Employment

31st Anniversary Of Americans With Disabilities Act!

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It has been 31 years since President George H. W. Bush signed into law the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990.

This law would open up the world to Americans with disabilities of all kinds–both mental and physical conditions.

It covers employment, public public entities and public transportation, public accommodations and commercial facilities, and there have been many legal cases further augmenting the basic law, which was added to under President George W. Bush.

It gives disabled people hope and promise that they can achieve as much as possible, backed by federal law and courts.

It is one of the most lasting impacts of both Presidents Bush in history!

Lowest Unemployment Rate In Five Years: A Big Plus For The Democrats In 2014 Midterm Elections!

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There has been steady growth of employment over the past four and a half years, and the new employment report shows that the unemployment rate, now 7 percent, is at its lowest in five years! Over 203,000 jobs were created, more than was expected. This is bound to help the Democrats in the 2014 midterm elections coming up next November.

This is great news, although there is much to do for those still unemployed, and for those with minimum wages in an economy where the remnants of the Great Recession still lurk.

It is essential that public works jobs be created to rebuild the infrastructure of this nation, and that the minimum wage be raised, so that it is worth at least what it was thirty years ago, now down by more than 30 percent in purchasing power.

But since almost one third of all minimum wage workers are parents, and there are so many single mothers with children who work at such places, and including Walmart and McDonalds and other such establishments, it is unconscionable to have these workers have to depend on food stamps and Medicaid, when their companies should be responsible for a living wage. Taxpayers are paying the price, when it would be better that consumers possibly pay more at these companies, but the workers know their employers care about them and their ability to survive!

And the argument that raising the minimum wage will cut jobs is pure bull, as that has not happened in the past!

And if consumers must pay a dollar more for fast food, or items at Walmart or McDonalds, so be it, as everyone, no matter what his or her station in life, is entitled to a living wage, and human dignity and respect!

Five Years Since Financial Collapse, And What Has Been Learned? NOTHING!

Ronald 30 Comments

Five years ago this week, the financial markets on Wall Street collapsed, and America fell into the Great Recession, which many might consider the Second Great Depression, now five years long, despite claims the Great Recession is over.

Lack of proper regulation of Wall Street and the banking industry, a result of GOP control of Congress for 12 years, and a Republican President, George W. Bush for 8 years, along with some manipulation by leading Democrats, led to the worst economic outlook since 1941, and even now, five years later, with the improved economic conditions, employment will not return to pre 2008 levels until 2020 at the rate of job creation now existing!

A lot of this reality is due to refusal of the Republican Party to cooperate on legislation to create and encourage jobs, including infrastructure jobs and promotion of education training, and working to return overseas jobs to America.

But also, the Obama Presidency has not worked adequately to reform the banking structure and Wall Street, and the possibility of Larry Summers being Federal Reserve Board Chairman is precisely the WRONG thing to do, as he is part of the problem that led to 2008, and is an arrogant, overbearing, obnoxious individual who should be told to “take a hike”, with Janet Yellen the far better candidate to be the head of the Fed!

So if it going to take a grand total of TWELVE years from beginning to end for this Great Recession to be over, how is that different from the Great Depression which lasted from 1929 to 1941?

Meanwhile, a whole generation of people are suffering in terms of employment, something that will scar their future, and that of the American economy!

This is a very sad, troubling situation that must not be allowed to happen again, but it seems as if NOTHING has been learned!

Popularity Of Barack Obama And Hillary Clinton At High, Along With Stock Market, As February Begins!

Ronald 36 Comments

As Hillary Clinton leaves the State Department, after four successful and accomplished years as Secretary of State, her public opinion rating is at an all time high, 67 percent. She goes off to a well deserved rest, and a possible run for President in 2016, with the Republican Party hoping she will not run, as they know very well that they would have an extremely difficult time defeating her, if she was the Democratic Presidential nominee!

As Hillary leaves in triumph, our President, Barack Obama, has reached a peak of popularity, now reaching 60 percent, and his agenda, including gun regulation and immigration reform at the forefront, along with the continued creation of jobs and a hoped for budget deal in the next few months, is making him look at his strongest point since he was first elected in 2008.

The Republican Party is floundering badly, and all we see are Tea Party radicals, including Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas makes fools of themselves, and also witness Senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina go on the attack against a former colleague, Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, who they once were friends with, as he seeks to bring a new direction in the Pentagon. Their vindictiveness and nastiness is appalling, and diminishes both Senators immensely!

The Republican Party is mired in 26 percent support, and while they complain about the economy, a readjusted set of results for November and December shows greater growth in jobs than expected, and housing starts are up, and the stock market just today went over 14,000 in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the highest since October 2007!

So the Democrats, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton have a lot to be proud of, while the Republicans are demonstrating they have learned nothing from their defeat.. Their future is gloomy, until and when they realize that they must repudiate the Tea Party Movement and the extreme right wing.

The country is rapidly becoming more “Blue”, and once Arizona, Texas and Georgia become so, which seems inevitable by the next decade, the Republican Party will be unable to recover and gain government control and win the White House.

This country is not what they wish it to be–Southern, rural, white, and old. Instead, the Atlantic and Pacific Coastlines and the Great Lakes Region, urban and suburban areas, diverse population of all races, and young, and also women, are the future, and they are going “Blue” by leaps and bounds!

