It took me ten years of going to school on and off, but in 2008 I graduated. Sure, I took the Jeremy Piven "7 Year Senior" approach to graduating, but I did it. I'm proud of it, and nothing can change the fact that I have a piece of paper with Arnold's big fat signature on it. (SUCKAS) In any case, I was already on my way to a career with Clear Channel Radio in San Jose, Ca when I was laid off in May 2009. This was a day after the Sharks were eliminated from the Playoffs. So I blame them also. Thank the gods San Jose has one champion, Joey Chestnut. Back to the point, since I've graduated, my diploma has been useless.
Granted, we live in a tough world these days. Economic recession hangs over us like the firmament, right wing thugs threaten to grab imense power in a democratically elected government and the American Empire (let's not kid ourselves) perpetuates endless wars with the terrorists or the Muslims, or whoever we are scapegoating this week. It's rough, I get it. Yet I'd think a diploma would help for something. Like million's of Americans though, I've applied for hundreds of jobs, only to get two responses. The first was from a radio station in Santa Cruz that wanted to do a background check. Either I failed that, or they didn't feel like moving to an interview phase. The second was for the Apple Store. I made it through two rounds of interviews. I even got a "you nailed it," from the store manager. "Sweet," I thought. Maybe I wouldn't have to wake up at 4 am in the morning to drive to some under funded public school to take high school year book photos of kids who either hate you because you're A) Not a teenager, B) Telling them What to do, C) They hate getting their picture taken or D) They're just an asshat. Alas, I'm lucky I have a 10 dollar an hour seasonal job that can't let me live on my own. Thank goodness for my parents who allow me to live with them. (This does not help me with the women, BTW.)
Another reason my diploma is useless, people don't seem to hire based on your education, but your experience. Gee, I've worked a ton of jobs, I'm pretty damn experienced. If this was D&D, I'd easily be a level 8 radio disc jockey with at least 5 levels of clerk experience and 2 levels of Fighter (I took Fighter at level 1 for an extra feat)[Total nerd joke I know] The thing is, I'm not stupid. I'm not lazy. I'm never late and I don't complain about my job (whatever it is.) I try putting the information about my degree in different spots on my resume, hoping that might help. Nope. I even tried different font and italics. The italics just make it look tacky, watch.
Bachelor's Degree in Radio/TV/Film. Minor in Ancient History.
See what I mean. Totally not smooth.
Yes, I know we're in a recession, but am I being selfish by asking the world, the gods, the universe, the Flying Spaghetti Monster for any sort of gig that can pay my bills? I don't think so. Sure, I want the rest of my state and country to get back on their feet, but what about my feet? My shoes suck. They've got no support. So as of right now, my diploma is in a case, that is pressed into an envelope, that keeps my grandma's husbands tacky post card art that he gave me flat. (It really is tacky.) Well, I suppose I did find a use for it after all.
I am completely stunned that nobody on the media, including Steph, realized that the "rush to judgment" by the Interior Department had EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT SHE IS A FEMALE!
Every single woman realizes that the heirarchy in the business world puts black women at the bottom of the wrung. As evidenced by the extreme rush to judgment by Sherrod's direct boss. Vilsack "couldn't explain" his rush to judgment. He said he is going to reflect on this moment.
I suggest that he reflect on the fact that the automatically assumed the fake news reports by Fox News was correct because she had two stikes against her: 1.) She was black, and he assumed this was true based on her background of community efforts she might likely harbor racist tendencies and b) she is a woman, so naturally, she was flapping her lips without thinking!!!
Not a single note from anyone that Vilsack made this extremely embarrassing rush to judgment without giving her a word to defend herself, demanding she pull over and give her resume on her blackberry BECAUSE SHE IS FEMALE!
Can you imagine him doing that to a black man?
No way, they would have said "Hey, let's keep our heads and check out this story". There is not a single black man in the any executive position who would have been forced to complete this humiliating exercise in power and submission!
Of course, nobody will admit this in public either.
Racism and sexist is burbling inside even the highest level of government, which is exactly why Vilsack made this "learning moment" happen!
Racism does not mean he hates black people, it just means he has preconceived ideas about black people.
And indeed, he obviously has preconceived ideas about women!
The beautiful part of this story is that this event will be a great point of example for all Americans to realize exactly how the parties treat racism. The Republicans and Fox News have done all they could to manipulate and lie about facts (their usual behavior), and the Democrats foolishly bit the hook on the bait of racism offered, quite easily because she was a woman.
Fox would never have been successful with this story so quickly if it were a man. They would have had to bombard us with this lying story for weeks before it even got notice by the government. (Thankfully, again, it was Ms. Sherrod, the true hero she is, who is a the center! Sparing us weeks of more inane "news" for weeks like they did with ACORN.)
