My definition of conservative

[Gary]

Farmer Boy, your falling into the trap already. Have you been made???? What you have to realize is once your in THAT circle, you can get out. Realize also that much of what you have learned already is book smarts. You have not experienced the real, callous world yet as an adult. I believe you are a churchgoing conservative, correct? How does the church turns its back on the unfortunate? Is their stance that if your poor, you probably deserve it? Fill me in on this position cause I'm not quite getting it. Let me give you an example of REAL world stuff going on. First, everyone knows or should know that municipalities have a climate of hiring friends and family. Stay w/me for a sec. This is pretty common across the country I believe. Where I work, we have 3 immediate family members + the uncle and his son + his friends from school (2 brothers + 2 others) Their mom works at another municipality making big bucks. I could go on but you get the picture. There have been many articles written about nepotism in municipal gov't in NJ, like I said, it's a common theme. State gov't has a lot of the same but it is more open to others, at least it was until this mess came along. Federal gov't is a lot like municipalities. Since I have looked into federal employment I have talked to many, and I mean a lot of agency personnel concerning hiring and I hear the same thing over and over, friends and family is extremely common. My cousin works for Soc Security (10yrs) and he said connections are everything, especially family. I'd use him except he's having trouble moving up. My neighbor is a DEA agent w/Dept of ......and he concurs. His friend who is a Special Agent in Charge w/Dept of......... whom I talked to states the same. What is my point? I'm getting to it. When I worked at Sunoco, there were numerous connections there. W/out going into specifics, I witnessed first hand what happens when these connections were exercised. When a key job became available, the qualifications were hard & fast, you needed to be fully qualified as a Unit Operator, which takes 3-5 yrs. On top of that, there were other reqt's involved such as training in certain areas etc. Plus, and this was a hard and fast rule when we were hired, we were required to do a minimum of 3 yrs on a unit before we could bid off. I don't know what you know about a refinery but trouble brews instantly. We had major acid, propane, isobutane, butane, you name it leaks. Guys that worked there devoted their lives to that place didn't get the position, a young punk (that's what he was) got it. His dad was a union biggee (we weren't unionized) and was tight w/upper mgmt, believe it or not. What is surprising is his son had just over a year and a half on the job, hired just before me and was not remotely qualified for this position. I also witnessed the daughter of a top boss move up twice in a very short time just after she was hired. One of the biggees in HR, daughter of a big boss. What you need to understand about ALL of this is when people say poor people are just lazy, they don't want to work, keep all of this in mind. Doors open wide to the wealthy and connected. The poor do not have any of these doors open. They have NO contacts. And, the elitists know this. Their not stupid, just arrogant and deceitful. Try to keep this in your religious mind next time you think about discussing issues of work and the poor. Now the middle class faces this same dilemma, but at least they (me) can get hired. These good jobs w/the big pensions are not available to them and you don't need an education to get into many of them. Some of these jobs may not be high paying but they have great benefits such as where I work. Family medical coverage for $8.00 week just to name one. Don't you think the poor would jump at that given the chance? The federal gov't does have reqt's for Bachelor's degrees for jobs GS-6 and above but it is more open abelow that and in many cases, to the connected. Before anyone comes on here to tell you otherwise, especially about the federal government, I travel to Ft Dix/McGuire AFB and talk w/them quite often and trust me, they will tell you the same. Not to be a hipocrite, I am making my name known as well, that is the nature of the business. But I admit this is very common. Now, you won't find this in a book and many in academia do not want to discuss this. But it is real. What you are witnessing now, and for good reason, is the widespread panic of people for their jobs and livelihoods. The poor will only get shoved to the side more due to the competition for any job. You say you are a conservative so your church must run along those same lines. What do you think they would feel about this issue? I don't know if you saw the first Contender on TV. Guys coming from all backgrounds to fight for the big prize. When your first introduced to some of them, you might think, what a cocky bum. As you watched them, met their familiies and saw their little kids, you realize where they came from, what they went through and you should have respected the fight in their spirit. I'm sure many on here, the conservative whiners saw losers. Don't fall into that mentality. There's a war going on, young kids are dying supposedly in the name of spreading democracy. Why then are these suit and tie types worried about paying a little extra money to help everyone out. I don't agree w/everything Obama is doing, but I like the man personally and I think he is trying to right the ship. Don't give up on thh unfortunate people of which more and more are joining everyday. Facts (???????) and figures are great but they don't tell the whole story. I just gave you the REAL DEAL!