After 16 days of denials by Laredo law enforcement and local officials regarding a Mexican drug cartel takeover of a Laredo area ranch, a Texas police blotter proves the alleged incident did in fact happen and that multiple agencies responded to the scene of a seized U.S. ranch.
Think about it for a moment.
One of the most brutal drug cartels operating in Mexico crossed the U.S. border and took a ranch from its lawful owner.
Intimidation has arrived along the southern border.
The police blotter tells the story of the events that unfolded on July 23rd;
“On Friday 7-23-10 Laredo Webb informed that their county SWAT Team is conducting an operation in the Mines Rd. area. According to LT. Garcia with LSO (Laredo Sheriff Office) received a call from a ranch owner stating that the Zetas had taken over his ranch. As per the 17 (reporting person) he informed them that they stated La Compania (area business) was taking the ranch and no one was permitted on the ranch without permission. SO (Sheriff Office) will have an unmarked green Ford Taurus with two officers stationed at Los Compadres and a white Chevy Tahoe with two officers stationed at Mineral Rd. The LSO (Laredo Sheriff Office) will maintain surveillance in the area and advise if action is taken. Susp (suspect) Veh (vehicle) are described as a gray or silver Audi, a BLK (black) Escalade or Navigator and a van truck with a logo of a car wash spot free on the side. Border Patrol also has their response team on scene. Also known info of BMW’s and Corvettes entering and leaving the area. Auth LT Lichtenberger if assistance is requested LPD (Laredo Police Department) will secure the outer perimeter. (07/24/10 07:42:10 NR1873)”
Cartels have crossed the sovereign borders of the United States causing multiple agencies to respond and the end result was a media blackout. It’s well documented that media blackouts in Mexico are happening because the cartels are threatening reporters and news outlets with bodily harm. The question is why American law enforcement agencies are giving reporters the “We can neither confirm nor deny the incident happened line?”
It was a law enforcement officer on the scene that also confirmed the incident in fact happened and officers on the ground said they “considered this an act of war.”
The cover-up surrounding this story has reverberated throughout other federal law enforcement agencies. A recently retired ICE veteran, John Sakelarides had plenty to say about the latest U.S. incursion.
“What do you call an invasion by foreign nationals who are armed and occupy territory belonging to a sovereign nation? An act of war. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's a duck. Anyone who is denying this is what has occurred and that it constitutes an act of war is either an idiot or is somehow involved in this act of war.”
He continues to say, “If they (those covering-up the story) are elected representatives or government officials and they are aware that an act of war has been perpetrated against the United States, and refuse to admit it has occurred, much less do anything about it, is violating their oath of office.”
The approximate location of the U.S. ranch taken by the Zetas was 10 miles northwest of I-35 off Mines Road and Minerales Annex Road.
The Los Zetas drug cartel is an offshoot of the elite Mexican military trained in special ops, many of whom were trained by the U.S. military. The mercenary organization is said to include members of corrupt Mexican Federales, politicians as well as drug traffickers. The group was once part of the Gulf cartel, but has splintered and now directly competes with the Gulf cartel for premium drug smuggling routes in the Texas region.
The leader of Los Zetas cartel is Heriberto “El Lazca” Lazcano and the Zetas are considered the most violent paramilitary group in Mexico by the DEA. These drug cartels routinely kidnap tourists, infiltrate local municipalities and smuggle large quantities of narcotics into the U.S. marketplace.
A media firestorm ensued after this reporter posted a story on Saturday July 24, 2010. Now that the story is corroborated, it will be up to local media to track down what events took place after the Zetas seized a U.S ranch.
Stay tuned for updates reports throughout the week.
For original story; http://www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2010m7d24-Los-Zetas-drug-cartel-takes-control-2-US-ranches-in-Texas
Click here to find out more!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Labor unions and Latino leaders begin a statewide voter registration in California
With less than 90 days until the November midterm elections, California labor unions and Latino community leaders are ratcheting up their voter registration teams in an effort to minimize Democratic losses.
“For Latinos, the 2010 election is more than merely electing one candidate or another, it is about taking an active role, now more than ever, in the decisions that will affect our families and creating a brighter future for our children and grandchildren,'' said Eliseo Medina, international executive vice president for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). “We have the potential to swing elections and the time for our voices to be heard is now.”
SEIU along with the California Teachers Union and Latino leaders started a new nine-city registration campaign called Por Nuestras Familias – Todos a Votar. For those who don’t read Spanish the English translation is “For Our Families – All Vote.”
By contrast, California is also home to the largest network of Tea Party organizations in the country and they too are looking to sway voters to consider the financial consequences of illegal immigration to Californians.
However, the labor and Latino leaders are looking to have their voices well represented in November. Latino groups are trying to educate their constituency about the importance of voting especially in light of Arizona’s SB1070, a law that sets out to enforce immigration laws more strictly in Arizona.
“With jobs and immigration being the two most important issues in November's elections, participating in the political process gives Latinos an opportunity to demand respect for our contributions to the economy and civic life of our communities,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA).
CHIRLA was formed in 1986 to advance the human and civil rights of immigrants and refugees in Los Angeles; promote harmonious multi-ethnic and multi-racial human relations; and through coalition-building, advocacy, community education and organizing, empower immigrants and their allies to build a more just society, according to their website.
The CHIRLA organization has been accused of openly meeting with high-ranking Mexican government officials during the California proposition 187 debate that rocked California during the 1990s.
The unions and Latino leaders say the new voter registration campaign will encourage the Latinos, “who make up 32 percent of the adult population eligible to vote but only represent 20 percent of the California’s registered voters,” to head to the ballot box for the midterm election.
The bus tour is set to begin on August 14 and plans to visit San Diego, Riverside, Santa Ana, Los Angeles and San Fernando in southern California before heading north to Bakersfield, Fresno, San Jose and Sacramento.
For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner
“For Latinos, the 2010 election is more than merely electing one candidate or another, it is about taking an active role, now more than ever, in the decisions that will affect our families and creating a brighter future for our children and grandchildren,'' said Eliseo Medina, international executive vice president for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). “We have the potential to swing elections and the time for our voices to be heard is now.”
