Teen Poverty in America

This is not mine, but it sums up several thoughts I have had lately quite nicely....

We just spent several hours observing teenagers hanging out at our
local mall. We came to the conclusion that many teenagers in America today
are living in poverty. Most young men We observed didn't even own a belt;
there was not one among the whole group.

But that wasn't the sad part. Many were wearing their daddy's jeans.
Some jeans were so big and baggy they hung low on their hips, exposing their
underwear. I know some must have been ashamed their daddy was short,
because his jeans hardly went below their knees. They weren't even
their daddies' good jeans, for most had holes ripped in the knees and a dirty
look to them.

It grieved us, in a modern, affluent society like America, that there
are those who can't afford a decent pair of jeans. I was thinking about
asking my church to start a jeans drive for "poor kids at the mall." Then on
Christmas Eve, we could go Christmas caroling and distribute jeans to
these poor teenagers

But here is the saddest part...it was the girls that were hanging out
there that disturbed us most. Never, in all of our lives, have we seen
such poverty-stricken girls. These girls had the opposite problem of
the guys. They all had to wear their little sister's clothes. Their jeans
were about 5 sizes too small! I don't know how they could get them on, let
alone button them up. Their jeans barely went over their hipbones. Most
also had on their little sister's top; it hardly covered their
midsections. Oh, they were trying to hold their heads up with pride,
but it was a sad sight to see these almost grown women wearing children's
clothes.

However, it was their underwear that bothered us most. They, like the
boys, because of the improper fitting of their clothes, had their
underwear exposed. We had never seen anything like it. It looked like
their underwear was only held together by a single piece of string.

We know it saddens your heart to receive this report on condition of
our American teenagers. While we go to bed every night with a closets full
of clothes nearby, there are millions of "mall girls" who barely have
enough material to keep it together. We think their "poorness" is why these 2
groups gather at the mall; boys with their short daddies' ripped jeans,
and girls wearing their younger sisters' clothes. The mall is one place
where they can find acceptance. So, next time you are at the mall,
doing your shopping , and you pass by some of these poor teenagers, would you
say a prayer for them?

And one more thing Will you pray the guys' pants won't fall down,
and the girls' strings won't break?

We thank you all.

Do you trust electronic ballot boxes? Should you?

Diebold source code leaked again Another breach on the e-voting front as elections near Robert McMillan October 21, 2006 (IDG News Service) -- Source code to Diebold Election Systems Inc. voting machines has been leaked once again.

On Wednesday, former Maryland state legislator Cheryl C. Kagan was anonymously given disks containing source code to Diebold's BallotStation and GEMS (Global Election Management System) tabulation software used in the 2004 elections. Kagan, a well-known critic of electronic voting, is Executive Director of the Carl M. Freeman Foundation, a philanthropic organization based in Olney, Maryland. (ComputerWorld)

What is probably more jaw dropping is this quote from the Maryland Board of Elections:

The leak comes with just three weeks before elections in the U.S., but Maryland Board of Elections Deputy Administrator Ross Goldstein expressed confidence in the Diebold voting machines. The leaked code was "not software that's in use in this election," he said. "The software now is different and has many more security features."

At the risk of sounding cynical, would Mr. Goldstein please tell me and the other voters of Maryland that are about to use these machines who has said the software is different and has many more security features? Someone other than Diebold? Because if there is no one else, it is simply their word and right at the moment, Diebold is not exactly arguing from a position of credulity. The election is three weeks away. Do you trust that you vote will be counted, counted accurately and for the candidate that you selected?

What's next? Banning movement?

Not it! Mass. elementary school bans tag ATTLEBORO, Mass. - Tag, you're out! Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they'll get hurt and hold the school liable.

Recess is "a time when accidents can happen," said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban. (Yahoo News)

Is this truely the beginning of the end? If you have been around more than 10 minutes you will know that I have been questioning several of the decisions that educations officials (and I am going to use the term very loosely here) have been making of late, but I think this is near the top of my list. Sure, I am one of those who grew up with a jungle gym securly mounted over the asphalt of my school playground and today I kind of question that decision, but I do not question the need for a jungle gym. I played touch football, tag, soccer and a dozen other silly games at recess and while someone would fall and skin a knee or at worse, break a bone, that was the small price you paid and I know my mother (a former teacher herself) and father would have never thought about suing the school. Accidents happen. Banning recess because someone might get hurt is not going to reduce them or make them less significant. It will, however, continue to lead to a generation of lazy, overweight children (and thus, adults) who do not know what to do out-of- doors.

It is STILL only about money

On Friday, as a rider to a port-security bill, the President of the United States signed into law, an act that would prevent the payment of debts with credit card, cheque or electronic funds transfer to any on-line gaming site. Essentially making it "illegal" to bet on-line. The reason? Officially, the bill's sponsor, one Robert W. Goodlatte (R-Va.) said he opposed all gambling, citing its "ill effects on society," but particularly Internet gambling, for reasons that are not cited in the article (Washington Post Saturday October 14, 2006 - A Section).

