Where have all the IT jobs gone, long time passing?
Where have all the IT jobs gone, long time passing?
Where have all the IT jobs gone?
Our corporations have outsourced everyone.
Oh, when will we ever learn?
Oh, when will we ever learn?
Amtrak Could and Should Do Better
I think I understand why Amtrak is having business problems.
I would love to be able to take a train a lot of places I visit. First and foremost, there are not passenger trains to many places. If there is the travel time is much more than it would be by car and the real kicker is that the tickets are more expensive than driving. At least that has been my experience every time I have checked for an upcoming trip.
We recently returned from a wedding that was held in downtown Chicago. We took Amtrak from St. Louis to Union Station in Chicago there and back. The tickets for the two of us ran around $245. Gas for the trip would have ran from $100 to $150 depending on which vehicle we took and how much additional driving we did. However overnight parking in downtown Chicago would have cost us at least $60 per day. To the above figure add $120. Because we were splitting cabs with other attendees to the wedding, cabs probably ran another $20 or $25 while we were there. Double that if we had not split.
Our train was due to leave St. Louis Friday morning at 7:55 a.m. The Texas Eagle was behind schedule. Continue reading “Amtrak Could and Should Do Better”
Hey Ted Nugent…Guns are not toys.
I will admit to liking one or two Ted Nugent songs, but on the whole I am not a fan. My musical tastes tend toward Americana, singer/songwriter, jazz and classical music. However, Ted Nugent as a political activist I categorically do not like. It is an actually aversion. I am a big supporter of free speech, but part of me cannot help but thinking in a sane society this individual would be receiving heavy psychiatric counseling.
My aversion to Mr. Nugent stems from his attitude towards guns and his support of seeming absolutely no gun control.
To state the obvious, guns are designed to kill, period. They have no other function. They are meant to either kill humans or animals. Of course, there are effects that stem from this function.
They have been and are used for agents of gathering meat. This use has limited functionality now, as most folks who hunt for food in the United States will readily tell you that it is not cost efficient. While I personally do not hunt, I can understand the desire. It is not something I would wish to take away from people. Continue reading “Hey Ted Nugent…Guns are not toys.”
Let Them Eat Cake…said (more or less) Virginia Foxx
Virginia Foxx: Congress Doesn’t Need To Make College Affordable 
Talk about an elitist attitude…if it were not for Pell Grants (from the federal government) and a supportive wife I would never have made it through college. I would have spent my life working in warehouses and factories for not very much money.
And do not get me started on these for profit colleges like Phoenix. There have been multiple studies showing that they fail to prepare students for jobs and are exceeding expensive. If we are to spend tax dollars at these for profit schools, there should be some accountability.
And why I am at it, why have they privatized the student loan program?
Are For-Profit Colleges a Rip-off?
For-Profit Colleges Hemorrhaging Students
For-profit College Graduates Barely Earn More Than High School Graduates
In a different vein
Education Pays
Insurance Companies: Not Price Fixing, But Just As Bad
Name a product you must have if you own a home. If you said homeowner’s insurance give yourself a pat on the back. Even as a renter it is a wise idea to have renter’s insurance to protect losses from burglary, fire, etc.
Now name the one thing you should not do with these policies. If you said make a claim give yourself another pat on the back.
I live with my girlfriend who owns her house outright. She has been with the same insurance company for many, many years. I will not name names as I have come to learn these companies are vindictive. Just as an aside my girlfriend is financially stable, has been employed steadily for the last 25 years as a teacher, and has a good credit rating.
Several years ago due reasons beyond her control there a sewage backup that ruined practically everything on the first floor and the basement of her house. The company graciously took care of everything. Continue reading “Insurance Companies: Not Price Fixing, But Just As Bad”
The War on Drugs Has Unacceptable Costs
This outrages me. If I was a person of color I would be beyond outrage. Then you add onto the statistics the fact that we are spending more on incarceration than we are spending on higher education while we are importing skilled labor because supposedly we do not have the skill sets in the U.S.A.
We have our priorities wrong on so many fronts.
The graphic is from the ACLU website
Ann Wagner, Global Warming Denier…Be scared, very scared
Okay I know that Senators and Congress folks really do not read a sliver of the email they get, but this is pretty outrageous. I went onto Congresswoman Ann Wagner’s site to ask that she not support the Keystone Pipeline project for 
environmental reasons. They force you to choose a subject so I chose Climate Change.
This is the form letter I got back. It is one of the scariest things I have read in a long time. The only place that climate change is being debated is within Republican circles and only then because big money wants to continue to make big money at everyone else’s expense. The percent of scientist that are in agreement on global warming being caused by humans is almost unanimous. Either this woman is an idiot who cannot understand basic science, such an ideologue that she refuses to face hard evidence, or so enamored with her position as a high and mighty Congresswoman that she is going to go along with the party line to remain so. No matter what the reason she scares the living snot right out of my body. The fact that we continue to elect idiots like this does not speak well for our country.
Just as an aside she never once addressed the main subject of my email, the Keystone Pipeline. Now there is responsive public service.
I am including the whole text of her form letter response. Read it with the lights on. It is indeed a horror story of complete and utter stupidity.
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| Dear Citizen Rush,Thank you for contacting me with your concerns regarding climate change. I appreciate your views on this issue and welcome the opportunity to respond. Continue reading “Ann Wagner, Global Warming Denier…Be scared, very scared” |
Viral Video Shows the Extent of U.S. Wealth Inequality
The lie that is the H-1B program
From the linked article at Mother Jones:
“And it applies in a similarly upside-down way to foreign tech workers, who, according to a study released yesterday by the Economic Policy Institute, demonstrate no more talent in important areas than similarly educated Americans, and in some cases may be less qualified.”
“There are, of course, reasons for this that have nothing to do with intelligence. More than 80 percent of H-1B visa holders are approved to be hired at wages below those paid to American workers for comparable positions, according to EPI. And because H-1B workers and green card applicants are locked into jobs with whatever employer sponsors their visa, they have less less leverage to push for raises and promotions. As Matloff puts it, “the worker becomes a de facto indentured servant.”
Letter to a North American Manufacturer
President
Seabreeze International Corporation
361 Rowntree Dairy Rd #3
Vaughan, ON L4L 8H1
Dear Sir/Madam:
I purchased a model SF6000TA electric space heater from many other available models primary because it was made in North America. Some of the reviews online also gave me a warm fuzzy about my proposed purchase. Your product comes at a price premium compared to similar products from China, but I ignored this as it is important to me to buy products made closer to home.
I noticed the shipping container that my heater arrived in was a cardboard box made in China. Perhaps you should rethink your sourcing of these sorts of products in your business. I want to support manufacturing in North America. I do not think it should be a stretch for North American manufacturers to support manufacturing in North America.
Just a thought.
Sincerely,