SEIU along with the California Teachers Union and Latino leaders started a new nine-city registration campaign called Por Nuestras Familias – Todos a Votar. For those who don’t read Spanish the English translation is “For Our Families – All Vote.”
By contrast, California is also home to the largest network of Tea Party organizations in the country and they too are looking to sway voters to consider the financial consequences of illegal immigration to Californians.
However, the labor and Latino leaders are looking to have their voices well represented in November. Latino groups are trying to educate their constituency about the importance of voting especially in light of Arizona’s SB1070, a law that sets out to enforce immigration laws more strictly in Arizona.
“With jobs and immigration being the two most important issues in November's elections, participating in the political process gives Latinos an opportunity to demand respect for our contributions to the economy and civic life of our communities,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA).
CHIRLA was formed in 1986 to advance the human and civil rights of immigrants and refugees in Los Angeles; promote harmonious multi-ethnic and multi-racial human relations; and through coalition-building, advocacy, community education and organizing, empower immigrants and their allies to build a more just society, according to their website.
The CHIRLA organization has been accused of openly meeting with high-ranking Mexican government officials during the California proposition 187 debate that rocked California during the 1990s.
The unions and Latino leaders say the new voter registration campaign will encourage the Latinos, “who make up 32 percent of the adult population eligible to vote but only represent 20 percent of the California’s registered voters,” to head to the ballot box for the midterm election.
The bus tour is set to begin on August 14 and plans to visit San Diego, Riverside, Santa Ana, Los Angeles and San Fernando in southern California before heading north to Bakersfield, Fresno, San Jose and Sacramento.
For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Doctors against Obamacare say no to a government takeover
A sea of white coats filled Spanish Landing in downtown San Diego to present a united front against government-controlled health care. A group of physicians formed the National Doctors Tea Party and have begun their cross country trek; however these doctors are on a mission to educate Americans about the perils of Obamacare.
A bevy of speakers spoke about the dangers patients will face if the government is successful in monopolizing treatment options. Sharon Angle, a Tea Party candidate running against Senate leader Harry Reid, assured the fresh faces that attending a tea party may be uncomfortable at first, but the American cause is “well worth the extra work.”
Typical complaints speakers addressed was the need for choices, choices in doctors, choices in insurance and choices in politicians. Approximately 1,000 attendees cheered when Angle boasted about ousting incumbents, expanding liberty and limiting government’s reach into every aspect of daily life.
Three events compelled folks to spend a few hours of their weekend listening to doctors, radio talk show hosts and political hopefuls- President Obama suing Arizona for enforcing immigration laws; White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’s comment that Missouri’s 71 percent approval of proposition ‘C’ (protecting residents from being forced to buy Obamacare) means “nothing” to the White House; and one California judge telling seven million residents their votes meant nothing and overturned proposition 8 (the right for gays to marry).
Conversation amongst rally attendees had a common theme- American was being run like a dictatorship and the legislating from the bench had to stop. The Tea Party movement has been gaining popularity during the past 18 months and plenty of first-timers came out trying to determine what they can do to change the track America is heading down.
Even the younger generation knows the economic path the country is currently on is unsustainable.
“This is my first tea party and I came out because of what President Obama did to Arizona. It was the last straw for me,” says Ted a San Diego native. “My dad fought in Vietnam and was a prisoner of war, I know what freedom is and large government and deficit spending is not freedom.”
Author of “The truth about Obamacare,” Sally Pipes also spoke to San Diegans about the devastation Obamacare will bring to the world’s leader in health care. It was only three years ago that Pipes earned her American citizenship, she emigrated from Canada, and she has been a leading voice in warning Americans about the dangers of national health care.
She explained that since Canada implemented National health care in 1984, Canadians lost immediate access to doctors, have been subject to less than state-of-the-art technology and subjected to health care rationing.
“The average waiting list to see a primary care doctor is 16 weeks,” Pipes said. “We have more than 250 doctors leave Canada each year, not because they want to make more money, but because they want to be doctors without all the restrictions.”
Many Americans do not realize the Canadian system includes rationing care and that their spending is strictly enforced by the government’s fixed budget each year regardless of circumstances. Pipes also informed the attendees that Canada has made it illegal to purchase private health care.
She also said there are some easy fixes to bring American health care costs down – “stop forcing doctors to practice defensive medicine. This cost the U.S. $210 billion last year alone.”
The country’s continued unhappiness with the state of the economy has encouraged many to get involved in politics for the first time. Many of these folks have put in all on the line to run against well-established candidates in an attempt to represent the silent majority in the upcoming midterm election.
Chelene Nightingale, California gubernatorial candidate concurred with other Tea Party speakers, “Nothing from the government is free.” She went on to say, “One of my favorite Ronald Reagan quotes is ‘freedom is one generation away from extinction.”
The message from relative unknown politicians clearly resonated with San Diegans.
Crowd favorite, Congressional hopeful and Iraq War veteran, Nick Popaditch had plenty to say about the 2,500-page health care law. “When I was injured in 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq, it was the doctors who took off their protective gear to save my life during a firefight.”
Popaditch commended America’s ability to provide him with the best medical treatment in the world. “Doctors were able to take a blind man (me) to a sighted man. It doesn’t get any better than that,” he said.
Like many would-be politicians, Popaditch promised the rally attendees he would repeal Obamacare if he was lucky enough to represent California’s 51st district. “I’ll defund Obamacare and the czars.” That statement earned the Iraq War hero a standing ovation.
Looking forward, doctors across America have drawn up a relatively simple plan to aid the skyrocketing costs of health care.
Start with issuing tax credit vouchers to insure 20 million without health insurance; Let insurance companies compete for customers; Expand high-risk pools (this includes pre-existing condition rules); Make insurance portable; Let patients shop around and encourage health savings accounts; Stop the lawsuit lottery by monitoring frivolous lawsuits; Reject government control; and Don’t allow bureaucrat health boards of unelected persons from making clinical decisions best left to doctors, is the plan from Docs 4 Patient Care.
The San Diego event organizer Doctor Adam Dorin of Physicians Against Obamacare said he began this journey because too many doctors were not being heard. In essence he said, “This movement is to awaken the American physician’s silent majority against Obamacare.”
