The Fallacy of In-State Tuition for Illegal Immigrants

I heard Lieutenant Governor Tony Brown on WBAL radio today talking about how wonderful it is that Maryland has all of these illegal immigrants and that our state is embracing illegal immigration with some new laws that are being passed.

As you probably know, Maryland State Senator Victor Ramirez (Democrat - Prince George's County) has been sponsoring legislation helping illegal immigrants for years. If I am not mistaken, this is the 2nd year that a bill is being pushed that would allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition to attend Maryland colleges, thus making is less likely that legal Maryland residents can get into college

Didn't Martin O'Malley run on a platform to increase college education opportunities for Maryland residents? Wouldn't admitting illegal immigrants take up spots that would otherwise go to legal Maryland residents? You have a pie. You can only cut it up but so much. Someone is getting left out with this legislation. Is it your child?

Liberal Maryland legislators continue to call these people undocumented individuals. I will continue to call them illegal immigrants. The current state of the bill would allow these illegal immigrants who have graduated from a Maryland high school to attend 2 year community colleges in Maryland and pay in-state tuition. Arguments for the cause say that we should not be punishing the children of criminals because of the illegal choices these criminals have made. Fair enough, except that these people shouldn't be in this country to start. Now we are providing conflicted laws that reward illegal immigrants for being here illegally. Are you following me?

To top it off, Tony Brown said today that Maryland needs an educated workforce and it makes sense for us to provide the opportunities for these illegal immigrants to get a college education so that illegal immigrants can make a contribution to our economy and keep Maryland moving forward. However, as an employer in Maryland, you KNOW that it is ILLEGAL to hire ILLEGAL immigrants. How is this legislation going to help them? Educated or not, illegal immigrants are not legally allowed to work in this country. And if you are an employer and you are caught hiring illegal immigrants, you face big fines. Would Maryland employers intentionally put themselves in this situation?

There are also some stipulations that the parents have to file taxes. Let's think about this - if you are an illegal immigrant and you are living here illegally, are you going to file taxes with the government to let them know you're here? Duh! (Thank you, Charlie Sheen) If any Maryland legislator honestly thinks that illegal immigrants are filing taxes and paying them, they are idiots.

The constant flow of pro-illegal immigration legislation is enabling the people that are the illegal immigrants. We're not doing anything to address the problem. We're giving more illegal immigrants a reason to come here. Eventually, more and more of your tax dollars will be going to support illegal immigrants in Maryland to provide services, such as healthcare, education, and social security, rather than having this money go to deserving LEGAL citizens of Maryland. How do you feel knowing that your benefits are being decreased so that the money can be used to support illegal immigrants?

And I think it goes without saying that we will need massive tax increases as the current structure cannot support the massive influx of illegal immigrants. Martin O'Malley continues to spin the rhetoric with this one. The massive annual tax increases on the middle class are called, "making sacrifices" and "we are all working together" and "we must all share the responsibility" and "making tough choices". What a bunch of crap!

Living in Maryland, it seems like the easy choice for Maryland legislators is raising taxes. The tough choice would actually be to lower taxes and stop this wasteful spending. But that's never going to happen in this state.

Teahcer Conferences at Oklahoma Road Middle School

That is not a typo on my part. The headline from the Alert Message that I received actually says:

ORMS - PARENT / TEAHCER CONFERENCE Night - March 29th

If you follow Fail Blog, this would be a FAIL. Or is it a FALI? Hello! You're a school. You should spell everything correctly in all communications that are distributed. It shows poorly on the school. And ORMS is a Blue Ribbon school? Perhaps that only applies to the students.

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake - Spin Doctor

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and associated politicians are scrambling to cut their budget ahead of the expected massive cuts in aid expected from the State, compliments of Martin O'Malley and his failed budget policy.

This weekend Baltimore City offered what they are spinning as Early Teacher Retirement for veteran teachers. What is the definition of a veteran teacher in the Baltimore City Public School system? According to them it is 10 years. I'm actually surprised. Surprised that anyone would work in a city school for 10 years. A retiring teacher would be eligible for 75% of their salary for 5 years.

