too far gone

pieces of the sky

 

all I'm trying to do is make sense of the world but when I heard that Emmylou Harris got busted for a hit-n-run....how does one make sense of that???

now we know from experience that the extreme, radical fringe of the rightwingers, like Wendy and Nipper often blame employee unions for everything bad..the economy, pedophile teachers, California cities going bankrupt and so on....

of course this is fiction as reports of the real reasons for cities going bankrupt come to light...and with the Boy Scouts and the Catholic Church in the news for their secrecy surrounding child sexual abuse in their ranks, well, it's kinda obvious that the sicko rightwingers seek to divert attention from their own transgressions..from their own inability to accept personal responsibility..

this is why Emmylou's hit-n-run upset me so...responsible people don't hit-n-run! I'm certain she has a reasonable explanation and I await patiently for it...

meanwhile, the nonprofit Boy Scouts and Catholic Church have no reasonable explanations for raping children..there is no reasonable explanation for raping kids..none..whatsoever...and the kids who were abused years ago are adults now and coming forward, very bravely, to expose the people who were interested in children, not to guide and protect them, but to sexually abuse them...what punishment should be dealt to those who abused and who protected the abusers?? I'm certain a suitable reward awaits them in Heaven...

now as far as city employees bankrupting municipalities with all their union demands, it's just rightwing nonsense...a few cities filed for bankruptcy due to mismangement and buying sprees and to try to bust the unions..not because of employee contracts...

but the courts recently ruled in favor of public employees in Stockton:

SACRAMENTO, CA – The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) issued the following statement today after U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein ruled from the bench that the City of Stockton does not need permission from the bankruptcy court to settle and pay its disputed claims.

"CalPERS is extremely pleased with Judge Klein’s ruling today," said Robert Udall Glazier, Deputy Executive Officer for External Affairs. "The Judge clearly distinguished Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy proceedings from other bankruptcy proceedings."

"Contrary to what the bond insurers argued, the Judge recognized that Section 904 of the Bankruptcy Code places limitations on the powers of the bankruptcy court over public entities like Stockton. This is a victory for Stockton as it continues to make the difficult decisions needed to restore its financial and economic health.
"CalPERS applauds the decision, which would allow the elected leaders in Stockton to continue to make the smart business decisions needed to protect its citizens and the valued public employees who serve them every day," added Glazier.

CalPERS had filed a brief with the court in support of the City of Stockton, while bond insurers had opposed Stockton’s efforts and instead tried to force the City to obtain bankruptcy court approval of all claims before they could be paid. The creditors were effectively seeking court intervention in the routine operating activities of the City.

CalPERS is the largest public pension fund in the U.S. with assets totaling $251 billion. It administers retirement benefits for more than 1.6 million California State, local government, and public school employees, retirees, and their families on behalf of more than 3,000 public employers, and health benefits for more than 1.3 million enrollees. The average CalPERS pension benefit is $2,420 per month. The average benefit for those who retired in the most recent fiscal year that ended June 30, 2012, is $3,025 per month.

what's this all mean? it means that investors and bond insurers who argued they should get paid first lose....these are sophisticated Wall Street investors who took a risk and it didn't quite pay off...now they want to recoup their investment..but the court ruled the public employees who invested their lives in public service will continue to get paid as per the contracts...and the city can't hide behind a phony bankruptcy

personal responsibility...some folks just can't accept it!