The National Doctors Tea Party will continue to travel across the country educating doctors and patients with the hope that the White House will stop dictating and start listening to those who have a stake in providing the best health care to all Americans.
For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner
A bevy of speakers spoke about the dangers patients will face if the government is successful in monopolizing treatment options. Sharon Angle, a Tea Party candidate running against Senate leader Harry Reid, assured the fresh faces that attending a tea party may be uncomfortable at first, but the American cause is “well worth the extra work.”
Typical complaints speakers addressed was the need for choices, choices in doctors, choices in insurance and choices in politicians. Approximately 1,000 attendees cheered when Angle boasted about ousting incumbents, expanding liberty and limiting government’s reach into every aspect of daily life.
Three events compelled folks to spend a few hours of their weekend listening to doctors, radio talk show hosts and political hopefuls- President Obama suing Arizona for enforcing immigration laws; White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’s comment that Missouri’s 71 percent approval of proposition ‘C’ (protecting residents from being forced to buy Obamacare) means “nothing” to the White House; and one California judge telling seven million residents their votes meant nothing and overturned proposition 8 (the right for gays to marry).
Conversation amongst rally attendees had a common theme- American was being run like a dictatorship and the legislating from the bench had to stop. The Tea Party movement has been gaining popularity during the past 18 months and plenty of first-timers came out trying to determine what they can do to change the track America is heading down.
Even the younger generation knows the economic path the country is currently on is unsustainable.
“This is my first tea party and I came out because of what President Obama did to Arizona. It was the last straw for me,” says Ted a San Diego native. “My dad fought in Vietnam and was a prisoner of war, I know what freedom is and large government and deficit spending is not freedom.”
Author of “The truth about Obamacare,” Sally Pipes also spoke to San Diegans about the devastation Obamacare will bring to the world’s leader in health care. It was only three years ago that Pipes earned her American citizenship, she emigrated from Canada, and she has been a leading voice in warning Americans about the dangers of national health care.
She explained that since Canada implemented National health care in 1984, Canadians lost immediate access to doctors, have been subject to less than state-of-the-art technology and subjected to health care rationing.
“The average waiting list to see a primary care doctor is 16 weeks,” Pipes said. “We have more than 250 doctors leave Canada each year, not because they want to make more money, but because they want to be doctors without all the restrictions.”
Many Americans do not realize the Canadian system includes rationing care and that their spending is strictly enforced by the government’s fixed budget each year regardless of circumstances. Pipes also informed the attendees that Canada has made it illegal to purchase private health care.
She also said there are some easy fixes to bring American health care costs down – “stop forcing doctors to practice defensive medicine. This cost the U.S. $210 billion last year alone.”
The country’s continued unhappiness with the state of the economy has encouraged many to get involved in politics for the first time. Many of these folks have put in all on the line to run against well-established candidates in an attempt to represent the silent majority in the upcoming midterm election.
Chelene Nightingale, California gubernatorial candidate concurred with other Tea Party speakers, “Nothing from the government is free.” She went on to say, “One of my favorite Ronald Reagan quotes is ‘freedom is one generation away from extinction.”
The message from relative unknown politicians clearly resonated with San Diegans.
Crowd favorite, Congressional hopeful and Iraq War veteran, Nick Popaditch had plenty to say about the 2,500-page health care law. “When I was injured in 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq, it was the doctors who took off their protective gear to save my life during a firefight.”
Popaditch commended America’s ability to provide him with the best medical treatment in the world. “Doctors were able to take a blind man (me) to a sighted man. It doesn’t get any better than that,” he said.
Like many would-be politicians, Popaditch promised the rally attendees he would repeal Obamacare if he was lucky enough to represent California’s 51st district. “I’ll defund Obamacare and the czars.” That statement earned the Iraq War hero a standing ovation.
Looking forward, doctors across America have drawn up a relatively simple plan to aid the skyrocketing costs of health care.
Start with issuing tax credit vouchers to insure 20 million without health insurance; Let insurance companies compete for customers; Expand high-risk pools (this includes pre-existing condition rules); Make insurance portable; Let patients shop around and encourage health savings accounts; Stop the lawsuit lottery by monitoring frivolous lawsuits; Reject government control; and Don’t allow bureaucrat health boards of unelected persons from making clinical decisions best left to doctors, is the plan from Docs 4 Patient Care.
The San Diego event organizer Doctor Adam Dorin of Physicians Against Obamacare said he began this journey because too many doctors were not being heard. In essence he said, “This movement is to awaken the American physician’s silent majority against Obamacare.”
The National Doctors Tea Party will continue to travel across the country educating doctors and patients with the hope that the White House will stop dictating and start listening to those who have a stake in providing the best health care to all Americans.
For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Mexico increases their drug war death toll to 28,000
In the past four years Mexico has lost more than 28,000 lives in Felipe Calderon’s war on drug. The new number adds approximately 3,000 murders to the drug cartel violence tally, according to the Mexican Center of Investigation and National Security (Cisen).
While the murder rate is closing in on the 30,000 mark, National Intelligence Chief Guillermo Valdes says the high number of deaths is a small victory in the war on drugs and the fact remains that cartels are losing many high -ranking members.
During an “anti-drug strategy” speech with President Calderon, Valdes spoke with other senior officials hoping to discover new methods that can break the stranglehold cartels have inside Mexico.
The meeting also produced one idea that many in America found shocking – the possibility of legalizing drugs as a way to curtail the violent industry. President Calderon said personally he was opposed to legalizing drugs, but indicated his administration was open to a debate on the topic.
“You have to analyze carefully the pros and cons and the key arguments on both sides,” Calderon explained.
Since the drug war began under President Calderon, the National Intelligence Chief, Valdes, said there was at least one major clash a day (963) between security forces and drug cartels. So far the Mexican police have confiscated about 85,000 weapons, 34,000 vehicles and more than $400 million in cash.
Even though these numbers are impressive, Valdes knows there is a lot of work left before the government can take control of the organized crime issue.
“With regard to the aim of establishing conditions for peace and recovering control of regions affected by organized crime, we have not achieved what we wanted. Violence is growing,” he states.
One new priority Valdes explained they would focus on was the money laundering problem. He admitted the government needed to ensure that local institutions (banks) did not give into the corruption that comes with the drug cartel money.