I'm not following the logic too well. If they can get a bunch of "old" teachers to retire (and some could be as old as 32!), they will continue to pay them for another 5 years, albeit at only 75%. And in return they get them out of the building and in 5 years they don't have to pay them anymore. Uhhh........ What a great return on investment. I think. What?

The Baltimore City School system claims it will save about $10 million in the first year. I would assume that's the 25% reduction in salary. In exchange for 100% less work. Are you following me?

This morning on television, Mayor Rawlings-Blake was trying to put some positive spin on it, was stumbling and doing a terrible job of it. She said that every year there are a bunch of new teachers that they need to provide opportunities to and this is a good way to provide those opportunities. I'm serious. She really said this. You can't make up stuff this good.

For those of us who didn't go to Baltimore City schools, we know this is the opposite spin of firing highly paid teachers and hiring lesser paid teachers in order to save money.

This whole thing is a mess. As one of my colleagues reminded me - remember when Baltimore City Public Schools had to borrow money because they "lost" millions of dollars? But the good news is they paid it back. You know. With all that revenue they generate by being a free public school. But I digress.

Thoughts on Daylight Savings

1. Can't the time change be like 5 minutes per week for 12 weeks rather than an entire hour over one weekend? Can't we just ease into it?

2. Why is the time change on Saturday night? Why can't it be on Friday night? That would give us 2 days to adjust rather than one. Anyone with children knows that one day is not nearly enough. How many of you had children up until after 11pm last night?

3. Who's the genius in the Maryland Public School system that scheduled MSA's this week? If you are not aware of MSA's - they are the tests that determine the curriculum at schools. That isn't the intention of the test. It is supposed to be used as a measure of achievement at the different schools throughout Maryland. However, instead of teaching the children what they need to know, the schools now teach what they need to know to do well on the test.

And this being the week of the change to daylight savings time, everyone is tired - ALL WEEK. Now the children will take the state tests measuring the schools' abilities to teach their children how to take the test and everyone will be too tired to do well. Good job educators!

4. The shift to daylight savings time causes a brief increase in traffic fatalities, mostly due to sleep deprivation. Therefore, we should move the clocks forward, but move our start times at work by an hour, as well. So rather than being at work at 7am, I should come to work at 8am. How does that sound?

Bush vs Obama - Talking to the Kids

We all know that George W. Bush was a little dopey. Okay, he was a lot dopey. But at least you knew what you were getting. And he had a bit of a country hillbilly charm.

Someone forwarded these 2 pictures to me and I think they are hysterical. One shows George W. Bush, dressed casually, talking to the kids through a school microphone as they sit around him.

The other pictures shows Obama standing at attention at an official White House podium, speakers and teleprompters around him so that he can deliver his flawless agenda, and a security guard behind him ready to tackle any 7 years olds that may get too close to the President.

Now, does Obama look like he came to talk with you, or does he look like he came to talk TO you? Which one looks like he's more down to Earth. Obama - you need to lighten up a little!

Baltimore Catholic School Closings

The Archdiocese of Baltimore has decided to close 13 of its schools due to falling attendance and rising costs. Like most businesses in the area, they are suffering in this economy that just can't seem to be fixed with increased government spending. And when costs start exceeding revenue, you have to cut costs or increase prices, unless, of course, you are the government. Then you just print more money or borrow more from the Chinese and the Middle East. But the Archdiocese of Baltimore doesn't have the option to borrow money from Asian communists or Islamic dictators.

Most of these schools are suffering because the middle class of Baltimore City have been fleeing the city for years. I should know. My family was one of them. And now there just aren't enough children of middle class families to support the vast network of schools that the Archdiocese built to support the middle class who didn't want to send their children to the miserable and failing public schools of Baltimore City.

I probably wouldn't care too much about this whole issue except for one fact. I attended one of the schools that is being closed. In 1977 my parents enrolled me into St. Anthony's on Frankford Avenue, just south of Bel Air Road. I went there from 1st grade all the way through 8th grade. And like most children, my fondest memories of my childhood are at that school or with my friends from St. Anthony's.

