Athletes are employees...

[NYCSUGrad]

Amend it? Sure.

But disregard it?

Circumvent it through tortured logic?

Inventing new "rights"?

Using the courts to do the job that Congress was intended to do?

I'm pretty sure the Founding Father's didn't intend that.

Of course the zealots and ideologues don't care if the wreck the court or the separation of powers, because they are so convinced in the rightness of their positions.

Examples please. I have no idea what you are arguing for or against here.

 

[NYCSUGrad]

Do you define activist as someone that adheres to original intent?
Or, do you deny that honorable officials adhere to original intnt? Believe it or not, many conservatives wish nothing more than adherence to original intent. Adherence to original intent is not activism. Activism is divergence from original intent. You cannot tell the difference and I am not surprised by it. Admission that adherence to original intent is not activism would destroy your ignorant ediface.

Examples please, and less rudeness would be nice too.

 

[Townie72]

So how do you propose to pay for necessary government services?

Define "necessary Government services".

That's what the whole Left - Right fight is about. What should the role of Government be?

 

[Dave85]

Define "necessary Government services".

That's what the whole Left - Right fight is about. What should the role of Government be?

The mission of government is pretty clear: "form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity"

 

[Townie72]

The mission of government is pretty clear: "form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity"

Ahh, Dave, that's great for general direction, but not that helpful on the specifics.

 

[Dave85]

Ahh, Dave, that's great for general direction, but not that helpful on the specifics.

The specifics would naturally result from making value judgments in relationship to the mission statement.

 

[NYCSUGrad]

Define "necessary Government services".

That's what the whole Left - Right fight is about. What should the role of Government be?

Well what do YOU think? Roads, bridges, police, military, education through grade 12, hospitals, firefighters, sanitation all strike me as essential to a civilized society. That people are not willing to pay for the common good always shocks me a bit.

 

[Townie72]

Well what do YOU think? Roads, bridges, police, military, education through grade 12, hospitals, firefighters, sanitation all strike me as essential to a civilized society. That people are not willing to pay for the common good always shocks me a bit.

There's little disagreement about the expenditures you listed. They are all well-funded in the US. We spend an outrageous amount of money on schools, for example (4.7% of GDP and more than any other country per pupil except for Switzerland). But we will never satisfy the Teacher's unions and the educational bureaucracy.

The argument is all about those areas where there isn't a consensus that more money ought to be spent on a particular thing or any money at all.

By the way, these claims about infrastructure spending making a dent in Unemployment are silly. Maybe in the 1930's, but today a couple of guys and a paving machine can lay a lot of road in a day. Next time you are on an Interstate and there's roadwork being done, look at how few people are involved.

 

[NYCSUGrad]

There's little disagreement about the expenditures you listed. They are all well-funded in the US. We spend an outrageous amount of money on schools, for example (4.7% of GDP and more than any other country per pupil except for Switzerland). But we will never satisfy the Teacher's unions and the educational bureaucracy.

The argument is all about those areas where there isn't a consensus that more money ought to be spent on a particular thing or any money at all.

By the way, these claims about infrastructure spending making a dent in Unemployment are silly. Maybe in the 1930's, but today a couple of guys and a paving machine can lay a lot of road in a day. Next time you are on an Interstate and there's roadwork being done, look at how few people are involved.

I don't know about the last paragraph. I have had construction going on outside my window (I live on a major NYC tunnel street) since MAY and it's not completed. And I am talking work done from 7:30 am to sometimes past 5 pm. Noisy azz work. I literally don't know what they are doing because the off ramp that seems to have been the point looked to be done a couple of months ago.

I have complained frequently to my coop management about this with little or no satisfaction. The MTA did not notify the coop about the construction prior to it starting as they are supposed to, and they also claimed the construction would last two months. It's been six months now. Unfortunately in NYC that's not at all unusual. Regardless, legal action seems appropriate to me. Or at least the threat of it.

In fact it's going on now, on a Saturday afternoon. Again, I can't figure out WHAT they are doing that they haven't done.

 

[Townie72]

I don't know about the last paragraph. I have had construction going on outside my window (I live on a major NYC tunnel street) since MAY and it's not completed. And I am talking work done from 7:30 am to sometimes past 5 pm. Noisy azz work. I literally don't know what they are doing because the off ramp that seems to have been the point looked to be done a couple of months ago.

I have complained frequently to my coop management about this with little or no satisfaction. The MTA did not notify the coop about the construction prior to it starting as they are supposed to, and they also claimed the construction would last two months. It's been six months now. Unfortunately in NYC that's not at all unusual. Regardless, legal action seems appropriate to me. Or at least the threat of it.

Are these NYC Government workers? Or are they private contractors? Government people have little incentive to be efficient or quick.

Suing the City of NY or any Government is extraordinarily difficult. They, after all, make the rules.

I had a friend who had worked on a NJ State road crew for a Summer job. I asked him once why the State trucks drove so slowly, often clogging up two-lane roads through out the State.

He explained that what they would do is to figure out how far they were from the home yard and then compute how long it would take to get there if they drove 10 - 20 mph. That would tell them when they could quit working and start slowly driving. The idea was to get there exactly at quitting time. If they were 15 miles away, they could quit work at 4:00pm. If they were 30 miles away, at 2:45pm they would start packing up.

 

[NYCSUGrad]

Are these NYC Government workers? Or are they private contractors?

Suing the City of NY or any Government is extraordinarily difficult. They, after all, make the rules.

MTA. It's the agency responsible for bridges and tunnels in both NYS and NJ. And yes, a bear to deal with. It's the agency at the heart of the Bridgegate scandal, which is being tried now in NJ.

I'm not at all optimistic about my building being able to negotiate a settlement BUT I've been in contact with them since May regarding it and they are stonewalling me which I don't especially appreciate. Ah well. I'm a former court clerk and keep track of things...

Them meaning my building management.

 

[NYCSUGrad]

Are these NYC Government workers? Or are they private contractors? Government people have little incentive to be efficient or quick.

Suing the City of NY or any Government is extraordinarily difficult. They, after all, make the rules.

I had a friend who had worked on a NJ State road crew for a Summer job. I asked him once why the State trucks drove so slowly, often clogging up two-lane roads through out the State.

He explained that what they would do is to figure out how far they were from the home yard and then compute how long it would take to get there if they drove 10 - 20 mph. That would tell them when they could quit working and start slowly driving. The idea was to get there exactly at quitting time. If they were 15 miles away, they could quit work at 4:00pm. If they were 30 miles away, at 2:45pm they would start packing up.

Just the opposite here. They work the maximum to bilk the taxpayers! They even worked Columbus Day! I can imagine the OT for that!

And yeah, wouldn't be surprised if they THEN didn't bill for the time it takes to get back to the home base...