Rick Perry: An “Enviable Record” Of Accomplishments and Beliefs?

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Does Rick Perry have an “enviable record” of accomplishments and beliefs as Governor of Texas for the past eleven years?

Education–The absolutely worst record of educational accomplishments and graduation rate from high schools, and a massive budget cut this year,

Health Care–One out of four Texans have no health care coverage at all, not seen as a problem by the Governor.

Capital Punishment–The highest rate of executions of any Governor, including many questionable cases of miscarriage of justice.

Social Security–Calling the program a “Ponzi Scheme”, totally off the wall, and undermining its future by scaring young people who are paying into the system, along with those getting it and near to eligibility for it.

Employment–Bragging about the most jobs created, without revealing most are minimum wage or below, or are government or military jobs, which he has no right to give himself credit for.

Immigration–Claims that there is a crisis on the border, when statistics show there is NOT a crisis.

Much more could be delineated, but the point is clear: Rick Perry is himself a “Ponzi Scheme”, a charlatan, a liar, a phony of major proportions!

Texas Governor Rick Perry: Savior Of The Republican Party And The Nation? NO!

Ronald 1 Comment

The author is shocked that Texas Governor Rick Perry is scheduled to announce his candidacy for President tomorrow, on the day of the Iowa Ames Straw Poll.

It seemed clear all along that all Rick Perry was trying to do was get attention, and build up his massive ego further. He had said he had no interest in the Presidency, but apparently he has been tempted and enticed to run because of all the attention he is getting, which he clearly craves! So this is an ego trip, nothing else!

Is Governor Rick Perry qualified to be President? Well, he IS the Governor of Texas, the second largest state in population and land area, and has been for the past eleven years, longer than any governor in the country.

However, one must realize that the Governor of Texas is more of an honorary position, as it is literally the WEAKEST Governorship constitutionally in the whole nation of 50 states! The Governor of Texas is a media star because of the tremendous size and population of Texas, but he has very little authority and power, and has loads of free time to pursue other ambitions, a fact that helped George W. Bush decide to seek the White House!

It is also said that Rick Perry has presided over a tremendous increase of employment, about 40 percent of the whole nation’s growth in employment in this recession, and Perry loves to brag about it!

But the fact that the vast majority of these jobs are MINIMUM WAGE is ignored, as if one can live and support a family on a minimum wage job! And the fact that the military and oil companies have a major role in Texas also distorts the reality of employment!

The fact is that Texas ranks very low on education funding, as well as educational curriculum in history and science being distorted and inaccurate to the extreme!

It is a fact that poverty in Texas is widespread, one of the worst levels of poverty in America! But Perry has no concern for the poor, the sick, the disabled, the elderly or anyone else, and instead prefers to promote states rights, as if that is the basic meaning of the US Constitution, which it clearly is exactly the opposite, federal supremacy!

It is the fact that health care is very inadequate for millions of Texans under Rick Perry, but Perry has no concern about that reality! Instead, he is refusing to cooperate on the establishment of the Obama Health Care plan, preferring to sue in federal court to deny health care to millions of Texans!

It is the fact that Rick Perry is described by many as a great campaigner, but a very lazy, shiftless governor who avoids work when he can, so it is obvious he loves the battle but not the challenge of leadership!

It is a fact that Rick Perry has no clue to an understanding of economics, and would be a disaster for us, having no clue as to how to promote an economic recovery!

It is a fact that Rick Perry is quite stupid in reality, and is best noted for his cockiness and swagger, reminding many of George W. Bush, with the only improvement from the image of Bush being that Rick Perry would be described as a more handsome man than Bush is, but are we to vote based on looks, or brains and character and intelligence, which in the long run matter more?

It is a fact that Rick Perry would love to make America a Christian nation, rather than what it is–a nation primarily of many different Christian sects, along with other religions! Perry does not believe in our basic principle of separation of church and state, and has no understanding of our history, being extremely ignorant! But then, Perry was a C and D student, much like George W. Bush, so what can one expect?

It is a fact that Rick Perry is a great fan of and is supported by the Tea Party Movement, the reckless, radical group which has helped to cause the downgrading of our credit by Standard and Poor’s, and will stop at nothing to make certain that there is NEVER any increase in taxes on the greedy, selfish top two percent of the population and the corporations, no matter how much it impoverishes the nation and makes a more stratified society with a disappearing middle class!

It is a fact that Rick Perry advocated secession of Texas from the Union,which is illegal and unconstitutional, and over which the Civil War was fought 150 years ago! Former Texas Governor, President, and Senator Sam Houston, were he alive today, would be ashamed of Rick Perry being the Governor of his beloved state, which he felt had gone wrong when it seceded from the Union in 1861 and joined the Confederacy, and courageously supported Abraham Lincoln and the Union during that Civil War!

It is a fact that the Bush family themselves oppose Perry, which says that establishment Republicans who want to remain in the mainstream, as at least father George H. W. Bush wishes, are terrified of the possibility that this unaccomplished, inferior man might be the leader of the free world, with his maniacal belief in his own superiority!

It is a fact that if Rick Perry somehow won the Presidency, the nation would suffer far worse under him than even the worst critics of Barack Obama might imagine!

If Rick Perry is the best we can gain for President in 2012, this nation is in far greater danger and trouble than we can possibly imagine in 2011!