Currently the Mexican government does not have control of the local and state police forces, as many of these officials have been paid off by cartel members under the threat that they or their families will be killed if they do not comply with the cartel leaders.
And the corruption does not stop with the government, this past July, Federal Police arrested five employees of Pemex (Mexico’s main gasoline provider) who were working with the Los Zetas to steal petroleum products clandestinely in the State of Veracruz. Early reports estimate the cartels managed to skim approximately 45 percent of the production.
“It was obvious from the first moment that these criminal organizations were involved in a very lucrative enterprise with little risk,” said Samuel Villa, an analyst with the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, “Any other activity would have been more dangerous.”
One thing to keep in mind is the more threatened the cartel leaders feel the more desperate they react.
For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner
While the murder rate is closing in on the 30,000 mark, National Intelligence Chief Guillermo Valdes says the high number of deaths is a small victory in the war on drugs and the fact remains that cartels are losing many high -ranking members.
During an “anti-drug strategy” speech with President Calderon, Valdes spoke with other senior officials hoping to discover new methods that can break the stranglehold cartels have inside Mexico.
The meeting also produced one idea that many in America found shocking – the possibility of legalizing drugs as a way to curtail the violent industry. President Calderon said personally he was opposed to legalizing drugs, but indicated his administration was open to a debate on the topic.
“You have to analyze carefully the pros and cons and the key arguments on both sides,” Calderon explained.
Since the drug war began under President Calderon, the National Intelligence Chief, Valdes, said there was at least one major clash a day (963) between security forces and drug cartels. So far the Mexican police have confiscated about 85,000 weapons, 34,000 vehicles and more than $400 million in cash.
Even though these numbers are impressive, Valdes knows there is a lot of work left before the government can take control of the organized crime issue.
“With regard to the aim of establishing conditions for peace and recovering control of regions affected by organized crime, we have not achieved what we wanted. Violence is growing,” he states.
One new priority Valdes explained they would focus on was the money laundering problem. He admitted the government needed to ensure that local institutions (banks) did not give into the corruption that comes with the drug cartel money.
Currently the Mexican government does not have control of the local and state police forces, as many of these officials have been paid off by cartel members under the threat that they or their families will be killed if they do not comply with the cartel leaders.
And the corruption does not stop with the government, this past July, Federal Police arrested five employees of Pemex (Mexico’s main gasoline provider) who were working with the Los Zetas to steal petroleum products clandestinely in the State of Veracruz. Early reports estimate the cartels managed to skim approximately 45 percent of the production.
“It was obvious from the first moment that these criminal organizations were involved in a very lucrative enterprise with little risk,” said Samuel Villa, an analyst with the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, “Any other activity would have been more dangerous.”
One thing to keep in mind is the more threatened the cartel leaders feel the more desperate they react.
For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Astro Turf provided by SEIU hijacks Arizona 1070 rally
Not so long ago the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) played schoolyard games and called the Tea Party movement Astro Turf. It’s been more than a year and the grassroots Tea Party movement is still going strong. In fact many political candidates backed by the movement are poised to win Congressional seats and it appears the opposition SEIU unions are the ones providing the “fake crowds.”
Case in point, last week Arizona’s capital, Phoenix recorded triple-digit heat and heated protesters. “I was waiting around for something to happen all morning. There were 50-60 peaceful protestors and media folks. Then 11 buses drove up from Los Angeles and out came SEIU employees,” said Rhonda Deniston of Stop Taxing Us, a Tea Party group.
Deniston explains that the rally goers were instructed to get rowdy and get arrested- hardly a grassroots movement by Arizonians against SB1070 illegal immigration law.
Despite the bussed-in, rent -a -crowd, Arizonans are committed to restoring law and order in their state and say they will not be deterred by Obama’s lawsuit.
Many Arizona residents said the law isn’t about Republican or Democrat- it’s about right and wrong. This may explain the 70 percent approval rating of SB1070 by its citizens.
“I wish everyone would stop picking on Arizona, we have real problems and we have to fix them,” says Ruth Burke a longtime Arizona resident who happens to be a Democrat.
Many of the folks bussed in from California were from the SEIU 660 in Los Angeles. The union's presence came as no surprise Tea Party members considering the hot-button immigration issue.
Plenty of video was taken in Arizona and one group provided interesting fodder for the camera. Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (A.N.S.W.E.R.) trotted out impressionable college age kids openly talking about how good Communism would be for America. These kids were sporting bright green stickers advertising the National Conference on Socialism in Los Angeles, CA. November 13 and 14, 2010, according to Deniston.
The A.N.S.W.E.R web site PSLWEB.org has a lot of information about socialism workshops and it is quite alarming. “The two kids in the video were freely talking to me until and older man in a red shirt (their handler) noticed they were talking to me and drew them away.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Who knows how much video clips are worth – perhaps immigration reform.
Video of Che supporters; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXW0Rrf_pYM&feature=player_embedded#
More video of SB1070 rally; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeVYaDuUGWs&feature=email
For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93Ka7y8XrPc
American flag being defaced at an anti-Arizona 1070 rally
Arizona SB1070 rally photos
Arizona SB1070 rally photos
Photos taken at rally in Arizona.
View Slideshow »
Click here to find out more!
More About: Immigration
Case in point, last week Arizona’s capital, Phoenix recorded triple-digit heat and heated protesters. “I was waiting around for something to happen all morning. There were 50-60 peaceful protestors and media folks. Then 11 buses drove up from Los Angeles and out came SEIU employees,” said Rhonda Deniston of Stop Taxing Us, a Tea Party group.
Deniston explains that the rally goers were instructed to get rowdy and get arrested- hardly a grassroots movement by Arizonians against SB1070 illegal immigration law.
Despite the bussed-in, rent -a -crowd, Arizonans are committed to restoring law and order in their state and say they will not be deterred by Obama’s lawsuit.
Many Arizona residents said the law isn’t about Republican or Democrat- it’s about right and wrong. This may explain the 70 percent approval rating of SB1070 by its citizens.
“I wish everyone would stop picking on Arizona, we have real problems and we have to fix them,” says Ruth Burke a longtime Arizona resident who happens to be a Democrat.
