Monday, November 14, 2011

The Reason America is Sinking

Change.org recently sent out an email petition about Target store and making their employees work on Thanksgiving. Apparently the man that started the petition feels that it is unfair to make people work on Thanksgiving.

Now remember that Thanksgiving has not always been a holiday and that before (and after) it was, people worked on the last Thursday in November. Also remember that many of the people who are off on Thanksgiving don’t spend so much time with their families. They sit in front of the boob tube watching football and endless reruns of Elf and Home Alone. They vegetate as the booze that they have consumed slowly sends them to sleepy time. And then the very same people that complain about working on a holiday will be the first ones up at midnight heading to the stores to take advantage of all the Black Friday sales. They apparently only think that they themselves should be off.

Now if you read the email below you will see that the sad sack that created the petition would not have to report for work until the holiday itself is over. When I was a security guard there were many years when I had to work Thanksgiving day and the day after, as well as Christmas and New Year’s and Independence Day and Arbor Day. This petition is a prime example of the problem with America. It’s not just the politicians; it’s the people that voted for them.


There are so many people out there who cannot find work and wouldn’t mind working on Thanksgiving if it meant that they could feed their families the rest of the year. But then there are the “Occupiers” in this country, the union drones, then “Changers”. Oh they are changing America alright: for the worse.


I have included the email in its entirety below:

While most of America will be sleeping off a belly full of turkey, stuffing, and pie next Thursday night, 29-year-old Anthony Hardwick will be waking up for a long night of work. That's because Anthony has to report for his shift at a Target store in Omaha, Nebraska on Thanksgiving night.

For the first time on "Black Friday" -- the biggest shopping day of the year -- Target stores will be opening at midnight. That means retail employees like Anthony have to miss Thanksgiving celebrations with their families in order to work for big stores' "Black Friday" midnight sales -- or risk losing their jobs.

"All Americans should be able to break bread with loved ones on Thanksgiving," Anthony says.

So Anthony decided to push back. He started a petition on Change.org asking Target to open stores at 5am instead of midnight on Black Friday. Click here to add your name to his petition.

The sad reality is that by starting a petition to his employer on Change.org, he is putting his livelihood at risk. Anthony knows that he could be fired for taking his demand of Target public -- but that's how important it is to him that he spend Thanksgiving with his fiancee and her family.

Anthony isn't alone in thinking that midnight (or earlier) start times for retail stores on Black Friday is are bad ideas -- customers hate it, too. In fact, according to an article in the New York Times that featured Anthony's petition, more and more consumers are avoiding Black Friday sales that interrupt Thanksgiving meals. And by being the first to petition his employer about this issue, he hopes to inspire workers at other retail stores to also speak out.


Target is one of the most prominent companies forcing its employees to miss Thanksgiving with their families. Anthony hopes that by calling out Target, he can force his employer to push back opening times at Target stores across the country -- which will pressure other retail chains to do the same.


Please add your name to Anthony's petition asking Target to push back its Black Friday opening time so he and other Target employees can spend Thanksgiving with their families:

http://www.change.org/petitions/target-corporation-push-back-the-opening-of-target-retail-stores-on-black-friday-to-5am?utm_medium=email&utm_source=action_alert&alert_id=wwRUiEkOTz_YEhNRjvzmv

Personal addendum: This guy is an ass.

Monday, October 17, 2011

The real problem with the healthcare system

If Congress is really interested in solving the healthcare crisis in this country they would stopped medical “scalping”. Recently on NBC Nightly News there was a report on third party companies that set themselves up as middlemen in the medical supplies game. They showed a cancer drug that the manufacturer charges $12.00 a vial for, that had been marked up by medical scalpers to over $900.00.

This is one of the many reasons that healthcare is so expensive in this country. There apparently are no regulations preventing this type of profiteering. Hospitals and other service providers routinely double-(or even triple)bill for services received. Or they charge for services that were not rendered. This is especially true in the cases of people who have insurance, Medicare or Medicaid. These service providers feel that if someone else is paying then no harm no foul. Most people with insurance don’t read the itemized bill to insure that they are being charged properly. They have insurance so the big companies will foot the bill. This of course drives up premiums for the rest of their customers.

When Congress passed Obamacare they did little if anything to stop these insane and immoral practices. Instead they simply tried to force everyone to drop their drawers and take it, spreading the same costs around. The problem with this mentality is that because it does nothing to address the underlying one of the causes of spiraling healthcare costs, medical scalping, it will only exacerbate the situation. Instead they passed a bill that will most likely be found unconstitutional. However we have laws against scalping and price gouging and they have NOT been found to be unconstitutional.

This lack of intelligence in lawmaking shows that the healthcare bill was really about vote buying and control of the American public. Both major parties receive campaign contributions from some of the companies and they certainly are not going to endanger their revenue streams by actually making good law.

We need a new Congress that’s smart enough and morally strong enough to say no, and yes when absolutely necessary.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Test of Windows Live Writer

I recently bought a new computer with Windows 7 and Windows Live. So this is a test of the new Windows Live Writer.

Let’s see how this works.