Category Archives: Uncategorized

It’s the Rich Entrepeneurs, Stupid

All across the U.S., including here in Utah, thousands of arrests of immigrants have been made this week in a Homeland Security Secretary “Operation Wagon Train”.

While poor working people have been carted off, leaving their small children and other family members frightened and alone, the rich owners of the companies that employed the immigrants, who are claimed to be undocumented, sit comfortably in their homes without facing any penalties for not following proper procedure in hiring workers.

To top this off, the owner had been told of the upcoming raid, but was told not to inform the workers.

Further, families are not being allowed contact with their arrested loved one. Workers in the raids were placed on “administrative arrest”. A day after his wife was arrested in the Hyrum raid at Swift & Co., Tony Ivarra hadn’t heard about her. The couple has a 9-year-old daughter. “I don’t know how she is, I don’t know anything,” he said in Spanish at a community informational meeting, which was conducted mostly in Spanish, for families affected by Tuesday’s raid. Leo Bravo, director of the Multicultural Center of Cache Valley, said that the arrests had left many broken families and his Logan center will be open 24 hours a day to help those in need. Families and friends took in children who were left stranded when their parents were arrested.

It’s likely that many of those arrested will face deportation.

Now there’s some passionate conservatism for you – good ‘ol family values. Protect the rich business owner and hisfamily while his workers and their families incur inhumane charges and detainment.

Of course – THIS is the solution!

Yes, that’s it! DOUBLE our troops in Iraq! Why didn’t I think of that?

Pentagon’s Plan: More US Troops in Iraq
Boosting presence and aid, and an anti-Sadr offensive, carry risks but offer the best path to victory, military officials say
.

And to make the deal even sweeter, let’s use gambling language to persuade! Yes, it’s a gamble that this just might work!

“I think it is worth trying,” a defense official said. “But you can’t have the rhetoric without the resources. This is a double down” — the gambling term for upping a bet.

This war has always been a gamble. But just who is winning this bet?

First Photos

I’ve posted First Photos of my new grandson!

Another gift idea

I have an Ethiopian daughter, Helen:

Without my yearly support, she would not be able to attend school in her village, as is the plight of many Ethiopian girls.

Thanks to Children of Ethiopia Education Foundation, a Utah organization, thousands of girls are staying in school. (read more at the website).

Helen is in second grade and I am eagerly awaiting a letter from her when COEEF founder “Mr. Norm” returns soon from his December trip to Ethiopia. I sent a letter and photos with him last week. I have been sponsoring Helen since her first year in school. I plan to support her through her final year in high school.

If you are still looking for a gift idea, consider sponsoring a girl’s education in a loved one’s name. It’s only $200/year and it provides an entire year’s schooling, uniforms, and all school supplies.

More on salary increases

Also in today’s news is this item:

Utah County leaders’ salaries rising: Growth to help cover increases
By the end of 2007, Utah County commissioners will have received nearly $20,000 in salary increases in just three years.
      But they’re not alone. Other elected officials in Utah County benefited from a pay raise at the start of 2005 and will receive a collective 9 percent pay increase next year as part of the new $73.8 million budget county commissioners recently adopted for 2007.

Nine percent?  Why do these officials get such a significant increase when Utah can’t even decide on raising its minimum wage?

Photo
Deseret Morning News graphic

Commissioners determine raises for the county’s elected officials by following the advice of the Career Service Council. The council is a board of three people — none of them county commissioners — who compare like positions and salaries in the county to those across the country.

Sort of like the 12 person panel that spent $50,000 to determine if Utah should raise its minimum wage (not!)?

      According to White, the council found that a comparative composite salary for county commissioners elsewhere is about $103,000.
      County employees are generally given a cost-of-living salary increase of about 3-4 percent annually. However, elected officials are not, and they most likely won’t receive another raise next year.

I realize that each county decides how to spend its money but this is provided to point out as an example how fiscal decision making regarding income/salaries is not equitable.  Elected officials and other “leaders” seem to always get the big pay increases while the folks who work to pay their salaries have to work two and three jobs to put food on their tables. 

There’s something wrong with this picture.

Why is Raising Minimum Wage a Question?

The Utah Governor’s Office is going to release a “study” on raising minimum wage this Thursday. The “study” cost $50,000 and had 12 people on the “study” panel. The “study” resulted in no conclusive recommendations, therefore waiting until Congress raises the federal minimum wage (which hasn’t been done in eight years).

Why is it that it takes a panel and tens of thousands of dollars to decide to raise incomes to liveable (from poverty) standards? Other fiscal issues that do not impact human needs don’t experience the same process. Whenever legislators and other officials have a vote on raising their salaries, there is no panel or special funding involved to conduct a study.

Republicans, according to the article, “suspect” that most minimum wage earners are teens. But an organization that advocates for the homeless and low income has done studies that show less than 20% of minimum wage earners are teens. And so what if they are? Most teenagers I know have jobs because their families need them to help support themselves because of the low family income.

There should be absolutely no question that the ordinary working citizen’s income needs to be raised. End of story.

This Holiday: Buy Local, Be Creative

Just a reminder to be creative when doing your holiday shopping. Before you buy the latest toy or clothing item, consider alternatives. Visit my gift giving page at Café à la Green: Gift Ideas.

Just yesterday I ordered three beaded necklaces from my friend who does really beautiful work with genuine stones and gems. She is low income, on SSI, and has a lot of health problems. She just recently got back into beading after a very long time of battling some health issues which have been stabilized. She is so happy to be beading again and it is a joy to see her doing something she has always loved doing.

So it thrills me to be able to support her and give gifts to my loved ones of fine, beautiful, local, hand-crafted art.

Carnival of the Green

This week’sCarnival of the Green is being hosted by Organic Authority.

Be sure to read it – it’s full of all kinds of interesting information on green living, green gift giving, and interesting articles on a variety of issues.

New Beginnings

It’s still hard to believe that I am a grandmother. As I did my usual routine of scouring the Utah and national news this morning, my mind was really almost 2,000 miles away, wishing I could be there with my Greg, Carmen and little Will. I have to wait two weeks to see my grandson who will undoubtedly have grown out of the crinkly newborn-ness of just having exited the womb. I’ll have a week to bask in new grandmotherhood and then I’ll have to return home and not see him again for a few months. I’m still awaiting photos of the moments he was born.

More to come……

I’m a Grandma!

Gregory William Pope was born at 7:10pm Eastern Standard Time. He weighed 6 lbs even. Now begins a new chapter of my life – grandparenthood.