Many of the folks bussed in from California were from the SEIU 660 in Los Angeles. The union's presence came as no surprise Tea Party members considering the hot-button immigration issue.
Plenty of video was taken in Arizona and one group provided interesting fodder for the camera. Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (A.N.S.W.E.R.) trotted out impressionable college age kids openly talking about how good Communism would be for America. These kids were sporting bright green stickers advertising the National Conference on Socialism in Los Angeles, CA. November 13 and 14, 2010, according to Deniston.
The A.N.S.W.E.R web site PSLWEB.org has a lot of information about socialism workshops and it is quite alarming. “The two kids in the video were freely talking to me until and older man in a red shirt (their handler) noticed they were talking to me and drew them away.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Who knows how much video clips are worth – perhaps immigration reform.
Video of Che supporters; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXW0Rrf_pYM&feature=player_embedded#
More video of SB1070 rally; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeVYaDuUGWs&feature=email
For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93Ka7y8XrPc
American flag being defaced at an anti-Arizona 1070 rally
Arizona SB1070 rally photos
Arizona SB1070 rally photos
Photos taken at rally in Arizona.
View Slideshow »
Click here to find out more!
More About: Immigration
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Drug cartels, media blackouts and more are commonplace along border
A virtual media blackout is taking place along Mexico’s borders, and nowhere is the need to get the stories out more important than the U.S./Mexican border- a place where more than 25,000 have lost their lives because of cartel violence.
“After years of relative calm, the gangland nightmare is back-and yet, barely a single mention of the clashes here has been made by local radio and television or newspapers. The city's journalists, having lost some of their own and seen their colleagues across the country killed or kidnapped, have been silenced for fear of their lives,” according to the Houston Chronicle report. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/7131506.html
One brave Mexican reporter spoke out about the virtual warzone that is his country is embroiled in.
"Nowhere is the media controlled more than it is here," said the journalist who says he would face serious danger if identified. "There is total control."
American Thinker, an online news website goes on to say that, “In border towns like Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros, Reynosa and numerous others, gun battles between the military and the powerful Zetas and the Gulf Cartel have been fought around the clock during the past week. Officials at all levels of the government have offered little if any information to a frightened citizenry amid the media blackout. One local businessman remarked that ‘before the news was alarmist; now there's no information at all.’”
Journalists in Mexico have no choice but to comply with the drug cartels or face the murderous consequences.
Last week four journalists were kidnapped in Gomez Palacios, a northern border city ravaged by gang violence. “Gangsters demanded that television stations broadcast videos favorable to them in exchange for the journalists' lives. The station complied, and the men were released,” according to American Thinker.
The uptick of violence along the U.S./Mexico border is directly related to the Zetas and the Gulf Cartels who are fighting for control of smuggling routes into the U.S. The tightening of the border by authorities and as many as six major cartels have pushed the violence to barbaric levels in order to control routes and snag the top spot in the world of organized crime in Mexico.
Meanwhile on the American side of the border, the Obama administration and a subservient main stream media appear to control the border violence news leaving anyone not living in the region uninformed about the dangerous living conditions along both sides of the border.
More evidence of this comes from a story by the BBC about the small border town of Ft. Hancock, Texas; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10825403 “On a tour of Ft Hancock's streets, most of which are unpaved, Jose Sierra points to two smarter homes, one sporting security cameras, another with a shiny 18-wheeler truck parked outside. ‘The element moves freely in the community, but they're keeping it low key,’" says Jose Sierra, Ft Hancock's law enforcement officer.
The border crossing in Ft. Hancock is outfitted with a brand new customs and border post containing a new Border Patrol headquarters complete with state-of-the-art fencing. But like most border outposts the stretch of the fence runs a few miles east and west of the border office before it ends leaving miles and miles of open desert for cartels to operate freely east and west of Ft Hancock.
“As if to emphasize its absurdity, a metal footbridge, narrow but unguarded spans the Rio Grande River a few miles to the west. Local farmers do not tend to speak of personal danger, despite being warned to "arm yourselves" by Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West, at a meeting earlier this year,” the BBC reports.
However, Officer Sierra worries the violence will spread to Ft Hancock sooner rather than later. "It's just a matter of time," he says.
As for other border towns the violence is very real
Fighting was especially heavy in Nuevo Laredo on the U.S. border 120 miles north of Monterrey on Friday and early Saturday morning the last weekend in July, according to Border Land Beat http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2010/08/urban-combat.html.
“A massive firefight lasting almost an hour was reported in southern Nuevo Laredo Friday afternoon in the Colonia Concordia area close to the Wal-Mart and Home Depot stores on Avenida Reforma between army troops supported by a helicopter and a group of gunmen. Civilians rushed out of the area, fleeing into stores for safety from the intense gunfire. Grenade detonations were reported on the Avenida Reforma,” the report read.
The fighting continued and the gunmen were pursued by soldiers. However, there were no deaths or arrests reported.
There was also a grenade attack reported on Friday night that hit a local Televisa network building. Residents said the attack happened before the nightly newscast. According to witnesses the grenade was thrown from a vehicle and exploded outside the television studios.
More incursions into the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Defense said it was looking into a second helicopter sighting in the past three weeks by a Mexican military helicopter crossing into U.S. airspace near rural Zapata County, Texas.
According to a Houston Chronicle story, “The incident did occur and it’s still under investigation,” department spokeswoman Maj. Tanya Bradsher said, confirming that the copter, believed to belong to the Mexican navy, was seen Sunday.
Rick Pauza, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman, earlier in March confirmed a Mexican military helicopter hovered as long as 20 minutes on March 9 (2009) over a residential area near Falcon Lake, a reservoir on the Rio Grande. He said CBP officials who lived in the neighborhood were among those who saw it.
Pauza said the helicopter crossed back without incident and that once the sighting was reported up the chain of the command “that was the extent of it.”
Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez said Sunday’s sighting was the second one confirmed, but several others were reported to him during the past two weeks that he couldn’t be sure enough about to forward to the federal government.
Gonzalez said the unconfirmed incursions occurred on March 20 and on Monday and Tuesday and were reported to him by a deputy, a local news reporter, and a federal officer who the sheriff said has since been muzzled by higher-ups.
“I don’t want to get him involved because it sounds like they’re going to fire him for saying the truth,” Gonzalez said of the officer.