While Rep. Goodlatte sounds like a throwback to the time of Prohibition (which is what Annie Duke says they have essentially imposed), and for all his "moral and ethical" high ground, which I think he does not hold, the issue is not related to the ill effects gambling has on society, for if it was, then why did Rep. Goodlatte not take a run at abolishing all gambling? No, the issue, as I have said before, is the inability of the United States Government to glean any form of revenue from the industry. This is probably made most clear by the lack of argument or even opinion of the major casinos and their association. Their opinion is that the guy who bets on-line is not one of their customers anyway. What they would like, however, is for Congress to study whether legalized, nationwide, taxed and regulated like what they have in Britain. Tell me again that it has something to do with protecting society?

Too much tolerance?

Conservative Activists Considering Role of Gay Lawmakers Living a Lie May Have Contributed to Mark Foley's Downfall By JAKE TAPPER WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2006 Conservative activists are beginning to discuss the Mark Foley scandal as indicative of a GOP that has become too tolerant of gays in their midst. (ABC NEWS)

There is, buried in this article, this line by Tony Perkins:

"As a society, we've made diversity and tolerance the guidepost of public life," Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council told ABC News. "Maybe we shouldn't be surprised that we have congressmen chasing after 16-year-old boys."

If it does not make you see red, then you do not understand. Unfortunatelyy, the homophobic among us do not want you to understand. They want you to think: homosexual = pedofile. That is in the same vein as latino = illegal immigrant.

Has the United Statestrulyy devolved to the point where the majority of its citizens actually agrees that diversity and tolerance are bad things? I am not supporting what Rep Foley did, for whatever reason,convenientt or otherwise. I am however damning Perkins and all of those narrow minded, backwards thinking individuals (I could say white males, but that would be offending white males) who think this way. We need more tolerance in this society, not less.

Ethics Committee!?

Ethics committee ready to probe Foley case By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 48 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Speaker Dennis Hastert's job is on the line as members of the House ethics committee decide how to launch a credible investigation of former Rep. Mark Foley's salacious computer messages to teenage pages. [Yahoo News]

Excuse me? The ethics committee? Is this the same ethics committee that the Republican controlled house gutted several years ago for investigating the last round of Republican indiscressions? Or is this the ethics committee that has yet to seriously deal with lobbiest access to elected representatives? Or perhaps, this is the ethics committee that, for the last twenty years really has been little more than a storage cabinet of white paint hoping the issues turned over to them would go away.

At what point will the American people become the ethics committee and replace the whole lot of them? It is about time that they were told to stop messing around and get some real work done. Ethics committee. Maybe I should send them a couple of books on ethics so they at least have a starting point.

Can you prove your status?

Crackdown on immigrants empties a town and hardens views By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor Tue Oct 3, 5:00 AM ET STILLMORE, GA. - As Department of Homeland Security agents in black SUVs tooled up and down the dirt avenues of Stillmore, Ga., hundreds of undocumented people scattered into the woods like "flushed quail," one witness said. ... Carolyn Byrd, see[s] the ICE roundup as justified. Her son, Bennett, was a manager of the Crider plant for years. He said that Hispanics worked harder than anyone else. But they also took jobs, including his. [Yahoo News]

Not illegal immigrant, but Hispanic. Yes, there is a very significant difference. One is a question of paperwork and law, the other, a gross generalization and stereotyping hearkening back to the mid-50s. In this case, translate Negro with Hispanic.

Right now, where you are sitting, prove you are in the country legally. I am going to bet $100 that you cannot do it. More than 50% of the current legal US population cannot do it to the criteria specified in HSPD-12, the gold standard for documentation proof. You need no less than two bonafide pieces of identification and most birth certificates issued before 1980 do not qualify. Stop and think about that for a moment. Most would say that their birth certificate is their proof. Well, if it meets the untamperable standard, it might be, but most states did not really issue a birth certificate that would meet that standard until recently. Of course, we all know that drivers licenses are out (see the Real ID law if you don't believe me), most federal IDs (yup, that is what HSPD-12 is supposed to fix. Most federal IDs don't meet the verification standard). Social Security cards? Do not make me laugh - if you even know where your original card is.

Today, a passport is really the only document that will pass muster for most and is a document that the average legal American does not possess. That or a federal visa (like a green card). So do not stand around looking proud when the bus pulls up and empties out your company of supposed illegals. Chances are, they just arrested someone born in east L.A. and a citizen of the United States.

Wal-Mart seeking 40% Part-Time Staff

Wal-Mart to use more part-timers, wage caps: NYT Mon Oct 2, 6:31 AM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is pushing to create a cheaper, more flexible work force by capping wages, using more part-time workers and scheduling more staff on nights and weekends, The New York Times reported on Monday. [Yahoo News]

There are two things that the average American should take from this article. The first is that retail is slowly beginning to recognize that people work during the bulk of hours that they are open and are looking to shop when they are closed (this is a surprise?) and the second is that we are a replaceable commodity item when it comes to being employed. If this fact has not already sunk in, how long do you think it will be before the few full-time jobs in retail are completely eliminated. Unless there is a good reason a person has to be full-time (and management is the only one I can think of, which is also immune to unionization) it will not take long for most retail establishments to get rid of their full-time employees. If you think I am kidding, remember that where Wal-Mart leads, the rest of the industry seems to follow.