My first memory of the school is when my mother dropped me off at the front steps and told me to go inside to room 105. I walk into the school and have no idea where room 105 is, so I stand there and cry.

When I first started attending the school, there were 3-4 classrooms for each grade with each class having about 30 students. That's huge by today's standards when parents demand no more than 15 students in a class. So assuming 90 students per grade, 8 grades, we probably had over 700 students when I first starting going to school there. And I think it's safe to say was probably more as most of the upper grades had 4 classes per grade. And they all had big flowing Barry Gibbs hair.

However, as I moved up in grade level, the newer classes were smaller. By the time I graduated 8th grade in 1986 most of the younger classes were 2 rooms each. I didn't keep in touch with the school after 8th grade as we moved from Rosedale to Bel Air where I attended Bel Air High School, which, coincidentally, was torn down this year to make way for a new high school. So now 2 of the 3 schools that I attended will be gone. The other school that I attended was McCormick Elementary School in Rosedale, where I went for Kindergarten. This is now a Baltimore County ghetto school.

In the late 90's the school attendance dropped dramatically and it eventually merged with some other schools and was renamed Mother Mary Lange Catholic School. St. Anthony must be all fired up - no offense Mother Mary Lange.

So while I understand that the Archdiocese must close schools in order to continue operating effectively, it saddens me to know that part of my childhood will no longer be there. But on the other hand, I probably wouldn't be caught dead in that area today anyway. So from Principal Duckett to Principal MacIntyre to Principal Moore, St. Anthony's is no more.

Carrolltowne Elementary School Hates Children

That is the only conclusion that I can generate. If you saw my blog post yesterday about the snow still being piled up in front of the doors and steps of the portable classrooms, you'll be saddened to know that the snow is still there. I drove by the school after work and there's still plenty of snow in front of the door.

My wife suggested that maybe they are not emergency exit doors. But shouldn't a building have an exit in the front and rear? If there is a fire or a collapse of the structure at the front door, how will the kids be able to exit the building? My only conclusion is that the administrators of Carroll County and Carrolltowne Elementary School just do not care about the safety of the children.

And all of this on top of the cold pizza Friday menu. My kids don't buy lunch anymore because they say the food is of very poor quality and usually cold when it's supposed to be hot. School administrators must be looking for ways to save the school system some money. "Feed 'em crap, Mabel! They won't know the difference!" Well, Mabel, they do know the difference and they say it sucks.

Dear Carroll County Bureaucrats

Dear Carroll County Bureaucrats,

Thank you for plowing my street. Thank your plowing my street 6 days after the last snow storm. Thank you for plowing my street 6 days after the last snow storm and not within a couple of days of the storm with the snow was still snow and somewhat manageable. Thank you for plowing my street 6 days after the last snow storm when the street was 4 inches of packed ice and the street was only wide enough for one car. Thank you for placing 25 pound chunks of solid ice at the end of my driveway so that I had to clear my driveway at 6:45 am and be late for work. Thank you for not entirely clearing the street, nor making no attempt at making my street any wider so that 2 cars could pass. Thank you for the blind corners. Thank you for the streets where the lanes come to a sudden end and we are forced into the lanes of oncoming traffic (see Hemlock Drive in Eldersburg).

Dear Helen the Post Office Delivery Lady,

I am sorry that I didn't shovel out my mailbox. I made a horrible assumption that the plow would come within a day or so of the last storm and push more of the snow off of the street, after which I would clear away the remaining snow (see previous letter). Unfortunately, the snow in front of the mailbox is now a 4 ft high polar ice cap and I am making no attempt to remove it. I left my pick-ax in San Francisco during the last gold rush. I hope that my 18 inch wide path to the mailbox from the middle of the street will suffice until May when this snow has finally melted. I do not envy your job for the next several weeks.

