about practicing what you preach. The rest of what you have said is subject to debate, and much of what you’ve said I disagree with.
Having said that, you said, “What Kathleen and Christian do not appreciate is the old fashioned Irish boycott. Campbell and other ethnic slur makers, be they against Hispanics, African Americans, Filipinos, or the Irish, deserve what they get.”
You don’t know Christian or me. Your statement in and of its self is both judgmental and based on personal bias and zero fact. It is the very type of prejudice that you are railing against in your post.
I doubt that you know Pete Campbell either, and until such time that you sit down and speak with HIM and get his side of things, you are guilty of prejudging and condemning him based on rumor or speculation. After all, if you were being cyber bullied every time you wrote a column wouldn’t you want the same fair treatment? Wouldn’t you want people to respect you enough to speak to you and give you an opportunity to, at the very least, know your point of view? I think you would. And if indeed Pete Campbell did do what you are claiming, bashing him at every turn is NOT the way to educate him on his mistake, nor does it win you any points or followers who hate racial/ethnic slurs.
I am Irish and know my culture and history very well. I am proud of it and would take offense to a slur being made against ANY ethnic culture regardless of race. That isn’t the point here though is it? The point is that any columnist that writes on SJI or any other blog deserves a respectful response to the “topic” upon which they wrote.
What they don’t deserve is to be cyber stalked. And that is something our moderator needs to address and handle quickly and professionally. If he continues to allow said attacks then he has lied to us about his duties as a moderator, and owes us an explanation of why he selectively chooses to enforce the rules on some of us and not others. And that Helmut Newton is the “real” issue at hand here for many of us.
Kathleen,
I share your commitment to creating a space for respectful dialogue. But, as I promised, I will continue to moderate with a light touch. Out-and-out attacks will be spiked, but nothing on this thread crosses the line.
Eric,
I respectfully disagree that cyber bulling Pete is not crossing the line. I challenge you to go back to any one of his posts and you will see that almost of all them are from this same chameleon with grudge against Pete.
For me, this is a matter of principle Eric. If you continue to allow this person or people to keep coming on SJI and attack Pete, you are doing a great disservice to not only him but also your readers.
If someone that it was funny and was also ok to refer to lesbian and gay people with slurs, but wrote comments agreeing with Ms. Flynn, it would be ok.
Isn’t it nice?
If someone like Kissinger wrote for the Mercury News, Kathleen would attack any Chilean activist for protesting.
Well, Peter, the guy who attacked the Irish, not once but twice, can get a defense, but we have to smile and thank the nice lady from the manor house for our quarters for our supper, and take Campbell’s insults.
Yet another great festival is underway downtown and the radio-silence is almost deafening…
Thousands of people, and thousands of corporate dollars, are bumping around Market and San Fernando streets this weekend.
Props to AT&T (no, Virginia, not for their customer “service”), Applied Materials and hero-of-the-weekend Cisco for making this one happen! Downtown streets are packed with people enjoying live music; more people than the recent Left Coast Live event, but hey, SJ Jazz has 20 years under their belts, so let’s give LCL some time.
Their Club Crawl is bringing people into downtown eateries and adult-beverage dolling establishments – dare I say – more than Music in the Park.
I suggest it’s time to rethink some of the trite and tried downtown festivals. Let’s start lauding events based on their audiences, not on the amount of cash pulled from Redevelopment and alcohol sales.
Looking at the crowds yesterday and today, they sure look like they’re ripe for the high-rise-condo picking.
The Old Guard is omnipotent: I don’t dare share my name for fear of reprimand – hopefully one day I can reveal my identity *cue evil laugh as I run behind the curtain*.
(And no, there are no financial affiliations between myself and any of the above-mentioned…)
Hmmm. SJI is the world in microcosm. This has been an enlightening look at the liberal mind in action. We have;
-Liberals concerned about off-topic comments.
-Liberals worried about ad hominem “attacks”.
-Liberals with their knickers in a twist over all manner of things that have no direct impact on THEM.
-Liberals upset that not every commenter conforms to their ideals.
And what is the liberal reaction to all these perceived injustices? Naturally it’s to go running to the Government (Eric Johnson in this case) demanding a “solution” that will make this little world more to THEIR liking.
Sounds an awful lot like what goes on in the real world. Never content to deal with the world as it is. Always demanding that Government act to transform the world to THEIR idea of what’s proper.
Why do liberals feel compelled to control every little aspect of what people say, how and when they say it, and what they think?
What skin is it off their nose if some idiot says stupid things about Pete Campbell? Or if a discussion morphs from one topic to another?
Thin-skinned control freaks is what some of you are. Is that ad hominem enough for you?
Blah blah blah. And, I would like to add a few ad hominem blah, blah, blahs for everyone. For all you Irish, Latino, black, Asian, white mutants, blah, blah, blah. To the overly sensitive female, blah, blah, blah. And that applies to any other overly sensitive posters, blah, blah, blah.
Barbara Marshman proved once again, today, that there is no slander she will not print. Her reproduction of the Paul Krugman hate essay on the editorial pages of the Mercury News was a vile, racially-charged waltz through cliché after cliché, all to demean diverse white American men and women.
The Big Lie in her hate propaganda presentation is that the diverse white American peoples are the only demographic group to embrace “racial and cultural fear.” Marshman endorses Krugman’s label of “angry white voter” which is pretty strange given that many of the essays printed by the Mercury News feature angry voters of all hues who express racial and cultural fear…without similar negative labeling.
The principal hate caricature advanced by Marshman and the Mercury News is the evil, depraved, wicked white American peoples who are never recognized as diverse, as Americans, or as having the right to name and label themselves.
No, the Mercury News will kindly condemn, in this instance, “working-class whites,” without giving a voice to that demographic to defend itself against loathsome coastal-urban types like the puffed-up Krugman.
Does anyone else find it ironic that VTA spent $$$ upgrading the light rail stations to be more handicapped friendly, but can’t keep the elevators working? At least half the station stops between Cottle & the Convention Center were preceded by an announcement that “the elevator at [pick a station name] is not working. If you need to use the elevator, please contact the train operator,” or something to that effect. I watched one wheelchair bound rider go several stops past his intended one before he could disembark…
John Galt,
It never ceases to amaze me how many people walk around the planet ignoring the pain and suffering of others. Now John, you wouldn’t want us to believe that you would ignore or walk a way if you saw a group of thugs picking on someone would you, or refuse to go over to a Police Officer and bring it to his attention to handle? Or may be you would just ignore it. And if you did turn a blind eye to someone being abused, are you seriously trying to convince me it would be because you have a “live and let live” attitude based on Republican beliefs? Come on now, how can you always inject politics into everything and stereotype “liberals?” I see more Republicans protesting people’s right to free speech, marriage, abortion, and sexual literature than any other group around! Hello Prop 8! Porn filters in libraries on and on. You’ve got to be kidding me John.
