United We Stand ?

Do you stand with President Obama in support of this mosque or do you stand with the countless 9/11 families who believe its location is inappropriate? To some of you this might be a question you would have to stop and think about.  But if that is the case then you must be one of the poor little bleeding heart political correct freaks that have already wreaked America. If  it wasn't for you and your far left president you voted into office, this question would not have ever been asked in the first place! What a bunch of Idiots we've all become! No wonder the world looks on America with disrespect.

The average federal salary has grown 33% faster than inflation since 2000.

At a time when workers' pay and benefits have stagnated, federal employees' average compensation has grown to more than double what private sector workers earn, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Federal workers have been awarded bigger average pay and benefit increases than private employees for nine years in a row. The compensation gap between federal and private workers has doubled in the past decade.

Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The data are the latest available.

The federal compensation advantage has grown from $30,415 in 2000 to $61,998 last year.

Public employee unions say the compensation gap reflects the increasingly high level of skill and education required for most federal jobs and the government contracting out lower-paid jobs to the private sector in recent years.

"The data are not useful for a direct public-private pay comparison," says Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union.

Chris Edwards, a budget analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute, thinks otherwise. "Can't we now all agree that federal workers are overpaid and do something about it?" he asks.

Last week, President Obama ordered a freeze on bonuses for 2,900 political appointees. For the rest of the 2-million-person federal workforce, Obama asked for a 1.4% across-the-board pay hike in 2011, the smallest in more than a decade. Federal workers also would qualify for seniority pay hikes.

Congressional Republicans want to cancel the across-the-board increase in 2011, which would save $2.2 billion.

"Americans are fed up with public employee pay scales far exceeding that in the private sector," says Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., the second-ranking Republican in the House.

Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., says a pay freeze would unfairly scapegoat federal workers without addressing real budget problems.

What the data show:

•Benefits. Federal workers received average benefits worth $41,791 in 2009. Most of this was the government's contribution to pensions. Employees contributed an additional $10,569.

•Pay. The average federal salary has grown 33% faster than inflation since 2000. USA TODAY reported in March that the federal government pays an average of 20% more than private firms for comparable occupations. The analysis did not consider differences in experience and education.

•Total compensation. Federal compensation has grown 36.9% since 2000 after adjusting for inflation, compared with 8.8% for private workers.

What it amounts to is the employee (federal worker) makes more then the boss (taxpayer)

CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN

Russia's nuclear agency says that it will fuel Iran's first nuclear power plant, the Bushehr Plant, next weekend, defying U.S. calls to hold off until the Ahmadinejad regime proves it's not developing nuclear weapons — at the same time the Obama administration plans to buy 21 Russian-made choppers for use in Afghanistan, rather than buy American-made.

Federal workers earning double their private counterparts

Federal workers earning double their private counterparts
http://dailycaller.com ^ | Aug 11 2010 | dailycaller.com 
Posted on Wed Aug 11 2010 16:57:27 GMT-0500 (Central Daylight Time) by NoLibZone
At a time when workers’ pay and benefits have stagnated, federal employees’ average compensation has grown to more than double what private sector workers earn, a USA TODAY analysis finds.
Federal workers have been awarded bigger average pay and benefit increases than private employees for nine years in a row. The compensation gap between federal and private workers has doubled in the past decade.
Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The data are the latest available.
The federal compensation advantage has grown from $30,415 in 2000 to $61,998 last year.

Pretty sorry mud slinging!

As one New Hampshire Dem lawmaker reportedly resigns for making anti-Palin remark on Facebook, a candidate from the same state apologizes for saying he wished Sarah Palin and the father of her grandchild, Levi Johnston, had been on the plane that crashed and killed ex-Sen. Ted Stevens

Democrats pass $26 billion union enrichment bill

by KIM PRIESTAP on 11. AUG, 2010 in 2010 MIDTERMS, DEMOCRATS, POLITICS, UNIONS, ELECTIONS

Yesterday morning I woke up to a voice mail from Republican representative Michele Bachmann who had left a recorded message about Nancy Pelosi’s calling the House back to session to pass a $26 billion “jobs” bill. Jobs bill doesn’t even come close. It’s actually a union enrichment bill, which is a real slap in the face to American taxpayers because already public sector unions earn twice as much as their private sector counterparts. Arrogance, thy name is Democrat. Read more about this from Kim at 

http://politics.upnorthmommy.com/2010/08/democrats-pass-26-billion-union-enrichment-bill/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+KimsPoliticalInsights+(Kim+Priestap+-+No-nonsense+conservative+opinion)

