Category Archives: jobs

War on the poor

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I was watching People’s Court with Judge Marilyn Milian this afternoon.

There are times when I don’t agree with her conclusions–sometimes she seems to make too quick a judgment without allowing the plaintiff and/or defendant to put their stories out there.

But nothing has been so outrageous as what I witnessed today–the plaintiff was a woman whom had pawned jewelry at a pawn shop and when she went to pick up the jewelry before the date due, she was told it was stolen.  The owner told her that she was SOL because of the robbery.  What she didn’t come out and say was that it was an employee who robbed the shop.

The judge asks the plaintiff how much she pawned the jewelry for?  $150.  What was the original value of the jewelry?  $5,000.

The judge was incredulous.  She says there is nothing that would make her pawn her engagement ring and other jewelry….she then waited for the plaintiff to give her an answer.  All she would say was that she needed the money.

The judge wasn’t satisfied with that, however, and kept coming back to why she had pawned it–badgering the plaintiff why she would pawn the jewelry for such a low amount??  The woman had stated before that she had four kids.  After being badgered by the judge, she stated that her husband was out of work.

The judge continued and asked if it was for food or what?  The insinuation was that this woman was using the money for…..wait for it….cigarettes, booze, or drugs…because, you know, that’s all poor people do—drink and smoke and do drugs./snark

The woman was not disheveled.  She was dressed nicely, and well-groomed (which isn’t easy, by the way, when you’re poor).  But the judge just wouldn’t let it go.

She was the victim here on so many levels, and the judge was badgering her and stating that NOTHING would ever make her sell her engagement ring, no matter how bad the circumstances.   She was blaming the victim for being robbed….and the undercurrent of being poor.

The judge obviously has never been desperate.  The woman had four kids to feed.  She probably needed basics like school supplies, toilet paper, soap, shampoo, trash bags, detergent, and on…that the wealthy never worry about.    Food stamps does not cover everything a family needs to eat in a month’s time…even less now that the extra has been taken away.  It certainly doesn’t cover the necessities.  The woman stated that she absolutely needed it for necessities or would not have pawned it.  The judge was asking if her husband knew about it, and she said it needed to be done.  The judge was clearly not “getting it” that people ARE THAT DESPERATE in these times!

The judge should have been giving the pawn shop owner the third degree about why she paid so little for such valuable jewelry….why she was allowed to take such an advantage over the poor?

The pawn shop also had a policy of not paying for the merchandise in case of fire, robbery, and a list of about everything that could go wrong.  In addition, they stated they would never pay for more than double the amount of the pawn….in this case, $300.

The poor woman was robbed twice–she was robbed of her jewelry, and the pawn shop robbed her of not paying for the value of the jewelry.

Usually, the judge is all over people who don’t have their ducks in a row–this woman had receipts showing the value of the jewelry, she had come to the pawn shop in time to redeem her jewelry before it went to the floor, so I’m at a loss to explain the judge’s treatment of her….other than the contempt of the poor runs deep.  I never really realized how much contempt this country has for the poor until I was one.

Are you optimistic ’bout way things are going… **edited

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Seriously??  They’re charging fees to the homeless for shelter….unbelievable….meanwhile, Canadians using food banks are at record highs…

(blog title is reference to the song “Dialogue, Parts 1 and 2 by Chicago)

**edited because no matter how many times I’ve listened to the song…somehow still messed up the lyrics….<sigh>

Plagiarizing isn’t really stealing….

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Rachel Maddow has an issue with Rand Paul claiming someone else’s writing is his own….and how he pretends “it’s no big deal”.

If you recall the post on only the crooks get jobs.…there seems to be a pattern here, eh?

But, no, we’re not done…I was watching the Ed Show on MSNBC, and he was stating that Bill O’Reilly has made the claim he knows why Jesus died–because he went after the tax collectors.  Ed said it was because he was sent here to die for us so that we could have everlasting life.   He also said something about the moneychangers being thrown out because they were in the Temple.

Hmmm….I remember making the statement on a comment on crooks and liars regarding this subject.(tried to find it,but it’s not on the website).

It’s been probably a year since I made the comment, and some of you might remember it–someone on the blog had made a crack about Jesus not caring about the poor, etc.  To which I replied that Jesus fed the poor with loaves and fishes, he touched those with leprosy (which was like AIDS in those days), and he threw the moneychangers (bankers) out of the Temple when the religious leaders had allowed them to set up shop there.  I said that was probably the real reason Jesus was murdered–he made the religious leaders look bad (and pissed off the bankers by interfering with their business).