Remind me never to walk down a dark alley with you!
It does affect me, because my posts have been “spiked”, and have said nothing that is in violation of the rules here at SJI. It seems these rules are being enforced against some people and not others.
Niemöller’s poem:
“When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.”
I don’t walk around the world ignorant of other people being attacked, John. As a mediator that works with victims, I don’t get that liberty, and I don’t think I would want it.
Why does Kathleen get to write a sentence attacking John Galt, and then namby pamby everyone else. She is on the same corner selling it.
As far as Christian goes, he just confirms what others have said, when people slam the Irish, we need to speak out. His post just is a testament to the work of the Irish Brigade, no slurs against anyone! There is a conflict in what we want and what he says.
Another poster, in his criticism of Marsbman and Kruger, shows that the old song, WE HAVE TO BE TAUGHT HOW TO HATE, is still true.
No one is coming after ethnic groups if we insist in a society free of slurs, and we condemn city officials for making light of the use of slurs. No one should be allowed to insult Jews, Blacks, Muslims, or Latinos, no one. Consequently the same could be said for Irish and Chinese.
Others have written about the great effort of Paul Fong. He is a great example of a champion for ethnic respect. Twenty years from now, will a council member have to seek an apology for what commissioners did to insult Irish, or what Krugman did to insult the working class?
Niemoller’s poem rings a little hollow coming from someone who wants to stifle the voice of a commenter.
Suppose it began;
When the Progressives came for Helmut Newton,
I remained silent.
I am not Helmut Newton.
?
You see, it doesn’t begin with easy targets that everybody agrees are worthy of our protection. The ones whose voices we need to protect are often the ones for whom we feel the greatest contempt.
Helmut Newton, or whatever his name is, has not, as far as I can tell, lately issued any libelous comments (the one time he did, he retracted it at the urging of Mr. Campbell).
Give the rest of us credit for being able to read what people have to say and having the wisdom to determine what’s worthwhile and what isn’t.
Just look at all the worthwhile charitable organizations that Obama is undermining with his “cash for clunkers” program.
I guess he figures, “hey, whatever it takes to pay back the UAW.”
#6, Kathleen. I gotta agree with Eric on this one. I have seen nothing that needs editing out that has been left in. You and Christian need to stop whining all the time whenever someone uses strong words to oppose your point of view. If you can’t take a little heat, get off this blog. It’s not Eric’s job to put you and Chrisitan in a protective bubble where all we get is PC nonsense.
And once Eric starts down that slippery slope of the editing you desire, we all might as well stop blogging, ‘cuz all we’ll get is some watered down oatmeal.
Remember, good, kind, fair speech does not need protecting. it is the awful, hateful speech that the Constitution was designed to protect. Mindless pap needs no prtotection.
Oh, and I didn’t know you were Irish. I thought you were an American.
I had an interesting chat with one of our elected officials over the weekend regarding term limits. True to the law of unintended consequences, voters efforts to “save themselves” from career politicians seems to have put more power into the hands of bureaucrats, who have the institutional knowledge and can easily outlast any two term administration. This has rendered term-limited elected officials relatively powerless.
I carefully open my daily, home delivered copy of the “Murky News” to the editorial page and lovingly place in my canary’s cage so that he may appropriately comment on it’s verasity.
20 – You are really wasting your talent here. You should be peddling your comedy writing to Fox or someplace that appreciates a good laugh.
Careful, though—I used some words with “l” in them so I must be a leftist liberal in your world.
Thanks for the continued laughs.
John Galt,
“Give the rest of us credit for being able to read what people have to say and having the wisdom to determine what’s worthwhile and what isn’t.” EXACTLY! I agree 100%, but if selective enforcement is happening your choice to decide is being taken a way from you without you even knowing it. And by the way John, any guy who’d care about a dog run over by a speeder is all right with me.
#21-Pat,
I couldn’t agree with your quote more, to a point. The law doesn’t support that quote fully either. If what is being said is libelous/slanderous, or causes serious harm to someone’s business etc. you don’t get to say it. Having said that, I think you said it best right here on SJI while defending the use of porn filters in libraries: http://www.sanjoseinside.com/sji/blog/entries/porn_filtering_shot_down/
I don’t agree with that type of interference, or censorship of any type of literature, but I certainly do understand the want to have a SAFE place for children.
I also don’t support interfering with a person’s right to marry, but Prop 8 supporters think they do. I guess people can twist free speech and freedom to live their lives as they wish, or they can object to how others live and what they can say at will to suit the argument they are making. Not me, I’m all for freedom of expression as long as it is lawful, doesn’t single any one out, and is enforced fairly. Hence the point of this whole discourse that everyone seems to missing.
I doubt this will be posted but I will send it any way.
My final comments on this discussion are that, I think people are misconstruing what Kathleen and I are trying to say. We are not defending Pete Campbell. We are pointing out the “selective enforcement” of the rules here on SJI that is going on.
It is an established fact in law that your freedoms extend only so far as they do not trample on someone else’s freedoms. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. said in one of the cases that came before the Supreme Court, that you cannot go into a crowded theater and falsely shout out ‘Fire’. SJI cannot strictly enforce the rules when it comes to comments about the Metro, Dan Pulcrano, or their staff, and then use a ‘light touch’ when it comes to everyone else being subjected to ad hominem attacks. For example Johnmichael O’Conner made a comment that was spiked on Pete Campbell’s recent blog, but comments made to him were not. Or when SJI posted a blog about SJR but refused to allow Kathleen’s “entire post” with a link to SJR. SJI said they don’t allow links to sites that report stories they disagree with even though their entire blog was about this site. How is that “Give the rest of us credit for being able to read what people have to say and having the wisdom to determine what’s worthwhile and what isn’t?”
As to Pete Campbell, if the Metro were to do an article on the comments he supposedly made, and give him a chance to respond, that would be appropriate. But to allow these ad hominem attacks on him every time he writes an article for SJI is wrong because it takes away from the topic he is writing on and drives posters wanting to contribute to the topic a way.
#22-JMO,
You and I can agree to disagree on this one as we have many times in the past. As always you are entitled to your opinion as I am to mine without you telling me what to say or do, or how to say or do it. The facts won’t change because people chose to ignore them.
