Today President Obama expressed his disappointment with Congress for delaying passage of an extension for unemployment. Millions of people are counting on the Congress doing the right thing and stop dragging their feet. Comments such as “if we pass this no one unemployed will be looking for work” have only hurt the efforts of millions who are trying desperately to hold onto their homes, vehicles, and families.
I spoke to a family friend who is over 50 just yesterday. She said she was told to dye her hair to hide the gray so when she went for a job she wouldn’t be turned down. Her companion had talked to someone about a job over the phone. When he went for the interview he had set up during that call, the interviewer said he had thought he was speaking to a younger man. No, he didn’t get the job. Age discrimination? Yes, but you would have to prove it and it’s your word against theirs.
People are taking jobs that they would have felt beneath them years ago when the economy was good. Minimal paying jobs are being snapped up by older citizens who need to have money coming into their households. Food stamps and food banks have been used more than ever. People are desperate to keep their homes and feed their families. If Congress balks again, I am sure many of them who are set to be re-elected in November will be watching their opponents win their seats in Congress.
The latest news on unemployment is that 13 out of 100 people are able to find at least a part time job. That’s not good. Where are the jobs? We have been told the economy is getting better, but judging from what I have heard on tv and read in the newspapers it’s not the truth. We need to have a future here in the U.S. We need to have Congress do the right thing and pass the bill before them. Word has it this will happen tomorrow. I am not holding my breath.
Tags: Congress·economy·jobs·Obama·unemployment
This week there was a hearing in New York to determine whether or not to grant the Cordoba Initiative to build a 13 story mosque near Ground Zero. Most of the crowd at the hearing were opposed to this being even considered. Many objected and declared Ground Zero to be a “cemetery, sacred ground, and the dead needed to be honored”, but they wouldn’t be if this building was given approval. The Twin Towers were destroyed by Islamic hijackers.
The Cordoba Initative and the American Society for Muslim Advancement informed everyone in the court room that the building would house not only a mosque, but also a community center, swimming pool and recreation area where the public would be invited to join. They want to improve relations among Muslims and the West. A decision is expected to be made sometime in August.
How would you feel about this? Would you want a mosque close to Ground Zero? Would you feel this is degrading to those who gave their lives Sept. 11? The United States will never forgot those lost during that terrible day. We need to honor their deaths, their sacrifice and remember them all. However, to hold the entire Muslim community for the crimes of a group of terrorists is also wrong. Perhaps it is time to “turn the other cheek” and forge a better understanding of other religious groups.
Tags: 911·Cordoba Initiative·Islamic·mosque·Muslims·Twin Towers
Much has been said lately about Arizona’s new law regarding illegal immigrants. Now the U.S. government is suing the state. This may seem far fetched, but it is true. Some of Arizona’s politicians have been lying regarding illegal immigrants coming into their state and why.
Illegal immigrants have long been entering the U.S. through its borders, mostly being trucked in or sneaking in during the dead of night. There are not enough border patrols to keep illegals out of the U.S. These immigrants will work for pennies cleaning, picking produce, and doing all sorts of manual jobs that some U.S. citizens feel are below them. This has been going on for centuries and now there is a big debate about the Mexicans coming into the country.
It has been claimed that there are between 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. right now. Where are they going? Where are they living? Working? Sending their children to school? Getting medical care when necessary? Who is paying for all this? They can’t just squeeze under the radar and disappear when necessary. Are farmers and others who hire these illegals also guilty of contributing to the problem?
Colin Hanna, president of Let Freedom Ring, a conservative grassroots organization, suggested recently that the U.S. first classify illegal presence in the U.S. as a felony. Secondly, “offer a specific period of time in which people here illegally who have not committed other serious crimes may plead guilty to the felony and receive a suspended sentence and permission to remain in the U.S. as a permanent legal resident.” These people would never be able to become citizens, could not run for any political offices or vote.
America was built by immigrants. Most have been welcomed through our borders without any problems. Why then the fact that illegal immigrants who have not registered as coming into the country are being targeted? Many have been lead to believe the U.S. is a country of fabulous wealth and prosperity. I am sure many find this was a lie once they have been here for a while.
Do you feel we should allow people to come across the borders, live and work here in the U.S. if they sign an agreement when they cross? Or do all the illegal immigrants need to be sent back to where they came from? I value your opinion on this subject. Too many are taking jobs that Americans could do now since unemployment is so high. Why have illegal immigrants do the work? Why should we feed, clothe, and help maintain a lifestyle for them when Americans who have been born here are in need? Think about it.
Tags: Arizona·citizens·illegal immigrants·jobs·medical care·Mexicans
I keep finding more information on bedbugs, but hearing this story on CNN prompted me to check it out further. It would seem someone brought the dreaded pests in to the store. We need to find better ways of keeping bedbugs out of places they have recently invaded. This is becoming more and more of an epidemic in the U.S.