I haven’t read O’Reilly’s book.  I don’t know the exact quote or context of it ….but it would piss me off to know this creep has a book out there, making $$$, while he stole an idea from someone else.

Oh….and O’Reilly claims that Jesus told him to write the book.

Um-hmmm….if Jesus had really told him that, he would have told O’Reilly to pay for the costs of printing it and hand out copies for free.

Never ceases to amaze me when people try to make money off of Jesus….I can’t imagine he would have healed someone and then said “That’ll be $100.”

 

Education News

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Diane Ravitch has this up on an open letter to the Los Angeles School Board.    A report here on Deasy and the electronics fiasco.

You might recall that the Smartboard in the classroom made me ill with a headache and nausea and causing adrenal distress, making me extremely tired.    I had to shut it and the “wand” used with it off and felt better within about 30 minutes. I wonder how many kids in the classroom were affected and not know enough to speak up?  (or worse–when they complain of nausea and want to see the nurse are thought to be making excuses?)

A commenter on the Deasy article posted this link on the electro-magnetic (radiation) exposure to the teachers and the kids in the classroom.

I was watching the South Bend news station last night where they were proudly promoting a woman whom had donated money to the school system to purchase smartboards for those classrooms that did not have one, I believe it was kindergarten through second grade.  For someone who hasn’t see them–these things are huge monstrosities that cover probably six feet across (guessing).

The news video showed a child at the smartboard pointing to a picture and the word that goes with it.  A teacher spoke and said it was a great way to see how well the child was learning.  While the story was running, I was thinking that a child could just as easily go to a chalkboard and demonstrate what they have learned.

And then there’s the waste of electricity plus exposure to electronic pollution.  When there is a smartboard in a classroom, there is little or no space for writing on the blackboard.   So I am left with the option of using the smartboard, which I won’t do anymore after the experience I had, or speaking in front of the class to get an idea across, which sometimes is not the best option, especially for someone who is dyslexic and needs the visual cues of writing on a chalkboard.

Finally, I don’t see where the smartboard actually helps a child to learn better.  Somebody made some major bucks on foisting yet another useless tool onto the cash-strapped public schools.

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In other, more sobering news:

The New York principals write a letter outlining why Common Core is failing the kids.  Reading of the effect on children who react with physical symptoms is heartwrenching.  Those poor kids will hate learning, when it’s their natural instinct to learn and explore.  Way to go, Common Core! /snark

Additionally, the letter states that children whom have never been labeled as learning deficient are now being so labeled and missing out on music and art classes that would most definitely help them to learn.

As I read about the students feeling like failures, my heart sinks.  I know how they feel–my dyslexia (undiagnosed) would have surely put me in the “dumb” category when that wasn’t the case.    I already felt dumb, however, and through my own will learned to adapt.  If a child is labeled as dumb by testing that does not allow for differences in learning, that child will never realize their true brain power.  They will not seek to move beyond the label placed upon them.

And this comment from Neanderthal really strikes to the heart of this debate:

neanderthal100

October 29, 2013 at 7:33 am

I paid a young man $1000 plus just the other day for a maintenance job for my house…Graduated around 2007..

He said to me…”You know, I never could do fractions when I was in school because they wanted us to use the calculator and it made no sense to me..I could get the right answer on the calculator but I never understood what I was doing.

I took so many tests that my guessing was really good.and I passed.

My father was shocked to find there were no vocational classes that I could take so he taught me the skills I need to know .

Now that I have to measure for my job and get paid for what I do….I learned the fractions and they are so easy.

I remember the math that I did was always for test questions…

My nephew is having a hard time because it is even worse now with this new math..

His teacher tells him everyday that he has to know this or that for a test and he gets ill on every test day.

Why don;t they have classes for construction workers?
That would have made so much more sense as I do not like the math with the y’s and x’s

I am very glad I am out of school and if and when I have children. I will teach them myself”

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Pretty telling, isn’t it, when  a child doesn’t learn the skills needed for a paying job.  This is just insanity.

Bombs, not food, say repubs…

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Susie Madrak has this up on the continued republican war against the poor.    To say it is demoralizing would be an understatement.

Shall we play the six degrees to Clinton game?  He pushed for “workfare” , which required welfare recipients to work for free–truly a corporation’s dream of forcing people to work and not pay any wages or benefits!  Slave labor rocks!!  /snark

When I asked for assistance after first moving to FW, I was required to do community service for two and a half days.  The money I requested?  $25.  Yes, you read that right— $25,   It was a humiliating experience when having to ask in the first place and then being put down by the social worker for having moved to FW without a job.  I was, um, hoping to get a job….