I suggest that Vilsack take a serious look at his attitudes about not only blacks, but women!
And the "media" ought to wake up and be a little more honest about why this woman was victimized so quickly!
So what is the heirarchy? White males, asian males, all other non european males, black males, white females, asian females, all other non european males, black females.
Bottom of the wrung by default.
Ms. Sherrod was fired because of this internal imprint that Vilsack was obviously unconscious responding to by firing Sherrod without allowing her to defend herself first.
If corporations are people, as the current right loaded SCOTUS asserts, then corporations...like BP...need to understand some very fundamental principles of BEING a person.
Firstly, in any society, it is incumbent upon persons to be good neighbors. Good neighbors do not destroy the property of of their neighbors...they do not shit on their neighbors dining room tables or in their water supply. A principle which BP has clearly violated in its attempts to maximize profits at the cost of the safety and livelihoods of its neighbors and employees in the Gulf states.
Secondly, being a person in a society entails a degree of responsibility for one's own actions, unless one has been determined to be <i>non compos mentis</i>. In this latter case, the state appoints a guardian for the individual in question. This is not the case with BP. Memos from BP shown that, in the days and weeks leading up to the catastrophe, BP was more concerned with cutting costs than in the safety and well-being of its neighbors and employees. Now, I'm no lawyer, but it would seem to indicate premeditation on BP's part. And, thus, it would seem to be a clear case of maleficence on the part of BP.
It is also a given that a person accepts, not only the benefits of living in a society, but also accepts the responsibilities it entails. Failure to accept these responsibilities is immature at best, and criminal at worst. BP falls into the latter category with its obvious and callous disregard for its responsibilities as a corporate "person".
Similarly, neither corporations nor persons cannot accept the profits accrued through capitalist enterprise without accepting the risks that accompany those profits. It is the attempt to reap these profits while shifting the risk, and the costs accompanying that risk, to the public sector...the tax-payer...you and me...that corporations and their political whores are attempting to institutionalize.
But it can only happen if "...We, the people..." abdicate our responsibilities as neighbors...as members of this society. We cannot expect to enjoy the benefits of living in a free and open society if we fail to accept the responsibilities it entails. We can take the easy path and let the punditocracy...the Limbaugh's...the Beck's...the Rove's...the Cheney's of this country tell us what to think and do. Or we can take the path less traveled...think for ourselves...educate ourselves on the basic issues involved in securing our liberty and prosperity in the face of corporate fascism. It is only this latter course which will allow us to maintain and protect a free and open society. The alternative is despotism.
This is what they will replace what they repeal!
What? Do i really need to say anything?
It's really simple, but I don't hear a lot of people talking about it. It's not the public option, although I am in favor of that and want it to be passed in the very near future. It's sort of an addition to it.
Ahem:
Raise the minimum wage.
With higher salaries, more people could afford to get health care. If we actually get them to add a public option to the health care bill, that would save even more money. But a national minimum wage in the range of $9-10 an hour, at least, would bump up people's paychecks and leave a little more in their pockets.
Just a crazy thought.
Amidst all of the wailing, rending of clothing and gnashing of teeth over the current health care reform bill in Congress...I don't hear anything regarding the down stream effects of failing to pass meaningful health care reform.
What I am speaking of is the effects on health care providers. Failure to pass health care reform will result in more and more people joining the ranks of the uninsured as health insurance providers price more and more people and businesses out of the market. As a direct result, these people will resort to hospital emergency rooms as primary care providers of last resort. The people will arrive sicker, requiring lengthier and more complex hospitalizations...all without compensation. This will force hospitals to cut expenses further than they already have, and they have cut them to the bone. Already overworked nurses, techs and others will find even greater demands placed upon them.
As the fiscal demands of caring for the swelling ranks of the uninsured increase apace, hospitals will find themselves forced to cut services or even close their doors as they can no longer support the costs resulting from patients lack of access to quality affordable health insurance.
The result will be boutique hospitals where care is available to those who can pay. The rest of America will be relegated to an increasingly smaller pool of institutions able and willing to provide care.
Imagine the effects in Columbus if just one health care system should close. Thousands of nurses, techs and other support staff would be unemployed. Whole populations would be stripped of even the most basic access to health care, including the former staff of the hospital.
Congress MUST act to provide meaningful reform to the health insurance industry, including a public option via the reconciliation process...one which takes effect within six months, not the years envisaged in current legislation.
Doing nothing is not an option. The situation will not remain static. It will continue to worsen as shown by insurance companies continuing to increase their premiums as they did in California...by 39%.
Ya been served Boehner!
Taking the lead of conservative hate radio, Sarah Palin has, over the past year, berated President Obama's use of the teleprompter. She has constantly and consistently mocked the President's use of a teleprompter, conveniently ignoring the fact that almost all public officials use the teleprompter when making prepared public statements.