#22-Johnmichael,
“And once Eric starts down that slippery slope of the editing you desire, we all might as well stop blogging, ‘cuz all we’ll get is some watered down oatmeal.” We agree on this and that is the point. I don’t want to see censorship on here but that isn’t the practice happening on here. I’d like to see respectful dialog and on topic remarks but I want world peace too. That does mean I’ll get it.
#29-Greg,
If you didn’t know Kathleen and I were a couple would you be asking that? I’ve been off of SJI for several months now and only comment from time to time. This blog has changed too much to hold my interest for long.
“The bipartisan commission set up to reform Kathleen links to the Merc editorial: “California’s tax system is considering reducing income tax rates and increasing the gas tax.” The Merc never met a tax increase it didn’t like.
Anyone who believes that gas tax increases will be offset buy income tax cuts should be advised I’ve got a great sale on a bridge in Brooklyn. Add to that federal tax increases to pay for ObamaCare and cap-&-tax to pay for global warming and we’re going to get royally screwed.
Ahhh, how I love the smell of social engineering in the morning! Leave it to a panty-waist leftist, Berkeley Professor Severin Borenstein, to come up with this one. Those Berzerkely Profs couldn’t think their way out of a paper bag.
I have an idea – how about an illegal alien tax. How nice it would be if the 10 million law breakers in the State started paying their way… even just a little.
33 – Another flash of brilliance from you. Of course illegal aliens contribute nothing to society. They don’t buy goods at stores that employ your neighbors (oops, yes they do) and they don’t pay sales tax on what they buy (oops, wrong again). If you could just ease up on your hatred and belief that everything evil is because of “leftists”, perhaps even you could contribute something positive to society.
Your posts always attack but rarely, if ever,
offer anything close to a solution. As much as you and a few others on this site wish it were so, the problems of the world are not due to the left. Both the left and the right contribute to what is wrong with this country. Occasionally they even offer some solutions and work towards making things better. You should try that.
Illegals contribute peanuts when their tax dollars are weighed against paying for their education, health care and all manner of other freebies.
But you wouldn’t know that because your head is in the clouds, and you breathe rarefied air with so little oxygen content. What stroke of genius do you to have to offer?
And how can you generalize about my contributions? I don’t even recognize your name… “Kid.” Are you new here or have you just decided to hide behind a different name this time? Do your opinions embarrass you – is that why you use a pseudonym?
Kid,
What makes you so sure that all the problems of the world are NOT caused by the left? You obviously pride yourself on your openmindedness but it sounds as though you’ve totally closed your mind to THAT possibility. You THINK you’re being so openminded, but you know what?
YOU. JUST. MIGHT. BE. WRONG!
See, being a sanctimonious, PC middle-of-the-roader doesn’t confer any special status upon you. This country is lousy with sanctimonious PC middle-of-the-roaders. They’re called sheep. Sheep who form their “opinions” by triangulating the opinions of others- most of whom are also triangulating.
#32, Hugh, that attitude is why we seem unable to reform California’s tax system.
California’s hodgepodge of laws and initiatives has made the state ungovernable. Our tax base is too reliant on the boom and bust cycles of our economy, and our elected representatives are unable to avoid spending every dollar available, and then some. Our schools are guaranteed to be whipsawed by our economy thanks to Prop 98. The only way that this can change is through tax reform, which has to start somewhere. I don’t know if a gas tax is the right path, but we clearly have to pick a direction, one that encourages business formation so that we can employ our citizens (legal or otherwise).
I, for one, believe the time has come for a constitutional convention, and believe that’s the only way to save California.
I believe that most would agree that the only illegal aliens who make a lot of money, and thus contribute significantly to the tax base, are drug dealers…and they don’t pay taxes, either.
Most illegals are in lower paying jobs. The spend most, if not all, of their money on things that aren’t subject to sales tax, such as rent and food. Most have incomes so low that they pay no state or federal income tax, either.
On the other hand, they get free education in their native language, their kids get breakfast and lunch free at school, they are on MediCal, fill up the ER’s, and bring every problem pregnancy north of Panama to the border states, since few have health insurance here or there. The lawless among them get a public defender and a translator free, and three squares while they’re in the joint.
OOOPS!!! All that stuff isn’t really free, is it. WE pay for it. Presidente Calderon should be thanking us daily by sending us some of his oil…cheap.
They are a HUGE tax BURDEN on this state, and other parts of the USA, Kid.
What illegal aliens do contribute is filling low wage jobs that apparently no-one else will take.
Kid, go back to Wonderland and have another toke on that pipe.
36, 37, 39 – For the sake of argument, lets say you guys are right (humor me). We get rid of all the illegals—ship them off some place (I’m sure you have a solution for this). Now, the playing field is level. Everyone will be legal and since they will all have health insurance the ER’s will be empty—unless you are opposed to heath care for all, in which case the ER’s will continue to be filled by 40 million+ uninsured folks. You can blame the left for all the ills of the world if it makes you feel better, but if your favorite whipping boy, illegal aliens, are gone, who else will be your scapegoat? Now, who do you blame? Still the left I assume because you have nothing else to offer, but that is really getting old and not very original. Let me know your answer when you get the new memo from your leader.
Kid,
Here is the reality; the “real” problem is our electeds, on BOTH sides, over spending, and zero accountability. How has taxing ANY ONE ever improved a dam thing? So they get more tax money and spend it on stupid things! It is like being in a hamster wheel. Nothing ever changes. Pat Waite said it before and I must agree with him, we need an entire revamp of our system. But that is NEVER going to happen because the wealthy and powerful have way too much to lose, both Left and Right!
Small business is practically gone. It is really sad to see. I think it is time people start getting pissed and refuse to re-elect the old guard, and start sending a clear message that this over spending needs to stop. No more perks for the big wigs in government, no special interest favors, no more!
#38, I agree it would be nice if we could reform the state’s tax system from the current nightmare. In an ideal world, some taxes would go up and other taxes would go down with the end result a fairer system for all. Unfortunately, what seems to happen is that the tax increases go through and somehow they forget about the corresponding reductions. Thus California taxes go higher and a few more productive citizens more to more hospitable climes.
You’re wasting your breath – the kid has been irretrievably programmed to spout PC nonsense. I don’t even think that meds can help.
But it is both Pavlovian and humorous to see him jerk as though he’s been hit by a cattle prod! As easy as it is, I’ll tire of it soon – he’s just too darned predictable.
K 42 wrote:“and start sending a clear message that this over spending needs to stop. No more perks for the big wigs in government,”
Did all y’all read about the half dozen Congressfolks who went on a “fact finding mission’ RE GLOBAL WARMING, and most brought their wives along? They flew to Australia, dove the Great Barrier Reef, went to New Zealnad, perhaps to look at the glaciers on South Island. They charged the trip to the taxpayers—$500,000.00!!!!