The Brits who are conservative are also playing the “we want to help you help yourself” game–

links here and here.

From the last link:

There is no reason to think, however, that the criticisms levelled at workfare won’t also apply to the new scheme. Is, for example, a person spending 30 hours a week picking up litter more or less likely to find a paying job? Research which looked at similar schemes in the US, Canada and Australia found that:

“There is little evidence that workfare increases the likelihood of finding work. It can even reduce employment chances by limiting the time available for job search and by failing to provide the skills and experience valued by employers. Subsidised (‘transitional’) job schemes that pay a wage can be more effective in raising employment levels than ‘work for benefit’ programmes. Workfare is least effective in getting people into jobs in weak labour markets where unemployment is high.”

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Truly disgusting how punitive these people are towards the poor.   Why not just have a public hanging and be done with it, already?

Lastly, here is the video someone suggested on crooks and liars:

Broad and Clinton

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I posted these links in a comment on Diane Ravitch’s blog yesterday, but they are still awaiting moderation….so I thought I’d post them here:

Bill Clinton’s Big Ideas for education.  Note the mention of Eli Broad in the audience.

From the article:

One of his big ideas for U.S. education: “We have to move toward somewhat local operational control but a national commitment to a longer school year, better trained and better paid teachers, to principals and superintendents who can actually be held accountable for results

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What the hell does that mean?  Oh, I forgot for a second that he’s a politician speaking doublespeak….let’s try to deconstruct, shall we?

“local operational control for a national commitment”  =  we have to be sure we have toadies willing to foist this crap onto the kids even when it’s evident that it is detrimental to them, by holding onto tax dollars paid by the public and not releasing them until these schools follow our mandates.

“better trained” = teachers that are pressured into teaching to the test so that their kids will pass (and not feel like idiots) so their school won’t “fail” and be closed…..to reopen with for charter profiteers.

“better paid” = bwahahahahahahaha

“principals and superintendents who can be held accountable”  = what does “held accountable” mean, anyway?  By what standards?  Who decides? Gates? Broad? Clinton? Rhee?

Bill Gates and Clinton Global Initiative.

Note the Big Brother aspect of videotaping teachers….always done with a positive twist–to “improve” the teachers’ performance.  Um-hmmm….to monitor the teachers to ensure that they teach only the rigid No Child Left a Mind.

And the final sentence says it all:

It is startling, however, to hear Gates state so bluntly the power of teachers.

He is concerned that they may be able to thwart his plans. And Gates isn’t someone who is used to being thwarted.

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Joanne Barkan’s excellent piece that I’ve posted before but bears repeating.

More news from Diane:  Eli Broad secretly funded anti-public school, and anti-union initiatives.    I see that Broad has the politician doublespeak down:  he publicly states he is for something, but then he funds efforts against that very thing.  Yep–keep people off balance and questioning, that’s the key.  Note that Gov. Brown felt compelled to be “nice” to Michelle Rhee to keep in good favor with Eli Broad to get the tax increase passed.  That’s how they work it, folks….kiss the toad and he just might turn into a prince….

This is also more proof that these folks are not paying enough in taxes if they have this kind of money to throw around….and why Citizens United needs to be overturned.

Someone posted this quote:

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” –Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Absolutely, Dr. King.  Absolutely. And the ability to think critically with creativity with character is not going to be had with a for-profit school run by hedge fund managers who see kids as machines to be built with little regard for humanity, democracy, and potential.

Food, Food, Food

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Apparently, there is a square knish shortage due to a factory fire in New York.  I had no idea what a knish was until this piece, so thanks for enlightening this writer.  It sounds yummy.

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In other food blogs is Michael Twitty’s piece on the life of a slave.  A great glimpse into history we don’t usually read about.  It’s well written–puts the reader into the daily struggle for them.  I was thinking when he wrote about catching the fish, that the fish must have tasted so good being caught in non-polluted waters.  And even though the work was hard,  it must have been nice to work outside in the sunshine….don’t misunderstand me–I know it was very hard, but I personally really enjoyed working on a farm.  I even liked it when the rain came down.    I would be weeding the old fashioned way of pulling them, and a grasshopper might leap onto a leaf nearby…..or a butterfly come floating past….birds singing….

 

 

The reality of austerity

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This will be coming our way if something isn’t done.