According to Gonzalez, he was “initially rebuffed” by federal officials at the Joint Operations Intelligence Center until Gonzalez showed them photos from witnesses and that Gonzalez had a “pretty good idea they were Mexican military operations."
According to Gonzalez, when he produced the photos, federal officials blamed “faulty radars”. What’s important to note, local authorities being “muzzled by higher-ups” which might be occurring today, in South Texas,” the Texas newspaper said.
It’s not the first time
This reporter wrote a story in December of last year about the Mexican military blurring the international border lines. The Story titled “Screw up move up in play again in Customs and Border Protections,” http://www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m12d16-Screw-up-move-up-in-play-again-in-Customs-and-Border-Protection. The story details military incursions under the section “Aguilar Denies Military Incursions by Mexico’s Soldiers.”
“Another problem plaguing the Border States is the increased border incursions,” the story reads.
According to Ramirez, “Over the past 10 years (through Spring 2006), the Border Patrol has reported more than 250 incursions by Mexican military and police units into the U.S., including incidents where U.S. civilians, Border Patrol agents, and other law enforcement came under fire from the uniformed Mexicans.
While Sheriff’s in Hudspeth County continue to fight on the front lines along the U.S./Mexico border region, aggressive incidents have continually been downplayed by Aguilar and Congressman Reyes; even when these incursions are documented with video.
In 2006 the Hudspeth County Texas Sheriff’s deputies and Texas state troopers ran into a convoy of Mexican vehicles transporting drugs on the U.S. side of the border. “As you know, our law enforcement chased them back to the border where they were met by heavily-armed Mexican military units in Humvees, with machine guns, who escorted the drug smugglers back into Mexico. Again, our government covers up for Mexico’s involvement and plays down the incident,” Ramirez said.
In Congressional testimony, Congressman Reyes stated there were no Mexican military incursions and the Hudspeth County Sheriff’s deputy was mistaken. Reyes concluded that because he served in the U.S. military and resided in the border region most his life there was no Mexican military crossing the international border. This echoed the statements by the Mexican government later parroted by representatives of the Bush Administration including Aguilar.
However, in sworn testimony from Kelly Legarreta, Deputy Sheriff in Hudspeth County and first on the scene when the alleged incursion took place stated, he too had served in the U.S. Marines and he knew what he saw –Mexican military illegally crossing the U.S. border assisting two vehicles loaded with contraband back into Mexico.”
Drug cartels place a million dollar price tag on Sheriff Joe Arpaio
According to a news report filed by a local Fox affiliate in Phoenix when Arizona's immigration law, SB 1070, went into effect, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was targeted by the Mexican drug cartels: they allegedly put a million dollar price on his head.
In an audio message in Spanish the cartel sends a garbled message, but the text was crystal clear. "It's offering a million dollars for Sheriff Joe Arpaio's head and offering a thousand dollars for anyone who wants to join the Mexican cartel."
An Arizona man who wants to remain anonymous says it was his wife who received the text message on Tuesday evening. The text message included an international phone number and instructions to pass the message along.
The Maricopa County Sheriff Department is taking the latest death threat very seriously and Lisa Allen of the Sheriff's office says the message originated somewhere in Mexico.
From January to June this year, more than 7,000 people have been killed, according to Mexican Attorney General Arturo Chavez. About 50,000 troops and federal police are actively involved in Mexico's war on drugs and the government says record amounts of drugs have been seized. Mexican authorities said they have either arrested or killed many cartel leaders this year.
A little more
The Los Zetas story that was written over a week ago is still being investigated and will be updated as details and facts are released. Stay tuned…
I want to give the troops at Death by a 1000 Papercuts a shout out for sticking with the story and continuing their research, you can find them at; http://deathby1000papercuts.com/ and I can’t leave out the guys at Diggers Realm; http://www.diggersrealm.com/mt/ powering through the blogosphere one story at a time.
For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner
“After years of relative calm, the gangland nightmare is back-and yet, barely a single mention of the clashes here has been made by local radio and television or newspapers. The city's journalists, having lost some of their own and seen their colleagues across the country killed or kidnapped, have been silenced for fear of their lives,” according to the Houston Chronicle report. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/7131506.html
One brave Mexican reporter spoke out about the virtual warzone that is his country is embroiled in.
"Nowhere is the media controlled more than it is here," said the journalist who says he would face serious danger if identified. "There is total control."
American Thinker, an online news website goes on to say that, “In border towns like Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros, Reynosa and numerous others, gun battles between the military and the powerful Zetas and the Gulf Cartel have been fought around the clock during the past week. Officials at all levels of the government have offered little if any information to a frightened citizenry amid the media blackout. One local businessman remarked that ‘before the news was alarmist; now there's no information at all.’”
Journalists in Mexico have no choice but to comply with the drug cartels or face the murderous consequences.
Last week four journalists were kidnapped in Gomez Palacios, a northern border city ravaged by gang violence. “Gangsters demanded that television stations broadcast videos favorable to them in exchange for the journalists' lives. The station complied, and the men were released,” according to American Thinker.
The uptick of violence along the U.S./Mexico border is directly related to the Zetas and the Gulf Cartels who are fighting for control of smuggling routes into the U.S. The tightening of the border by authorities and as many as six major cartels have pushed the violence to barbaric levels in order to control routes and snag the top spot in the world of organized crime in Mexico.
Meanwhile on the American side of the border, the Obama administration and a subservient main stream media appear to control the border violence news leaving anyone not living in the region uninformed about the dangerous living conditions along both sides of the border.
More evidence of this comes from a story by the BBC about the small border town of Ft. Hancock, Texas; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10825403 “On a tour of Ft Hancock's streets, most of which are unpaved, Jose Sierra points to two smarter homes, one sporting security cameras, another with a shiny 18-wheeler truck parked outside. ‘The element moves freely in the community, but they're keeping it low key,’" says Jose Sierra, Ft Hancock's law enforcement officer.
The border crossing in Ft. Hancock is outfitted with a brand new customs and border post containing a new Border Patrol headquarters complete with state-of-the-art fencing. But like most border outposts the stretch of the fence runs a few miles east and west of the border office before it ends leaving miles and miles of open desert for cartels to operate freely east and west of Ft Hancock.
