Teachers Rallying in Austin (Taylor, Happy: house, buy, elementary school)

[elan]

Gov Brown in California just handed pink slips to 19,000 teachers, it's tough everywhere.

[Trae713]

Originally Posted by buzzpost

For what? To fatten the Teacher's wallets? The thugs are going down all over the country if you haven't been watching lately. No more special pension plans and free health insurance.

How do you feel about the government officials (like Perry) getting free health insurance, but not the people? And I saw your post about Black people in the Political section. I'm greatly disappointed in you, and couldn't believe what I was reading. To call teachers "thugs" also is just amazing.

[loves2read]

the only way to keep illegals out of the US is for their home countries to become stable, democratic, and upwardly mobile--
so they can get jobs/income/oppertunity THERE vs here
that is not going to happen in most of them
Mexico for example is using the US as a vent for many of their unhappy people
they dont see any way to succeed there so they come here--
other countries the same--
illegal Chinese are a problem for other states--west coast and northeast--not so much for us--
they can't fight the anti=democratic government of China so they flee...

And whoever posted on my Kudos page that s/he likes the idea of that Congressman from Kansas--keep those comments to yourself
that guy is sorry excuse for elected official in the US--saying something like that and claiming it was humor just proves he has no clue how to run a government

[PopsNegro]

Originally Posted by loves2read

unless you physically remove all the "illegals" and physically prevent them from returning you have done nothing...
are you advocating like that stupid Congressman from Kansas that we start shooting illegal aliens--like they do feral hogs???

I'm not sure you leapt "intellectually" from my comments to this odd scenario but no country in the world except the USA has such a lax attitude toward the official status of its residents. My assertion is that the environment can be modified to discourage the situation. You can't maintain an organized society when you encourage the development of an underground culture of foreign day laborers with none of an average citizen's legal responsibilites but most of their important legal rights.

[loves2read]

there are so many people involved in the illegal alien problem who say one thing for show but who have absolutely no intention of doing anything permanent or dramatic to stop the flow of illegals into the US--
our economy at this point is based on getting cheap labor and there are just some jobs that Americans won't do for $7 an hour--
and the people who run those companies (no unions of course) don't want to pay what the market would require if it was done with all American help

Rick Perry at least has been honest about the fact that TX business benefits from illegals--unfortunately Mr Perry would perfer that to be an all male workforce--which he will not get...
and that they never get sick or need benefit of dr/hospital care--which is also pipedream...

[getmeoutofhere]

Originally Posted by Montirob

The 14th amendment grants citizenship to everyone born in the US. There is a movement to seriously curb (or reinterpret) the wording to exclude "anchor babies." I'm guessing the poster is thinking that schooling would then only go to "real" citizens thereby reducing the number of students and the extra cost they require due to language, poverty, etc. I believe, however,that the Supreme Court has ruled that all residents (illegal or not) can attend public schools, so a change to this amendment would have little effect.

I understand what the 14th Amendment does.

I'm unclear as to why the poster thinks the Supreme Court will have anything to do with it. The Constitution is modified by the people and interpreted by the Courts. For the citizenship clause to change, it would require either 2/3's of both houses of Congress or 2/3's of the state legislatures to call for a constitutional convention.

[PopsNegro]

The Court has yet to have cause to define the 14th but it will be on their docket in the near future. The problem is one of interpretation, not legislation, since it has never been defined by the judiciary. As you may know, its original intent was to grant citizenship to freed slaves; that it has been expanded to include the children of illegals was not the spirit of the amendment even if it was the letter.

[getmeoutofhere]

Originally Posted by PopsNegro

The Court has yet to have cause to define the 14th but it will be on their docket in the near future. The problem is one of interpretation, not legislation, since it has never been defined by the judiciary. As you may know, its original intent was to grant citizenship to freed slaves; that it has been expanded to include the children of illegals was not the spirit of the amendment even if it was the letter.

The reason they haven't ruled on it is because there is no way any challenges would survive. The plain language is absolute and leaves no room for interpretation -

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

[loves2read]

The problem is one of interpretation, not legislation, since it has never been defined by the judiciary. As you may know, its original intent was to grant citizenship to freed slaves; that it has been expanded to include the children of illegals was not the spirit of the amendment even if it was the letter.
that is just Tea Party talk about what they WANT to have happen--
but it would be very interesting to see what some of those justices who swear they are literal interpreters of the Constitution would do about that when they likely WOULD like to restrict citizenship to only children of legal citizens

[HappyTexan]

Looks like many more Texans are considering Charter Schools as a viable alternative.

Charter school wait lists spark legislation
"An estimated 56,000 Texas students are on waiting lists for charter schools the kind of demand that prompts discussion and legislative proposals."