They also snuck into a bill an order for several more Gulfstreams for the military so they wouldn’t have to fly commercial. The same guys who excoriated the auto execs. for using private jets. These babies cost upwards of $5,000.oo per hour to keep in the air, exclusive of pilots and flight attendants. Luckily someone caught it, and it was deleted. The Senate wisely held off acting on that provision.
Problem is, while everyone rants and raves against Congress, they keep re-electing THEIR Congressperson. The enemy is the voter who votes for an incumbent.
46 – It’s difficult to know where to start. You make so many generalizations and label so many people that any response is nearly impossible.
I did learn from you though that you don’t think I am a Leftist since you announced that the Left “advocates unlimited immigration.” Since I don’t, and interestingly no one I know does either, you must have some other label for me.
I know you love labels like “left”, “PC”, “giveaway programs”, etc. so I’m sure you’ll come up with something.
As long as your world is so simply divided between Left and Right, there is little room for discussion. I look at the world as one—there are many ills that need fixing. I think we have a responsibility to help those less fortunate, apparently you and certainly your pal Greg seem to think otherwise.
I also don’t believe that all poor people are illegal immigrants but I am sensitive to the plight of illegals. Yes, we need to do something about the illegals but we also need to dial down the nasty rhetoric that so many people spew about illegals. There is a problem—lets work on fixing it. Lets do it with demeaning people. Lets do it without insulting each other.
Perhaps you can chat with Greg to join since he too seems to be stuck in labelland.
If you just want to continue attacking and blaming everything on Left that’s fine but you can do it without me. It’s a waste of my time.
Had your hostility not been directed at me (way back in #35), I would not have played “battle of wits” with you for so long. Knock it off and I will too.
Very predictable, Kid. Regrettably, my friend Greg was right about you.
You don’t address any of the substance of my very real argument, (in which, I might add, I never disparaged a single illegal alien.) You just reflexively object to my terminology.
Classic Leftist Coyness. Congratulations, Kid. You win the Most Coy Commenter of the Day Award. Be proud.
Kid,
Leftists want the wealth distributed more equally in this country.
Believe it or not, so do I. This society would be much healthier if there was a broader middle class and far less of a gap between the wealthy and the poor.
I disagree strongly that the best way to get there is to steal (tax) from the rich and give to the poor. Inviting the presence of more poor people here obligates us to redistribute the wealth through taxation. More leftist giveaway programs. More burden on our schools, our prisons, and our hospitals. It really rankles some of us that the Left advocates unlimited immigration and then turns around and screams about the problems of the poor. But that’s liberals for you- creating a mess everywhere they go and then expecting somebody else to clean it up.
The goal of a broad, strong middle class would be better achieved by limiting the labor force- by setting limits on immigration and enforcing those limits. Suddenly, these undesirable jobs would command higher wages. The “working poor” would be a thing of the past. The gap between the rich and the poor would diminish and gradually there would be less and less need for programs for the poor. Of course, you might have to mow your own lawn and wash your car yourself.
The Left is threatened by the idea that the problems and crises about which they continually fret, might actually go away.
What would Michael Moore do with himself?
Got any feedback Kid? Anything substantive? Or is your mind stuck in PC automatic pilot mode?
Just got this and thought you might be interested. Hope you write or attend:
Dear Kathleen,
As you may be aware, I have continued to pursue pension reforms and have been very vocal on the issue of board composition and board governance. The city is considering significant changes in these areas. Please click here to view the flyer for further information.
Date: Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
San Jose City Hall
200 East Santa Clara Street
Wing Rooms 118 & 119
Date: Thursday, August 27, 2009
Time: 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.
San Jose City Hall
200 East Santa Clara Street
Council Chambers
If you are unable to attend either meeting, you may submit your comments of the report via email to in***@co**************.com
no later than August 31, 2009.
We welcome input from all stakeholders, which includes taxpayers. I would appreciate your help in getting the word out about these meetings.
Your neighbor,
Pete Constant
San José City Councilmember, District 1
San José City Hall | 200 E. Santa Clara St., 18th Floor | San Jose, CA 95113
408-535-4901 | pe***********@sa*******.gov
#49-Kid,
I know it is frustrating to put up with the nasty comments of a select few, but your opinion matters to some of us. Tell us what you think about this issue and trust that many of the folks who peer in and read SJI, and some who don’t post, or those of us who do, are interested in what you have to say.
All,
If you haven’t read Council Member Constant’s blog on Protectsanjose.com, about the IPA and the stunt she pulled with taxpayer dollars you should. IF it doesn’t make your blood boil, nothing will. Talk about waste by the City!
As a incoming funraiser for the Da Valera Memorial Committee for North America, permit me to make some key points about slurs.
1. A columnist for METRO recently wrote that there were “paunchy Polish janitors with exposed butt cracks…” Why would all janitors be Polish or fat? Wouldn’t it be just as nasty to write about kitchen workers who were “short Filipinos with bad teeth?”
Of course it would, and all profiling is horrid. Look at what happened to Skip Gates. To profile him for being African American is just as wrong as laughing at the term “paddy.”
2. Mr. Campbell and a current San Jose City official were making Irish American jokes, and neither have ever been called to task. What some people do in their past continue to manifest themeselves. Campbell attacked Cesar Chavez, who is a great idol for ALL WORKING CLASS people, and the San Jose city official who put down Irish and other working class people now works in Economic Development, and acted to deny an Irish activists some money last year, and was heard muttering the term “paddy” to himself. People who profile Lstinos or Aftican Americans in the course of public business should be FIRED on the spot.
3. California Assembly Member Paul Fong earned international praise, snd rightly so, for seeking an apology for Chinese immigrants who called “Celestials” and “Heathen Chinee” Fong was right, and we seek an apology from the City of San Jose for Campbell’s attack as a city commissioner along with the current economic development staffer for using the words “paddy” Fong is a great man for working for the Chinese, and we seek the same protection, not more, just the same, for Fong has a right to protest.
4. What Kathleen and Christian do not appreciate is the old fashioned Irish boycott. Campbell and other ethnic slur makers, be they against Hispanics, African Americans, Filipinos, or the Irish, deserve what they get.
Until people realize that all ehtnic groups must be respected, professors will continue to arrested for simply entering their own homes, Latinos will still be suspected for not being citizens, and Irish people will continue to be insulted on city time.