After criticizing President Obama as a "charismatic character with a teleprompter" at the Tea Party Nation Convention in Nashville, it became quickly clear who needs a teleprompter. And it is not President Obama, who demonstrated considerable non-teleprompter assisted skill in his recent meeting with Republicans and his subsequent town halls.
Mrs. Palin approached the lectern at the Tea Party convention with her script in hand. It looked to be about a half inch thick stack of a prepared statement. When she began speaking, it was clear that she was reading from her script. She was, almost sounding like a robot, reading the entire speech. She was looking down at the script during most of the speech in a obvious effort to not lose her place. She was reading, not from a side stage teleprompter, but instead from a script on the lectern.
Then she did it, she lost her place in the script. She blurted out: "The world looks to Alaska as that shining beacon of hope." She lost her place in the script more than once and Sarah's frustration and embarrassment showed when her face began turning red and her voice began to weaken. It was clear that she was unprepared and not very confident.
To her credit, Mrs. Palin did seem to recover as the speech went on. She became more competent after her early stumbles - especially with her favorite zinger against President Obama. But then the question and answer session began after her reading of the speech.
The questions for the question and answer session, according to the emcee, were submitted online by Tea Partiers at a social networking site - your favorite gathering place for adolescents.
After a couple of questions, Sarah Palin looked down at her hand where she had scribbled some notes. What? Was she coached by Willow and her teen age Facebook friends? Is Sarah Palin 14 years old - reading robotically with a cheat sheet on her hand?
I am sure that FOX News is putting a teleprompter in that studio they are building for Mrs. Palin in her Alaskan home. This way, they figure, she can look in the general direction of the cameras and not get caught reading her palm again. It should be clear to FOX that Sarah Palin needs a teleprompter as she has trouble reading a written script from a lectern.
Sarah could use a teleprompter to help prevent her looking as amateur as she did at the Tea Party Convention. But she will never be able to use one during public appearances. She has ruined it for herself. How could she ever face the public, using a teleprompter, when her entire political platform consists of criticizing President Obama for using one?
Dear President Obama,
I am a progressive Democrat. Not a left winger, not a fringe element. Just a Democrat who has progressive thoughts and ideas - mostly about how we can make things better for people who are struggling without destroying all the benefits so many people already enjoy living in this country. I wish to see our society move forward into the uncertain future with good tools for survival - like sustainable energy production and sustainable farming. I want to see Americans properly educated so we don't decline into an idiocracy. I liked the middle class I grew up in and I don't want to see it destroyed further. People should have secure homes and good jobs.
I worked hard to get you elected. My husband and I gave more money than ever before, not only to your campaign but to those campaigns of Congresspeople who would benefit your presidency. I followed the numbers. I got on the phones repeatedly, something I have never done before. I attended conference parties, and formed alliances with other Democrats, and did all the things you said we had to do to create a grass roots movement. I cried when you were elected. I flew to Washington to celebrate at your Inauguration.
So when I tell you where I stand on the events of the day, I'm asking you to understand that I am not the enemy.
1. Ed Schultz is right. Please let Mr. Gibbs know - you are losing your base as well as independents. You should assign someone in your administration to listen to progressive radio (which by the way is not at all dead, as Fox would have you believe). Your base has its panties in a twist. And oddly, I find myself among them. It's no longer good enough for you to NOT be George Bush. And the way it's going is not good.
2. If what you really meant by "changing the way things are done in Washington" is 'bipartisanship above all else,' you had us all fooled. No one I know, or have heard on the radio, thinks that bipartisanship at the expense of progress is the direction we were going to or should go. I don't know one single Democrat who really understands why you still keep focusing, after a year of failed attempts, on bipartisanship with the Republican leadership who have made it clear that their only goal is to destroy you. Note the subtext that if they destroy you, they destroy progressive politics and demoralize all progressives for decades to come. Nobody thought your agenda was going to be primarily comprised of throwing concessions to Republicans (and their Democratic sympathizers) who give absolutely no ground, and who demonstrate week after week that they disdain the American people and want to destroy the Obama presidency. Yet you keep on using bipartisanship as your measure of success. Why?
3. We want a proper health reform bill. I personally would prefer to see Congress perform the nuclear option on filibustering - or at least threaten with intent to execute. Then put a public option back in and tell Nelson, Lieberman and Lincoln to go hang. I believe that Republicans will be no more willing to lose their only leverage than cut off their noses. If they really don't care about the filibuster, the filibuster is gone and we win health care reform. If they do care, they back off and we get health care reform. We win either way: the American people get decent health reform and your base has pride. If we lose the filibuster, it doesn't matter, because the next time Republicans are in power they will be happy to use the nuclear option on the Democrats when it means forwarding their agenda. In other words, because the Republicans said so in 2005, the filibuster has already died. The problem is Democrats are unwilling to bury the damn thing, and it sits around stinking to high heaven.