By Jesse Solomon, CNN
July 2, 2010 6:35 p.m. EDT
Hollister in New York City’s Soho neighborhood remained closed Friday after a bedbug infestation was found.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Bedbug infestation shuts down 2 stores in upscale Manhattan areas
- The critters have become a growing problem in recent years
- Emphasis so far has been on residences, but the bugs can hitch a ride to work
- Despite the name, bedbugs need not live in beds
New York (CNN) — A bedbug outbreak at two trendy New York retail shops has sounded the alarm among city residents and businesses, prompting calls for the city to examine how it deals with the prickly pests.
Hollister, a popular clothing store owned by Abercrombie & Fitch in the fashionable Soho neighborhood, remained closed Friday after a bedbug infestation was found earlier in the week, according to company spokeswoman Iska Hain. And an Abercrombie & Fitch store in South Street Seaport also has been closed by an infestation.
Abercrombie and Fitch said Friday afternoon the problem in the SoHo Hollister store had been taken care of and the shop will reopen Saturday morning.
“The company has requested guidance from the mayor’s office on how businesses in Manhattan should deal with this issue,” the company said in a news release. “In the meantime, the company’s first priority continues to be its customers and associates.”
The incidents mirror a sharp overall spike in bedbugs in recent years, yet efforts to combat the problem have mostly focused on residential buildings, leaving the issue of contamination in commercial spaces largely ignored.
“We’ve had them in banks, grocery stores, movie theaters, judge’s chambers, schools, dentists’ offices — everywhere,” said Jeff Eisenberg of PestAway, an exterminating company in Manhattan.
The problem, according to Eisenberg, is that bedbugs carry a stigma, which causes many cases to go unreported. “It’s like a don’t ask, don’t tell policy,” he said. “People don’t tell their employers that they have bedbugs in their house” — bedbugs that can hitch a ride to the workplace.
According to the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, it issued 4,811 violation notices to residential landlords for bedbug infestations in 2009, compared with 82 in the 2003-2004 fiscal year. For the first half of 2010, 1,976 bedbug violation notices have already been written.
However, such statistics represent only a fraction of bedbug cases in the city, as they come almost exclusively from buildings in the rental market. Owners of bedbug-infested residences are less likely to call 311, the city’s non-emergency hotline, which then notifies the Housing Preservation Department.
Further, landlords of commercial structures are currently not obligated to report bedbug infestation.
State Assembly member Linda B. Rosenthal, who recently sponsored legislation to require landlords of apartment buildings to disclose information about an apartment’s bedbug history to potential tenants, plans to address the matter of bedbugs in businesses, though she admits doing so will be tricky.
“People buy a shirt, leave it hanging in their apartment, a bug gets on it, and then they go to work.” Rosenthal told CNN. “If you buy a piece of clothing you should assume it’s bug free, but it’s hard on the retailer to assure that it is, because how would they know.”
Treating bedbugs can be extremely expensive, and no insurance policies cover them. “It would be cost prohibitive on both sides,” Rosenthal said.
The rise in bedbug cases is not exclusive to New York. Last year, the federal Environmental Protection Agency sponsored a bedbug conference in Arlington, Virginia. Speaking to a crowd of 230 academics, agency employees and exterminators, Dale Kemery, an agency spokesman, said the incidence of infestation in the United States has tripled since 2005.
Despite their name, bedbugs need not live in beds. They generally live within 10 to 20 feet of their hosts and avoid light, preferring the dark security of spaces behind headboards, under baseboards and behind hanging pictures.
Tags: Abercrombie and Fitch·bed bugs·landlords·tenants
Once again the northeast U.S. is in a heat wave. Saturday and Sunday seemed to be the worst. While there has been a breeze, it’s been a very warm one. Mother Nature seems to think we need to be on the hotplate a little longer, extending the heat wave a few more days and denying us the rain we need to keep the crops growing and the cooler air heading in our direction.
During a Phillies game broadcast on Thursday afternoon it was like watching a sheet of water hit the stadium. They play their baseball games about 50 miles from here. We didn’t get a drop of rain. They did have a lot of people without electricity with downed trees and poles, so maybe we can consider ourselves lucky here, but we really do need to be able to stay cooler.
I am not a summer person. The heat and humidity take their toll on me. My body reacts in different ways, ranging from sweating to feeling like I’ve been hit by a Mack truck. Yet I know once winter comes I will say that I long for summer. Can’t change me on that one!
Summer has just begun. Longer days, shorter nights, heat, humidity, and feeling miserable. I am ready for winter!
Tags: heat·humidity·Phillies·summer·winter