With apologies to Willie Nelson:
I grew up dreamin’
Of bein’ a liberal
Livin’ the Leftie way.
Pursuin’ the dreams
Of my tax and spend heroes
By votin’ our freedoms away.
Dependin’ on agencies, bureaus, and programs
To see after my every need.
Convincin’ myself that society owes me
And I’m not the one with the greed.
My heroes have always been Lefties.
They still are it seems.
Sadly in search of and one step in back of
Their hopeless utopian dreams.
Sadly in search of and one step in back of
Their hopeless utopian dreams.
What`s this, 10:55a.m. and not a single post?
Well lets get the ball rolling, shall we? San Jose Revealed, any ideas?
#1-Helmut Newton,
“All profiling is horrid.” I would agree with you on that statement 100%. Now it is about practicing what you preach. The rest of what you have said is subject to debate, and much of what you’ve said I disagree with.
Having said that, you said, “What Kathleen and Christian do not appreciate is the old fashioned Irish boycott. Campbell and other ethnic slur makers, be they against Hispanics, African Americans, Filipinos, or the Irish, deserve what they get.”
You don’t know Christian or me. Your statement in and of its self is both judgmental and based on personal bias and zero fact. It is the very type of prejudice that you are railing against in your post.
I doubt that you know Pete Campbell either, and until such time that you sit down and speak with HIM and get his side of things, you are guilty of prejudging and condemning him based on rumor or speculation. After all, if you were being cyber bullied every time you wrote a column wouldn’t you want the same fair treatment? Wouldn’t you want people to respect you enough to speak to you and give you an opportunity to, at the very least, know your point of view? I think you would. And if indeed Pete Campbell did do what you are claiming, bashing him at every turn is NOT the way to educate him on his mistake, nor does it win you any points or followers who hate racial/ethnic slurs.
I am Irish and know my culture and history very well. I am proud of it and would take offense to a slur being made against ANY ethnic culture regardless of race. That isn’t the point here though is it? The point is that any columnist that writes on SJI or any other blog deserves a respectful response to the “topic” upon which they wrote.
What they don’t deserve is to be cyber stalked. And that is something our moderator needs to address and handle quickly and professionally. If he continues to allow said attacks then he has lied to us about his duties as a moderator, and owes us an explanation of why he selectively chooses to enforce the rules on some of us and not others. And that Helmut Newton is the “real” issue at hand here for many of us.
Kathleen,
I share your commitment to creating a space for respectful dialogue. But, as I promised, I will continue to moderate with a light touch. Out-and-out attacks will be spiked, but nothing on this thread crosses the line.
Eric,
I respectfully disagree that cyber bulling Pete is not crossing the line. I challenge you to go back to any one of his posts and you will see that almost of all them are from this same chameleon with grudge against Pete.
For me, this is a matter of principle Eric. If you continue to allow this person or people to keep coming on SJI and attack Pete, you are doing a great disservice to not only him but also your readers.
Isn’t it nice?
If someone that it was funny and was also ok to refer to lesbian and gay people with slurs, but wrote comments agreeing with Ms. Flynn, it would be ok.
Isn’t it nice?
If someone like Kissinger wrote for the Mercury News, Kathleen would attack any Chilean activist for protesting.
Well, Peter, the guy who attacked the Irish, not once but twice, can get a defense, but we have to smile and thank the nice lady from the manor house for our quarters for our supper, and take Campbell’s insults.
To the manor born
Where are the lauds for Roach and SJ Jazz?
Yet another great festival is underway downtown and the radio-silence is almost deafening…
Thousands of people, and thousands of corporate dollars, are bumping around Market and San Fernando streets this weekend.
Props to AT&T (no, Virginia, not for their customer “service”), Applied Materials and hero-of-the-weekend Cisco for making this one happen! Downtown streets are packed with people enjoying live music; more people than the recent Left Coast Live event, but hey, SJ Jazz has 20 years under their belts, so let’s give LCL some time.
Their Club Crawl is bringing people into downtown eateries and adult-beverage dolling establishments – dare I say – more than Music in the Park.
I suggest it’s time to rethink some of the trite and tried downtown festivals. Let’s start lauding events based on their audiences, not on the amount of cash pulled from Redevelopment and alcohol sales.
Looking at the crowds yesterday and today, they sure look like they’re ripe for the high-rise-condo picking.
The Old Guard is omnipotent: I don’t dare share my name for fear of reprimand – hopefully one day I can reveal my identity *cue evil laugh as I run behind the curtain*.
(And no, there are no financial affiliations between myself and any of the above-mentioned…)
Hmmm. SJI is the world in microcosm. This has been an enlightening look at the liberal mind in action. We have;
-Liberals concerned about off-topic comments.
-Liberals worried about ad hominem “attacks”.
-Liberals with their knickers in a twist over all manner of things that have no direct impact on THEM.
-Liberals upset that not every commenter conforms to their ideals.
And what is the liberal reaction to all these perceived injustices? Naturally it’s to go running to the Government (Eric Johnson in this case) demanding a “solution” that will make this little world more to THEIR liking.
Sounds an awful lot like what goes on in the real world. Never content to deal with the world as it is. Always demanding that Government act to transform the world to THEIR idea of what’s proper.
Why do liberals feel compelled to control every little aspect of what people say, how and when they say it, and what they think?
What skin is it off their nose if some idiot says stupid things about Pete Campbell? Or if a discussion morphs from one topic to another?
Thin-skinned control freaks is what some of you are. Is that ad hominem enough for you?
I always wonder how and why billy mays was always up all hours of the night. Now we know!
Blah blah blah. And, I would like to add a few ad hominem blah, blah, blahs for everyone. For all you Irish, Latino, black, Asian, white mutants, blah, blah, blah. To the overly sensitive female, blah, blah, blah. And that applies to any other overly sensitive posters, blah, blah, blah.
Barbara Marshman proved once again, today, that there is no slander she will not print. Her reproduction of the Paul Krugman hate essay on the editorial pages of the Mercury News was a vile, racially-charged waltz through cliché after cliché, all to demean diverse white American men and women.
The Big Lie in her hate propaganda presentation is that the diverse white American peoples are the only demographic group to embrace “racial and cultural fear.” Marshman endorses Krugman’s label of “angry white voter” which is pretty strange given that many of the essays printed by the Mercury News feature angry voters of all hues who express racial and cultural fear…without similar negative labeling.
The principal hate caricature advanced by Marshman and the Mercury News is the evil, depraved, wicked white American peoples who are never recognized as diverse, as Americans, or as having the right to name and label themselves.