“As if to emphasize its absurdity, a metal footbridge, narrow but unguarded spans the Rio Grande River a few miles to the west. Local farmers do not tend to speak of personal danger, despite being warned to "arm yourselves" by Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West, at a meeting earlier this year,” the BBC reports.
However, Officer Sierra worries the violence will spread to Ft Hancock sooner rather than later. "It's just a matter of time," he says.
As for other border towns the violence is very real
Fighting was especially heavy in Nuevo Laredo on the U.S. border 120 miles north of Monterrey on Friday and early Saturday morning the last weekend in July, according to Border Land Beat http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2010/08/urban-combat.html.
“A massive firefight lasting almost an hour was reported in southern Nuevo Laredo Friday afternoon in the Colonia Concordia area close to the Wal-Mart and Home Depot stores on Avenida Reforma between army troops supported by a helicopter and a group of gunmen. Civilians rushed out of the area, fleeing into stores for safety from the intense gunfire. Grenade detonations were reported on the Avenida Reforma,” the report read.
The fighting continued and the gunmen were pursued by soldiers. However, there were no deaths or arrests reported.
There was also a grenade attack reported on Friday night that hit a local Televisa network building. Residents said the attack happened before the nightly newscast. According to witnesses the grenade was thrown from a vehicle and exploded outside the television studios.
More incursions into the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Defense said it was looking into a second helicopter sighting in the past three weeks by a Mexican military helicopter crossing into U.S. airspace near rural Zapata County, Texas.
According to a Houston Chronicle story, “The incident did occur and it’s still under investigation,” department spokeswoman Maj. Tanya Bradsher said, confirming that the copter, believed to belong to the Mexican navy, was seen Sunday.
Rick Pauza, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman, earlier in March confirmed a Mexican military helicopter hovered as long as 20 minutes on March 9 (2009) over a residential area near Falcon Lake, a reservoir on the Rio Grande. He said CBP officials who lived in the neighborhood were among those who saw it.
Pauza said the helicopter crossed back without incident and that once the sighting was reported up the chain of the command “that was the extent of it.”
Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez said Sunday’s sighting was the second one confirmed, but several others were reported to him during the past two weeks that he couldn’t be sure enough about to forward to the federal government.
Gonzalez said the unconfirmed incursions occurred on March 20 and on Monday and Tuesday and were reported to him by a deputy, a local news reporter, and a federal officer who the sheriff said has since been muzzled by higher-ups.
“I don’t want to get him involved because it sounds like they’re going to fire him for saying the truth,” Gonzalez said of the officer.
According to Gonzalez, he was “initially rebuffed” by federal officials at the Joint Operations Intelligence Center until Gonzalez showed them photos from witnesses and that Gonzalez had a “pretty good idea they were Mexican military operations."
According to Gonzalez, when he produced the photos, federal officials blamed “faulty radars”. What’s important to note, local authorities being “muzzled by higher-ups” which might be occurring today, in South Texas,” the Texas newspaper said.
It’s not the first time
This reporter wrote a story in December of last year about the Mexican military blurring the international border lines. The Story titled “Screw up move up in play again in Customs and Border Protections,” http://www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m12d16-Screw-up-move-up-in-play-again-in-Customs-and-Border-Protection. The story details military incursions under the section “Aguilar Denies Military Incursions by Mexico’s Soldiers.”
“Another problem plaguing the Border States is the increased border incursions,” the story reads.
According to Ramirez, “Over the past 10 years (through Spring 2006), the Border Patrol has reported more than 250 incursions by Mexican military and police units into the U.S., including incidents where U.S. civilians, Border Patrol agents, and other law enforcement came under fire from the uniformed Mexicans.
While Sheriff’s in Hudspeth County continue to fight on the front lines along the U.S./Mexico border region, aggressive incidents have continually been downplayed by Aguilar and Congressman Reyes; even when these incursions are documented with video.
In 2006 the Hudspeth County Texas Sheriff’s deputies and Texas state troopers ran into a convoy of Mexican vehicles transporting drugs on the U.S. side of the border. “As you know, our law enforcement chased them back to the border where they were met by heavily-armed Mexican military units in Humvees, with machine guns, who escorted the drug smugglers back into Mexico. Again, our government covers up for Mexico’s involvement and plays down the incident,” Ramirez said.
In Congressional testimony, Congressman Reyes stated there were no Mexican military incursions and the Hudspeth County Sheriff’s deputy was mistaken. Reyes concluded that because he served in the U.S. military and resided in the border region most his life there was no Mexican military crossing the international border. This echoed the statements by the Mexican government later parroted by representatives of the Bush Administration including Aguilar.
However, in sworn testimony from Kelly Legarreta, Deputy Sheriff in Hudspeth County and first on the scene when the alleged incursion took place stated, he too had served in the U.S. Marines and he knew what he saw –Mexican military illegally crossing the U.S. border assisting two vehicles loaded with contraband back into Mexico.”
Drug cartels place a million dollar price tag on Sheriff Joe Arpaio
According to a news report filed by a local Fox affiliate in Phoenix when Arizona's immigration law, SB 1070, went into effect, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was targeted by the Mexican drug cartels: they allegedly put a million dollar price on his head.
In an audio message in Spanish the cartel sends a garbled message, but the text was crystal clear. "It's offering a million dollars for Sheriff Joe Arpaio's head and offering a thousand dollars for anyone who wants to join the Mexican cartel."
An Arizona man who wants to remain anonymous says it was his wife who received the text message on Tuesday evening. The text message included an international phone number and instructions to pass the message along.
The Maricopa County Sheriff Department is taking the latest death threat very seriously and Lisa Allen of the Sheriff's office says the message originated somewhere in Mexico.
From January to June this year, more than 7,000 people have been killed, according to Mexican Attorney General Arturo Chavez. About 50,000 troops and federal police are actively involved in Mexico's war on drugs and the government says record amounts of drugs have been seized. Mexican authorities said they have either arrested or killed many cartel leaders this year.
A little more
The Los Zetas story that was written over a week ago is still being investigated and will be updated as details and facts are released. Stay tuned…
I want to give the troops at Death by a 1000 Papercuts a shout out for sticking with the story and continuing their research, you can find them at; http://deathby1000papercuts.com/ and I can’t leave out the guys at Diggers Realm; http://www.diggersrealm.com/mt/ powering through the blogosphere one story at a time.