Reid ripped for questioning how Hispanics could be Republican

Posted by Laura Myers
Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2010 at 10:09 AM

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid is getting a lot of partisan heat for saying, "I don't know how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican."
And his GOP opponent Sharron Angle is fanning the flames to take advantage of Reid's gaffe that has riled Hispanics who aren't Democrats like him.

Angle's communications director Jarrod Agen emailed links (listed at the end of this blog) to stories and blogs criticizing Reid for his remarks. And he noted that the Senate majority leader's hit on Hispanic Republicans comes after his campaign skewered Angle last week for saying Democrats were making "God our government."

"Last week it was religion. This week it’s ethnic politics," Agen said in a statement. "Harry Reid cannot give any good reasons why people should vote for him, so now he is turning to race and ethnicity. He is desperate to change the subject from the economy, which he knows is a losing issue for him."

Agen piled on by pointing out polls show Reid's son, Rory, isn't doing well in his gubernatorial race against Brian Sandoval, a Hispanic and a Republican.

"Of course the other ironic tidbit is that while Harry says he doesn’t know how there could be any Hispanic Republicans, his son is getting crushed by a Hispanic Republican in the Nevada Governor’s race," Agen wrote.

The Reid campaign didn't back away from the senator's comments, which came Tuesday while he was answering questions after addressing Hispanic activists in Las Vegas. Reid blamed Republicans for blocking his attempts to pass comprehensive immigration reform this year, something he had promised he would do as he seeks to shore up support he needs to win from Latino voters, who made up 15 percent of the Nevada electorate in 2008.

A Reid campaign statement said, "Sen. Reid has long enjoyed the support of many Hispanic Republicans in Nevada and appreciates that support."

"Sen. Reid’s contention was simply that he doesn't understand how anyone, Hispanic or otherwise, would vote for Republican candidates because they oppose saving teachers’ jobs, oppose job-creating tax incentives for small businesses, oppose investments in job-creating clean energy projects, and oppose the help for struggling, unemployed Nevadans to put food on the table and stay in their homes," the statement continued.

But Reid's sharp remark came not as he was talking about jobs and the economy at the Hispanic event, but as he slammed the GOP opposition to comprehensive immigration reform at a time when Republicans are gaining support for backing Arizona's law cracking down on illegal immigrants.

Angle backs Arizona and she has said she opposes Democratic plans for immigration reform because they would grant amnesty to people who broke the law -- a notion Reid rejects, saying illegal immigrants would have to pay fines and penalties and "go to the back of the line" to seek U.S. citizenship.

The Reid campaign also accused Angle of ignoring Hispanic media, a charge Agen dismissed as a weak attempt to "paint our campaign as anti-Hispanic."

In contrast, the Reid campaign sought to display his Hispanic credentials by using a Latino spokesman to defend the senator.

"Sharron Angle’s extreme and dangerous agenda for Hispanic Nevadans is something she obviously wants to hide, which is why she and her allies will do or say anything to attack Sen. Reid and shift the focus from the intense heat her campaign has been under," Reid campaign spokesman Jose' Dante Parra said in a statement. "Despite the efforts of Republicans like Sharron Angle to change the U.S. Constitution and block comprehensive immigration reform, Sen. Reid will continue to wake up and fight every day for the interests of Hispanic Nevadans."

State-Aid Package (Funds for Teachers and Medicaid)

Cost:

$26,100,000,000*

On Aug. 5, the Senate approved a bill (HR 1586) that would increase Medicaid funding to states and provide funds to states to prevent layoffs of teachers. The bill includes $10 billion for teachers and $16.1 billion for Medicaid reimbursements to states. Republicans call the bill a political payoff to teachers' unions. The House is expected to vote on the bill the week of Aug. 8.

Update: As of  August 11, it passed. Way to go Dems!