No, the Mercury News will kindly condemn, in this instance, “working-class whites,” without giving a voice to that demographic to defend itself against loathsome coastal-urban types like the puffed-up Krugman.
Does anyone else find it ironic that VTA spent $$$ upgrading the light rail stations to be more handicapped friendly, but can’t keep the elevators working? At least half the station stops between Cottle & the Convention Center were preceded by an announcement that “the elevator at [pick a station name] is not working. If you need to use the elevator, please contact the train operator,” or something to that effect. I watched one wheelchair bound rider go several stops past his intended one before he could disembark…
John Galt,
It never ceases to amaze me how many people walk around the planet ignoring the pain and suffering of others. Now John, you wouldn’t want us to believe that you would ignore or walk a way if you saw a group of thugs picking on someone would you, or refuse to go over to a Police Officer and bring it to his attention to handle? Or may be you would just ignore it. And if you did turn a blind eye to someone being abused, are you seriously trying to convince me it would be because you have a “live and let live” attitude based on Republican beliefs? Come on now, how can you always inject politics into everything and stereotype “liberals?” I see more Republicans protesting people’s right to free speech, marriage, abortion, and sexual literature than any other group around! Hello Prop 8! Porn filters in libraries on and on. You’ve got to be kidding me John.
Remind me never to walk down a dark alley with you!
John –
It does affect me, because my posts have been “spiked”, and have said nothing that is in violation of the rules here at SJI. It seems these rules are being enforced against some people and not others.
Niemöller’s poem:
“When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.”
I don’t walk around the world ignorant of other people being attacked, John. As a mediator that works with victims, I don’t get that liberty, and I don’t think I would want it.
Why does Kathleen get to write a sentence attacking John Galt, and then namby pamby everyone else. She is on the same corner selling it.
As far as Christian goes, he just confirms what others have said, when people slam the Irish, we need to speak out. His post just is a testament to the work of the Irish Brigade, no slurs against anyone! There is a conflict in what we want and what he says.
Another poster, in his criticism of Marsbman and Kruger, shows that the old song, WE HAVE TO BE TAUGHT HOW TO HATE, is still true.
No one is coming after ethnic groups if we insist in a society free of slurs, and we condemn city officials for making light of the use of slurs. No one should be allowed to insult Jews, Blacks, Muslims, or Latinos, no one. Consequently the same could be said for Irish and Chinese.
Others have written about the great effort of Paul Fong. He is a great example of a champion for ethnic respect. Twenty years from now, will a council member have to seek an apology for what commissioners did to insult Irish, or what Krugman did to insult the working class?
Christian,
Niemoller’s poem rings a little hollow coming from someone who wants to stifle the voice of a commenter.
Suppose it began;
When the Progressives came for Helmut Newton,
I remained silent.
I am not Helmut Newton.
?
You see, it doesn’t begin with easy targets that everybody agrees are worthy of our protection. The ones whose voices we need to protect are often the ones for whom we feel the greatest contempt.
Helmut Newton, or whatever his name is, has not, as far as I can tell, lately issued any libelous comments (the one time he did, he retracted it at the urging of Mr. Campbell).
Give the rest of us credit for being able to read what people have to say and having the wisdom to determine what’s worthwhile and what isn’t.
Just look at all the worthwhile charitable organizations that Obama is undermining with his “cash for clunkers” program.
I guess he figures, “hey, whatever it takes to pay back the UAW.”
#19, JG, well said.
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
—S.G. Tallnetyre in “The Friends of Voltaire”
#6, Kathleen. I gotta agree with Eric on this one. I have seen nothing that needs editing out that has been left in. You and Christian need to stop whining all the time whenever someone uses strong words to oppose your point of view. If you can’t take a little heat, get off this blog. It’s not Eric’s job to put you and Chrisitan in a protective bubble where all we get is PC nonsense.
And once Eric starts down that slippery slope of the editing you desire, we all might as well stop blogging, ‘cuz all we’ll get is some watered down oatmeal.
Remember, good, kind, fair speech does not need protecting. it is the awful, hateful speech that the Constitution was designed to protect. Mindless pap needs no prtotection.
Oh, and I didn’t know you were Irish. I thought you were an American.
I had an interesting chat with one of our elected officials over the weekend regarding term limits. True to the law of unintended consequences, voters efforts to “save themselves” from career politicians seems to have put more power into the hands of bureaucrats, who have the institutional knowledge and can easily outlast any two term administration. This has rendered term-limited elected officials relatively powerless.
Your thoughts?
I carefully open my daily, home delivered copy of the “Murky News” to the editorial page and lovingly place in my canary’s cage so that he may appropriately comment on it’s verasity.
20 – You are really wasting your talent here. You should be peddling your comedy writing to Fox or someplace that appreciates a good laugh.
Careful, though—I used some words with “l” in them so I must be a leftist liberal in your world.
Thanks for the continued laughs.
John Galt,
“Give the rest of us credit for being able to read what people have to say and having the wisdom to determine what’s worthwhile and what isn’t.” EXACTLY! I agree 100%, but if selective enforcement is happening your choice to decide is being taken a way from you without you even knowing it. And by the way John, any guy who’d care about a dog run over by a speeder is all right with me.
#21-Pat,
I couldn’t agree with your quote more, to a point. The law doesn’t support that quote fully either. If what is being said is libelous/slanderous, or causes serious harm to someone’s business etc. you don’t get to say it. Having said that, I think you said it best right here on SJI while defending the use of porn filters in libraries:
http://www.sanjoseinside.com/sji/blog/entries/porn_filtering_shot_down/
I don’t agree with that type of interference, or censorship of any type of literature, but I certainly do understand the want to have a SAFE place for children.
I also don’t support interfering with a person’s right to marry, but Prop 8 supporters think they do. I guess people can twist free speech and freedom to live their lives as they wish, or they can object to how others live and what they can say at will to suit the argument they are making. Not me, I’m all for freedom of expression as long as it is lawful, doesn’t single any one out, and is enforced fairly. Hence the point of this whole discourse that everyone seems to missing.
#19 John Galt,
I doubt this will be posted but I will send it any way.
My final comments on this discussion are that, I think people are misconstruing what Kathleen and I are trying to say. We are not defending Pete Campbell. We are pointing out the “selective enforcement” of the rules here on SJI that is going on.
