Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Laboring under a misconception

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Your tax dollars at work

The Daily Caller reports that the U.S. Department of Labor has installed in the elevators of its Washington headquarters (and, at a guess, its satellite offices elsewhere) a poster showing Obama's Labor Secretary Hilda Solis marching alongside the inevitable reverends-without-a-church Jesse "Shakedown" Jackson and Al "Tawana" Sharpton.
The photo depicts Solis acting as an emissary of the Obama administration protesting against Alabama’s strict new law combating illegal immigration. Solis has her arms locked with Sharpton, and Jackson is a few feet away. The poster also carries a message for federal government employees — who are traditionally expected to be apolitical in the performance of their duties.
To put it another way, a U.S. government agency's head is acting as a role model encouraging federal employees to march in support of illegal immigration.

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In theory government agencies are servants of the citizens who pay their salaries, not a politicized shadow army. That was the idea back in the days of the Republic, prior to the present Empire.

No drug is as addictive as power. The dosage must continually be augmented. So it has been with federal bureaucracies. Some of them were started generations ago with good intentions, such as protecting small farmers from price gouging by monopoly railroads. But once the power drug passes the blood-brain barrier, which happens quickly and easily, it takes over. Eventually the agency becomes a hypertrophied super-elephant responsible to no one but the politicians who appoint its Grand Vizier and oversee its budget.
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What is this Department of Labor?

As of 2009, it had 16,848 "full-time equivalent employees" according to its own statistics. Its mission: "To foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights."
  
Apparently the agency head sees her involvement in protest marches against state laws preventing illegal immigration as "foster[ing], promot[ing], and develop[ing] the welfare of wage earners."
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What else do those 16,848 civil "servants" do to pass the time? Again, according to the Labor Department, they are involved with the following (when not marching for illegal immigration):
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The meaning and importance of most of these functions is obvious ... to a bureaucrat. A few might cause puzzlement at first glance, although the Department is quick to explain them via links:

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The Department of Labor (DOL) is strongly committed to the well-being of the Hispanic American workforce. The following list highlights some of the Department's Spanish resources. This list is intended for English-speaking audiences who are looking for information in Spanish about DOL missions to share with the Hispanic community. Please contact the agencies or visit their Web pages for more information.

There you go. The DOL is there to "foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners." But it's (especially) "strongly committed to the well-being of the Hispanic American workforce." Not that they're overdoing it, mark you; probably no more than four or five thousand of the 16,000 and whatever DOL employees are toiling to provide "English-speaking audiences who are looking for information in Spanish about DOL missions to share with the Hispanic community."
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) sets forth the conditions for the temporary and permanent employment of aliens in the United States and includes provisions that address employment eligibility and employment verification. These provisions apply to all employers.
As part of this noble effort:
Documents and Forms - Links to the forms needed to obtain foreign labor certification under various programs, including the Application for H-1B and H-1B1 Nonimmigrants (form ETA-9035), the Application for Permanent Employment Certification (form ETA-9089), the Application for Alien Employment Certification (form ETA-750A), and Part B of this application: Statement of Qualifications of the Alien (form ETA-750B), and the Application for Alien Employment Certification for Agricultural services (form ETA-790).
The Daily Caller story says of this taxpayer- and loan-funded department:
A Labor Department spokeswoman did not respond to The Daily Caller’s request for comment on whether Solis is encouraging federal workers to use their positions to promote a political agenda. Even so, an official sign describing the posters’ purpose indicates that may be the case.

“These posters help remember history, shine a light on the contributions of employees, and celebrate accomplishments,” the sign reads. “But more than that, they help spark a conversation about the impact and importance of our work.”
If I can help spark a conversation about the "impact" of your work, consider this posting my contribution.

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3 comments:

R. Right said...

This administration is something new in American politics. It cares nothing for the laws of customs of the United States, and will play by no rules. These are people who would not hestitate to slit the throats of their opposition; indeed they know it will at some point be inevitable. The "change" they seek is the total destruciton of traditional America.

They cannot be stopped by pretending the game is still played by the old rules. It will take more than ballots.

April 10, 2012
bopberrrigan said...

So now we have the Labor Dept. as well GSA totally out of control. Are these two departments the tip of the iceberg? No wonder we're running a yearly deficit of over 1 trillion dollars. Probably the only way this will ever be resolved is a total financial crash with 99% of government employees losing their jobs.......

April 11, 2012
Rick Darby said...

R. Right,

You R. Right that this administration is something new in American politics. It's true that obese federal department bureaucracies have been with us since the New Deal, especially in the past 40 years since we made the unwritten agreement that we'd give members of the permanent underclass government jobs if they were qualified by being able to find their way to the office.

But until now that was just expensive featherbedding, paying them off for not rioting. But Obama's Army of the ID Badge is now a political clientele with a top-level Praetorian Guard.

Bopberrigan,

Probably the only way this will ever be resolved is a total financial crash with 99% of government employees losing their jobs.

Maybe, but most non-government employees will lose their jobs before significant numbers of federal chairwarmers.

April 11, 2012

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