Dear Carroll County Board of Education,

Thank you for utilizing your new auto-dialer every time schools are opening late. I really like to get that dream shattering panic phone call at 6am to tell me that my elementary school children who normally leave for school at quarter-to-nine will be going in at quarter-to-eleven instead. It's always good to know several hours ahead of time. Additionally, I forgot how to watch Channel 11 in the morning to find out this news for myself, so your method of communication is wonderful.

Thank you for the conversation that we had when I called to complain about the calls. I totally understand that your system is rigid and inflexible. I understand that technology is at a total stand-still and there is absolutely no way to call people at different times or opt out of certain calls. Yes, I would like to know when there is a local emergency, but understand that also requires you to call me at 6am when schools are opening late. It's an all or nothing technology. Sort of like automobiles. Options are not a reasonable request.

Fortunately Carroll County bureaucrats were not running this country in the 1770's. I can imagine that you would have thrown up your hands and surrendered to the British tyrannical demands. There's no other way, right? We have no options, right? Just go back to sitting on your hands and running the county. You're doing a great job!!!

Sincerely,

Eludius, the understanding citizen of South Carroll

O'Malley's Tenure Flip-Flop

Never one to constrict himself with principles, Martin O'Malley has done an about face on recommendations to change tenure requirements for public school teachers.

Previously, Governor Martin O'Malley did whatever the teachers' union told him to do. I hear that they once told him to wear lipstick and pink underwear. No confirmation on whether or not he did that, but I would bet my money on him doing whatever they demanded.

However, there is one thing that guides Martin O'Malley's principles more than campaign contributions - and that if federal tax dollars. As reported by WBAL.com, socialist-leaning Obama has a new education program called "Race to the Top". This program is a blatant attempt at removing more state sovereignty, increasing federal control, and dictating how states should operate the schools and what they teach the children by bribing the states with money. It's a very common federal strategy. The federal government uses the same methods for federal highway & transportation dollars.

As for the federal program, by increasing then tenure requirement to 3 years, O'Malley is increasing Maryland's chance at receiving more federal tax dollars.

Maryland State Schools Superintendent Nancy Grasmick had recommended these changes previously, but Slick Marty rejected her recommendation because he hates her. And she tends to vote Republican. But most importantly, apparently Grasmick didn't bribe O'Malley with enough money.

I'm not against increasing the requirements to get tenure. Heck, most jobs are at-will hires and we get fired when we screw up. People in tenured positions can screw up royally or do things that most people would consider outrageous, but they cannot be fired unless they do something radical like bring a gun to school or show up at a pro-life rally.

It's amazing that Martin O'Malley can look so tall without having a spine.

Let There Be Light...and Air

Like Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith, my coworkers like to be in the dark.

Every morning I enter my section of the building and all of the lights are turned off. I am not the first person in my department to get to work in the morning. In fact, I'm probably about 10th. However, no one will turn on the lights. It drives me nuts.

And like my coworkers, Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith refuses to do anything and wants to stay in the dark. I refer to Ridgely Middle School in Towson. To my shocking surprise, this public school has no air conditioning. What school has no air conditioning? Martin O'Malley has been spending what seems to be hundreds of billions of dollars on education including new school construction and they cannot install air conditioning into an older school?

The Ridgely PTA invited Martin O'Malley and Jim Smith to attend a discussion on what can be done, but both self-centered liberals refused to attend. Representatives from the school claim that portions of the building easily reach over 100° and nearly all of the building is 10° warmer than outside.

WBAL cornered Jim Smith in another area of Towson trying to steal money from elderly disabled veterans and asked him about the school. He said, "I am working with the school system to address those concerns..." He wants to address those concerns? Outside of installing air conditioning what does he plan on doing?

On WBAL's coverage a student said that when the school has the students take standardized tests that are for the county's benefit, the students are moved to an air conditioned location, but when the students take tests for their own benefit, they must suffer in the sweltering heat of their class room.

I suspect that O'Malley and Smith may have refused to attend the event because the school is already hot and both politicians are full of hot air which would only make the situation worse.

This is just another example of why some of our elected officials like Smith and O'Malley need to be removed from office. Like my coworkers, they prefer to stay in dark and this is something that we the people should not tolerate.