It is an established fact in law that your freedoms extend only so far as they do not trample on someone else’s freedoms. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. said in one of the cases that came before the Supreme Court, that you cannot go into a crowded theater and falsely shout out ‘Fire’. SJI cannot strictly enforce the rules when it comes to comments about the Metro, Dan Pulcrano, or their staff, and then use a ‘light touch’ when it comes to everyone else being subjected to ad hominem attacks. For example Johnmichael O’Conner made a comment that was spiked on Pete Campbell’s recent blog, but comments made to him were not. Or when SJI posted a blog about SJR but refused to allow Kathleen’s “entire post” with a link to SJR. SJI said they don’t allow links to sites that report stories they disagree with even though their entire blog was about this site. How is that “Give the rest of us credit for being able to read what people have to say and having the wisdom to determine what’s worthwhile and what isn’t?”
As to Pete Campbell, if the Metro were to do an article on the comments he supposedly made, and give him a chance to respond, that would be appropriate. But to allow these ad hominem attacks on him every time he writes an article for SJI is wrong because it takes away from the topic he is writing on and drives posters wanting to contribute to the topic a way.
#22-JMO,
You and I can agree to disagree on this one as we have many times in the past. As always you are entitled to your opinion as I am to mine without you telling me what to say or do, or how to say or do it. The facts won’t change because people chose to ignore them.
#22-Johnmichael,
“And once Eric starts down that slippery slope of the editing you desire, we all might as well stop blogging, ‘cuz all we’ll get is some watered down oatmeal.” We agree on this and that is the point. I don’t want to see censorship on here but that isn’t the practice happening on here. I’d like to see respectful dialog and on topic remarks but I want world peace too. That does mean I’ll get it.
Kathleen and Christian,
Are you joined at the hip? I seldom see one of you comment without the other quickly following.
Dale (#12),
We can expect little more from the Merc. It’s devolved into something that is not even worthy of fish wrap.
#29-Greg,
If you didn’t know Kathleen and I were a couple would you be asking that? I’ve been off of SJI for several months now and only comment from time to time. This blog has changed too much to hold my interest for long.
More taxes! UGH!
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_13034063
“The bipartisan commission set up to reform Kathleen links to the Merc editorial: “California’s tax system is considering reducing income tax rates and increasing the gas tax.” The Merc never met a tax increase it didn’t like.
Anyone who believes that gas tax increases will be offset buy income tax cuts should be advised I’ve got a great sale on a bridge in Brooklyn. Add to that federal tax increases to pay for ObamaCare and cap-&-tax to pay for global warming and we’re going to get royally screwed.
Ahhh, how I love the smell of social engineering in the morning! Leave it to a panty-waist leftist, Berkeley Professor Severin Borenstein, to come up with this one. Those Berzerkely Profs couldn’t think their way out of a paper bag.
I have an idea – how about an illegal alien tax. How nice it would be if the 10 million law breakers in the State started paying their way… even just a little.
Yeah #33, but he’s got a really cool name!
33 – Another flash of brilliance from you. Of course illegal aliens contribute nothing to society. They don’t buy goods at stores that employ your neighbors (oops, yes they do) and they don’t pay sales tax on what they buy (oops, wrong again). If you could just ease up on your hatred and belief that everything evil is because of “leftists”, perhaps even you could contribute something positive to society.
Your posts always attack but rarely, if ever,
offer anything close to a solution. As much as you and a few others on this site wish it were so, the problems of the world are not due to the left. Both the left and the right contribute to what is wrong with this country. Occasionally they even offer some solutions and work towards making things better. You should try that.
Kid,
Illegals contribute peanuts when their tax dollars are weighed against paying for their education, health care and all manner of other freebies.
But you wouldn’t know that because your head is in the clouds, and you breathe rarefied air with so little oxygen content. What stroke of genius do you to have to offer?
And how can you generalize about my contributions? I don’t even recognize your name… “Kid.” Are you new here or have you just decided to hide behind a different name this time? Do your opinions embarrass you – is that why you use a pseudonym?
Kid,
What makes you so sure that all the problems of the world are NOT caused by the left? You obviously pride yourself on your openmindedness but it sounds as though you’ve totally closed your mind to THAT possibility. You THINK you’re being so openminded, but you know what?
YOU. JUST. MIGHT. BE. WRONG!
See, being a sanctimonious, PC middle-of-the-roader doesn’t confer any special status upon you. This country is lousy with sanctimonious PC middle-of-the-roaders. They’re called sheep. Sheep who form their “opinions” by triangulating the opinions of others- most of whom are also triangulating.
Do check back in if you have an ORIGINAL thought.
#32, Hugh, that attitude is why we seem unable to reform California’s tax system.
California’s hodgepodge of laws and initiatives has made the state ungovernable. Our tax base is too reliant on the boom and bust cycles of our economy, and our elected representatives are unable to avoid spending every dollar available, and then some. Our schools are guaranteed to be whipsawed by our economy thanks to Prop 98. The only way that this can change is through tax reform, which has to start somewhere. I don’t know if a gas tax is the right path, but we clearly have to pick a direction, one that encourages business formation so that we can employ our citizens (legal or otherwise).
I, for one, believe the time has come for a constitutional convention, and believe that’s the only way to save California.
I believe that most would agree that the only illegal aliens who make a lot of money, and thus contribute significantly to the tax base, are drug dealers…and they don’t pay taxes, either.
Most illegals are in lower paying jobs. The spend most, if not all, of their money on things that aren’t subject to sales tax, such as rent and food. Most have incomes so low that they pay no state or federal income tax, either.
On the other hand, they get free education in their native language, their kids get breakfast and lunch free at school, they are on MediCal, fill up the ER’s, and bring every problem pregnancy north of Panama to the border states, since few have health insurance here or there. The lawless among them get a public defender and a translator free, and three squares while they’re in the joint.
OOOPS!!! All that stuff isn’t really free, is it. WE pay for it. Presidente Calderon should be thanking us daily by sending us some of his oil…cheap.
They are a HUGE tax BURDEN on this state, and other parts of the USA, Kid.
What illegal aliens do contribute is filling low wage jobs that apparently no-one else will take.
Kid, go back to Wonderland and have another toke on that pipe.
JMO,
I couldn’t have said it better. Kid may be a sh*rt bus passenger, unfortunate but it happens.
36, 37, 39 – For the sake of argument, lets say you guys are right (humor me). We get rid of all the illegals—ship them off some place (I’m sure you have a solution for this). Now, the playing field is level. Everyone will be legal and since they will all have health insurance the ER’s will be empty—unless you are opposed to heath care for all, in which case the ER’s will continue to be filled by 40 million+ uninsured folks. You can blame the left for all the ills of the world if it makes you feel better, but if your favorite whipping boy, illegal aliens, are gone, who else will be your scapegoat? Now, who do you blame? Still the left I assume because you have nothing else to offer, but that is really getting old and not very original. Let me know your answer when you get the new memo from your leader.