4. No one out here who got you elected thinks you should start cutting entitlements in the middle of a recession. Paul Krugman is very accessible. I understand that FDR made that mistake. Are you going to repeat it? We don't want to see another recession start up now. We would prefer you tax the richest 1% of Americans, since they took an eight- year free ride under George Bush at the expense of the middle class. That would be nice when last week Kennedy's seat got usurped, and SCROTUS hands us our hats.
5. Carbon cap and trade is important. The minute that goes through, capital investment increases exponentially in the green industries. You want jobs? Get carbon cap and trade. But you have to get it. You can't dicker with obstructionist Republicans over it until it's so watered down it has no impact. Sorry for being so brash, but there again we could do without the filibuster.
In the end, Mr. President, what I wish you would do, speaking as part of your base, is to put Republicans on the other side of a large wall. And move forward rapidly. When you actually accomplish things, you will be reelected, and you'll have the Congress you want. But if you let Republicans win, you will fail. There is no in between, no bipartisanship. So far the Republicans are winning. I hope this is what David Plough will tell you. I adore you and really wish to see you succeed wildly. I think it's possible. Yes we can!
Thank you.
Very very sincerely,
Ellie Wilder
Sausalto, California
www.elliewilder.com
The "compromise" reached by Senator Reid and the "Gang of Ten" is simply a capitulation to the health insurance industry. The number of people aged 55 to 64 who need this plan will provide an insuficient pool of customers to provide any meaningful competition to the health insurance industry in terms of controlling costs and providing quality, affordable health-care.
Secondly, this "compromise" is a sop to those progressives in Congress, and the nation who are seeking meaningful reform of the nation's health insurance industry. Absent a large pool of customers for a public option, as in ALL AMERICANS, costs will continue to spiral out of control, waste and ffrausd will continue unabated, and more and more people will be forced into the ranks of the uninsured.
Absent immediate implementation of any reforms that do make it through will simply allow the pussies we politely call our Representatives and Senators, kick the can down the road so far it will never again see the light of day, all the while ensuring that many thousands more die because they cannot secure affordable, quality health insurance.
I'm a critical care RN. I see the results of lack of health insurance EVERY FREAKIN' DAY. And not just in those from "55 to 64". I see people in their 40's, 30's and even in their twenties landing in intensive care beds simply because they put off seeking treatment because they were under or uninsured. Some of them, more than I care to think about, leave in body bags.
So please, don't come gabbling to me about how wonderful this compromise is. There's simply no way to polish that turd.
...But as I watch the internecine fighting amongst Democrats over non-issues like abortion in the health care "reform" bill working its way through Congress, I see only one outcome.
That being a hollowed out shell of a bill that give everything to the insurance industry while only paying lip service to a public option. To be at all viable, the public option has to be open to ALL Americans, otherwise the few million that will be able to enroll in a public option will be too few to have any affect at all on private insurance premiums and services.
Let's get real here. The parliament of whores we call "Congress" is going to roll over and spread their collective legs for the insurance industry just to keep the money rolling in. I hope I'm wrong, but time and experience show me I'm not.
62% of the American people in 9 polls said they favor a public insurance option. Unfortunately the TV or CNN does not seem to understand this.
Oh, Ali, tell us why "public insurance is so unpopular".
Percentage of responders FAVORING the public insurance option:
61% (CNN/ORC 10/18/09)
77% (SurveyUSA 8/20/09)
65% (NY Times/CBS News 9/25/09)
55% (Washington Post/ABC News 9/12/09)
61% (Quinnipiac 10/08/09)
55% (Time 7/29/09)
72% (NY Times/CBS News 6/20/09)
56% (Washington Post/ABC News 10/20/09)
59% (Kaiser Family Foundation 8/20/2009)
Since the Far Right/aka New Republicans/aka ConservaNUTS, have spent over 9 months birthing new, and SCARY phrases to "excite" their base:
Why don't WE fight fire with TRUTH?
ie: Public Option=FREEDOM Option
ConservaNUTS/Teabaggers screaming NO GOVERNMENT intervention? ANARCHY
And, using the term that dear Nicole coined a few days ago--lets combat their ism's, with our OWN:
COMPASSIONISM!!!!
OTHER SUGGESTIONS??!!
Baucus's bill - Wealthcare for Billionaires!
Taxing individuals thousands of dollars out of their paychecks aside from premiums, plus requiring participation or else, AND leaving out the public option? Nice recipe for delivering billions to the insurance companies. Good work there, Mr. Baucus. Nice fake out.