For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner
Monday, August 2, 2010
K-12 per pupil cost of $25,000 breaking the country’s budget
When you put the education costs per pupil in perspective not only are there big differences between states, but the public and private sectors glean unexpected results.
The Cato Institute found public schools can be 93 percent more expensive than private schools. They contend the public school districts are anything but transparent and this creative accounting lends itself to muddy decision making by citizens within a state and district.
“A sobering 27 cents of every dollar collected at the state and local level is consumed by the government K-12 education system,” the Cato study reveals.
When the country begun its budget process for the 2010 school year they were collectively short by $158 billion. Now that America is in the middle of a lingering recession school districts and parents have some serious issues to contend with- raise taxes or cut services. The news is even more depressing as the unemployment and housing prices remain stagnant leaving less funds for public schools.
The Los Angeles, California Metro K-12 schools “average real per-pupil spending of $19,000 a stunning 90 percent higher than the $10,000 the districts claim to spend. In addition, real public school spending is 127 percent higher than the estimated median private school spending of $8, 400,” Cato’s report stated. The report also claims the figure is actually around the $24,000 per pupil when you add all the real costs to operate a business – salary, operating expenses, health care, pensions and school supplies.
Another significant issue the Los Angeles Unified School District's Robert F. Kennedy school complex has to deal with is the state-of-the-art high school was supposed to cost $309 million. However the price tag is reaching past the $578 million mark.
Sloppy management of the project has resulted in costly lawsuits as well as under-and over-payments to vendors all the while leaving the project incomplete.
In fiscal year 2008, LAUSD budgeted $29,790 per student, however on their website the district claims to spend roughly $10,000 per pupil leaving a 196 percent discrepancy.
It is this kind of untruthful accounting that has left public schools across the nation in shambles. The faulty reporting of per pupil spending doesn’t only occur in underachieving school districts, but it happens in all districts, according to the Cato Institute.
“School districts often exclude major expenses – like capital costs for new buildings or interest payments on the debt they carry – when calculating the per-student spending figure they publicize. Sometimes they even leave out pension payments and insurance benefits for teachers” according to an Orange County Register article. “This information is essential for putting our fiscal house in order.”
The Southern California paper continues, “It's so simple as to seem trivial. To get control of a budget, you need to know how much you make, how much you spend, and what you're spending it on. American taxpayers spend around $600 billion a year on K-12 public education. A sobering 27 cents of every tax dollar collected at the state or local level is consumed by the government-run K-12 education system, versus 8 cents for Medicaid.”
Let’s compare the public schools to their private school counterparts. A typical Los Angeles private school spends less than $8,500 and offers parents more bang for the buck. Especially since the drop out rate for the LA high schools hovers around the 50 percent mark.
However, teachers and administrators claim the diversity in the student body (Los Angeles has a very large Hispanic student body) accounts for the large portion of the failing grades for students. Other federal data points out that private school voucher programs result in lower costs in per pupil spending, while improving student achievement.
It’s about time California and other states begin to look really hard at the money they are spending on K-12 education and look for ways to tighten their belts otherwise America’s students will receive more than a failing grade.
For more stories: http://www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner
The Cato Institute found public schools can be 93 percent more expensive than private schools. They contend the public school districts are anything but transparent and this creative accounting lends itself to muddy decision making by citizens within a state and district.
“A sobering 27 cents of every dollar collected at the state and local level is consumed by the government K-12 education system,” the Cato study reveals.
When the country begun its budget process for the 2010 school year they were collectively short by $158 billion. Now that America is in the middle of a lingering recession school districts and parents have some serious issues to contend with- raise taxes or cut services. The news is even more depressing as the unemployment and housing prices remain stagnant leaving less funds for public schools.
The Los Angeles, California Metro K-12 schools “average real per-pupil spending of $19,000 a stunning 90 percent higher than the $10,000 the districts claim to spend. In addition, real public school spending is 127 percent higher than the estimated median private school spending of $8, 400,” Cato’s report stated. The report also claims the figure is actually around the $24,000 per pupil when you add all the real costs to operate a business – salary, operating expenses, health care, pensions and school supplies.
Another significant issue the Los Angeles Unified School District's Robert F. Kennedy school complex has to deal with is the state-of-the-art high school was supposed to cost $309 million. However the price tag is reaching past the $578 million mark.
Sloppy management of the project has resulted in costly lawsuits as well as under-and over-payments to vendors all the while leaving the project incomplete.
In fiscal year 2008, LAUSD budgeted $29,790 per student, however on their website the district claims to spend roughly $10,000 per pupil leaving a 196 percent discrepancy.
It is this kind of untruthful accounting that has left public schools across the nation in shambles. The faulty reporting of per pupil spending doesn’t only occur in underachieving school districts, but it happens in all districts, according to the Cato Institute.
“School districts often exclude major expenses – like capital costs for new buildings or interest payments on the debt they carry – when calculating the per-student spending figure they publicize. Sometimes they even leave out pension payments and insurance benefits for teachers” according to an Orange County Register article. “This information is essential for putting our fiscal house in order.”
The Southern California paper continues, “It's so simple as to seem trivial. To get control of a budget, you need to know how much you make, how much you spend, and what you're spending it on. American taxpayers spend around $600 billion a year on K-12 public education. A sobering 27 cents of every tax dollar collected at the state or local level is consumed by the government-run K-12 education system, versus 8 cents for Medicaid.”
Let’s compare the public schools to their private school counterparts. A typical Los Angeles private school spends less than $8,500 and offers parents more bang for the buck. Especially since the drop out rate for the LA high schools hovers around the 50 percent mark.
However, teachers and administrators claim the diversity in the student body (Los Angeles has a very large Hispanic student body) accounts for the large portion of the failing grades for students. Other federal data points out that private school voucher programs result in lower costs in per pupil spending, while improving student achievement.
It’s about time California and other states begin to look really hard at the money they are spending on K-12 education and look for ways to tighten their belts otherwise America’s students will receive more than a failing grade.
For more stories: http://www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner
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