Kid,
Here is the reality; the “real” problem is our electeds, on BOTH sides, over spending, and zero accountability. How has taxing ANY ONE ever improved a dam thing? So they get more tax money and spend it on stupid things! It is like being in a hamster wheel. Nothing ever changes. Pat Waite said it before and I must agree with him, we need an entire revamp of our system. But that is NEVER going to happen because the wealthy and powerful have way too much to lose, both Left and Right!
Small business is practically gone. It is really sad to see. I think it is time people start getting pissed and refuse to re-elect the old guard, and start sending a clear message that this over spending needs to stop. No more perks for the big wigs in government, no special interest favors, no more!
#38, I agree it would be nice if we could reform the state’s tax system from the current nightmare. In an ideal world, some taxes would go up and other taxes would go down with the end result a fairer system for all. Unfortunately, what seems to happen is that the tax increases go through and somehow they forget about the corresponding reductions. Thus California taxes go higher and a few more productive citizens more to more hospitable climes.
Kid,
You crack me up! Your generalizations are the rantings of one without a leg to stand on.
Almost forgot – the new memo from my leader reads, “Kid needs to take his meds.” Thanks for adding some humor to my day.
John,
You’re wasting your breath – the kid has been irretrievably programmed to spout PC nonsense. I don’t even think that meds can help.
But it is both Pavlovian and humorous to see him jerk as though he’s been hit by a cattle prod! As easy as it is, I’ll tire of it soon – he’s just too darned predictable.
K 42 wrote:“and start sending a clear message that this over spending needs to stop. No more perks for the big wigs in government,”
Did all y’all read about the half dozen Congressfolks who went on a “fact finding mission’ RE GLOBAL WARMING, and most brought their wives along? They flew to Australia, dove the Great Barrier Reef, went to New Zealnad, perhaps to look at the glaciers on South Island. They charged the trip to the taxpayers—$500,000.00!!!!
They also snuck into a bill an order for several more Gulfstreams for the military so they wouldn’t have to fly commercial. The same guys who excoriated the auto execs. for using private jets. These babies cost upwards of $5,000.oo per hour to keep in the air, exclusive of pilots and flight attendants. Luckily someone caught it, and it was deleted. The Senate wisely held off acting on that provision.
Problem is, while everyone rants and raves against Congress, they keep re-electing THEIR Congressperson. The enemy is the voter who votes for an incumbent.
44 – Thanks for proving my point with your substantive and informative response.
46 – It’s difficult to know where to start. You make so many generalizations and label so many people that any response is nearly impossible.
I did learn from you though that you don’t think I am a Leftist since you announced that the Left “advocates unlimited immigration.” Since I don’t, and interestingly no one I know does either, you must have some other label for me.
I know you love labels like “left”, “PC”, “giveaway programs”, etc. so I’m sure you’ll come up with something.
As long as your world is so simply divided between Left and Right, there is little room for discussion. I look at the world as one—there are many ills that need fixing. I think we have a responsibility to help those less fortunate, apparently you and certainly your pal Greg seem to think otherwise.
I also don’t believe that all poor people are illegal immigrants but I am sensitive to the plight of illegals. Yes, we need to do something about the illegals but we also need to dial down the nasty rhetoric that so many people spew about illegals. There is a problem—lets work on fixing it. Lets do it with demeaning people. Lets do it without insulting each other.
Perhaps you can chat with Greg to join since he too seems to be stuck in labelland.
If you just want to continue attacking and blaming everything on Left that’s fine but you can do it without me. It’s a waste of my time.
Had your hostility not been directed at me (way back in #35), I would not have played “battle of wits” with you for so long. Knock it off and I will too.
Very predictable, Kid. Regrettably, my friend Greg was right about you.
You don’t address any of the substance of my very real argument, (in which, I might add, I never disparaged a single illegal alien.) You just reflexively object to my terminology.
Classic Leftist Coyness. Congratulations, Kid. You win the Most Coy Commenter of the Day Award. Be proud.
Kid,
Leftists want the wealth distributed more equally in this country.
Believe it or not, so do I. This society would be much healthier if there was a broader middle class and far less of a gap between the wealthy and the poor.
I disagree strongly that the best way to get there is to steal (tax) from the rich and give to the poor. Inviting the presence of more poor people here obligates us to redistribute the wealth through taxation. More leftist giveaway programs. More burden on our schools, our prisons, and our hospitals. It really rankles some of us that the Left advocates unlimited immigration and then turns around and screams about the problems of the poor. But that’s liberals for you- creating a mess everywhere they go and then expecting somebody else to clean it up.
The goal of a broad, strong middle class would be better achieved by limiting the labor force- by setting limits on immigration and enforcing those limits. Suddenly, these undesirable jobs would command higher wages. The “working poor” would be a thing of the past. The gap between the rich and the poor would diminish and gradually there would be less and less need for programs for the poor. Of course, you might have to mow your own lawn and wash your car yourself.
The Left is threatened by the idea that the problems and crises about which they continually fret, might actually go away.
What would Michael Moore do with himself?
Got any feedback Kid? Anything substantive? Or is your mind stuck in PC automatic pilot mode?
Just got this and thought you might be interested. Hope you write or attend:
Dear Kathleen,
As you may be aware, I have continued to pursue pension reforms and have been very vocal on the issue of board composition and board governance. The city is considering significant changes in these areas. Please click here to view the flyer for further information.
Date: Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
San Jose City Hall
200 East Santa Clara Street
Wing Rooms 118 & 119
Date: Thursday, August 27, 2009
Time: 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.
San Jose City Hall
200 East Santa Clara Street
Council Chambers
If you are unable to attend either meeting, you may submit your comments of the report via email to
in***@co**************.com
no later than August 31, 2009.
We welcome input from all stakeholders, which includes taxpayers. I would appreciate your help in getting the word out about these meetings.
Your neighbor,
Pete Constant
San José City Councilmember, District 1
San José City Hall | 200 E. Santa Clara St., 18th Floor | San Jose, CA 95113
408-535-4901 |
pe***********@sa*******.gov
| http://www.sjdistrict1.com
#49-Kid,
I know it is frustrating to put up with the nasty comments of a select few, but your opinion matters to some of us. Tell us what you think about this issue and trust that many of the folks who peer in and read SJI, and some who don’t post, or those of us who do, are interested in what you have to say.
All,
If you haven’t read Council Member Constant’s blog on Protectsanjose.com, about the IPA and the stunt she pulled with taxpayer dollars you should. IF it doesn’t make your blood boil, nothing will. Talk about waste by the City!