YOU'RE FIRED !

Last week more than tens of thousands of California’s bright and talented teachers pink slips, courtesy of the Govenator. The state budget is in a dire state again with a deficit measuring in billions of dollars, and the governor’s proposed $4.4 billion dollar education budget cut announced in January is anticipated to shorten the school year by a month and increase class size by 35 percent.
The drama of the budget crunch comes in a worst time as the economy is in a downward spiral throughout the nation and recession according to some economist is already here.
While Democrats vow to stand by the teachers and reject any budget proposal that will compromise the public education sector; Republicans on the other hand vow to reject any new tax increases that will help cut the deficit.
As the tug of war continues in Sacramento between the Democrats and the Republicans the state public education sector will lose thousands of highly qualified teachers who must begin a search for a new career and even return to the university classroom for training into a new field, never to look back to teaching. There was a time that California had the reputation for having some of the best public schools in the nation; it is now ranked at number 47.
“When teachers are laid off due to budget cuts, sadly, it’s California’s students who suffer the consequences,” said David A. Sanchez, President of the California Teachers Association. “If we want talented teachers to remain in the classroom teaching our students, we cannot constantly be pulling the rug out from underneath them. Some of these teachers will never return to the profession,” he added.

Once again the most important profession in our society is undermined by political and bureaucratic decisions that disregard their impact on the most critical members of our society, the children. As it is, there are serious needs for improving education in our state’s urban school, which are the most underfunded and have the highest teacher erosion. Budget cuts that cause the elimination of teachers, those prepared to deliver content and instruction, create a domino effect that will also affect exemplary programs and initiatives that are contingent upon the skills and dedication of these individuals. In times of such high accountability as set by No Child Left Behind, loss of quality teachers and programs is bound to reverse all the efforts that have gone into school improvement and rising academic achievement. In trying to find a light in these challenging times, teachers who are fired will no longer have to worry about losing pay because of underperforming students. The most important question is, who will ultimately pay for this decision!

Black Gold Looks Greener as Exxon Drills Deeper into our Pockets

If you missed the breaking news about Exxon’s $40.6 billion profit, I don’t blame you! I guess you were hypnotized by the gas pump meter as it was drilling a hole your pocket. Here is the math for those who like numbers: if you break down $ 40.6 billion that’s $1287 each second nonstop 24/7. 2007 was Exxon’s best year ever, and the company is predicting even more profit for the 2008 fiscal year.
Now, I realize that companies need to make a profit, but this number is ridiculous, and it’s only going to get worse for the consumer. Imagine paying $5/per gallon at the pump… yes that is in the near future.
So how do big companies make huge profit? One word comes to mind MONOPOLY! The big oil companies own the refineries that control the output of the gas. 99 cent of each dollar spent on a gallon of gas goes to those refineries.
In 2005 Exxon Mobil was investigated by the Federal Trade Commission on allegations of price manipulation in the post-Katrina gasoline prices increase. The FTC found no evidence that Exxon was artificially manipulating the price of gas, and that the situation was part of the business cycle in the petroleum industry. According to the Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras, “price gouging laws that have the effect of controlling prices likely will do consumers more harm than good.” “While no consumers like price increases, in fact, price increases lower demand and help make the shortage shorter-lived than it otherwise would have been," she added at the conclusion of her team’s investigation in 2005. How far from the truth is that?!? Especially as we see how gas prices have risen in the past couple of years.
Petroleum companies are very powerful entities, they have lobbyist working 24/7 to solicit politician to vote against any piece of legislature that will try to regulate their business. They even have the Vice President on their side.
So it all comes down then to “supply and demand” since the demand is so high and the refineries that are making the gas can’t keep up with this high demand end up raising the gas price. They own the refineries, the oil and the whole nine yards. In other words we are totally in deep shit and the government can’t do anything to help us out. And if things keep going this way I think I will be moving down south; way south all the way to Caracas, Venezuela where the gallon of gas is only 14 cents. Yup! You read it right! Only 14 God Damn Cents a Gallon!