This is not directly related to my day-to-day job. This is just something that annoys me about the territory.

Background Info:
I am a member of a professional organization that is dedicated to Adult Education and Continuing Education in Pennsylvania (but I won't tell you the name of the organization). This organization helps with professional development and training for teachers (good) AND is involved in advocacy/lobbying (not always good). Often their advocacy emails seem rather bossy. Today's email was one of those ones.

Today I got an email from one of the major chairpersons in this organization. It was encouraging me (in rather forceful and authoritative terms) to call Senators Casey (D-PA) and Spector (R-PA) to ask that they vote in favor of Sen Leahy's (D-VT today has been R-VT in the past) amendment to add funding for adult education to the Stimulus Package that has been wrangling its way through Congress. (Those of you who know me, know what I did in response).

Now, I'm no economist. I'm no capitalist and I'm no socialist. (Yeah, I just don't like absolutes). But I have some thoughts here.

ARE YOU ******* KIDDING ME???? I am all for better funding for education, but this is not where it belongs. I would support such an amendment to an EDUCATION BILL. Not to this stimulus package. There should be NOTHING in this bill that will not create jobs (and I mean LOTS OF JOBS) in the next year or so. Adult Education is great and it helps people find better work, but better education will not help much if there are no jobs. Right now, people with advanced degrees are having trouble finding work. Having a GED or an accounting certificate is not going to help you much when CPA's with MBA's are out of work and applying for the same job openings available to someone with a lesser education.

This stimulus is approaching a TRILLION dollars. TRILLION. There are 12 zeroes in a TRILLION. (I think TRILLION should always be spelt with capital letters to emphasize the size of the number). A TRILLION seconds is about 32,000 years! (Do the math).

SOME GOOD STIMULUS PROJECTS:

Fixing Up the National Mall: GO FOR IT. This will create some temporary construction jobs and will give some work to some DC area landscaping companies that will be happy for the work during the housing lull.

Replacing aging Federal Fleet automobiles: GO FOR IT. Stipulate that passenger vehicles need to be fuel efficient (maybe 30+ mpg highway) and that all vehicles must be made in the USA. I don't see why federal employees can't drive things like Chevy Cobalts.

Mass-Transit Projects: GET TO IT! I heard from a local transit expert that there is a 4 year wait to get a large coach bus (the kind I ride daily. It is very often over crowded). Why aren't GM, Chrysler and Ford making these? Or at least making parts that will help speed production for the companies that make the full busses? How about more subways and commuter rail lines? Every metropolitan area seems to have wish-list plans that just need the injection of capital to get the work rolling. Let's go.

Rebuild the Power Grid: GO FOR IT! This is necessary. The more I read about the problems with our current power situation, the more I think this needs to be done. The amount of power necessary to sustain the grid infrastructure is just too much. There are solid plans to fix it. Let's make it happen. Let's build some more power plants too. I bet newer coal power plants are more efficient than the older ones (haven't really researched this). The coal is still "dirty" but using a dirty fuel more efficiently will help with pollution and greenhouse gasses.

Middle class Tax Cuts: YES! If you give tax cuts to the wealthier types right now, they'll just invest it in stocks while they can buy as low as possible. (If I had the money right now, I would soooo buy some stocks for cheap and sit on them). If you give a tax cut to Joe and Jane Q Taxpayer, they just might be able to turn the den into another bedroom and have another baby. Maybe they'll re-finish their basement to have a game room or play room for the kids. They'll go to a Hardware/Home Improvement Store and buy the things they need. They may hire an electrician to do some re-wiring and such. This will help create jobs too.

LONGER TERM ECONOMICALLY SOUND PROJECTS (but too long term for an immediate stimulus package):

Researching Green Transportation: This will help make the US a leader again. A lot of successful private innovations start out as publicly funded research projects. This happens time and again with aerospace, military and pharmaceutical research. Why would green transport be any different.

Solar Power: Yeah. make it more efficient.

Health Care Reform: Our nation's companies are being brought down by healthcare costs. We need to reign in the craziness. Take GM for example. GM's current employees have a lower compensation (wages + benefits) than Toyota's US employees. GM has so much money tied up in legacy costs that they just can't get out from under them.

Education: Having a better trained workforce will help companies fill specialized jobs.

I'm sure there are more, but I'm just getting too tired to go on.

Tags: economy, ramblings, rant
Current Location: home
Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: none

You know, censorship really irks me. Anyone who knows anything about me knows that.

So, why do so many people believe that actual discrimination against minorities and/or the disabled can be solved by changing how we speak?

I'm tired of hearing people say things like, "Oh, the n-word should be banned." or "The word retard should be banned."

Having someone punished for saying the n-word will not make them less racist. It probably just makes it worse.
Having someone punished for using the word retard will not make them any more sensitive to the difficulties people with disabilities face. Working directly with people who have been marginalized because of their race or disabilities will give a person a better understanding of the challenges they face.

Protesting a satirical movie where the people who say the word are not exactly role models solves nothing.

< /rant >

Tags: rant
Current Location: Hammond, IL USA

Wait a minute!

We invade Iraq. We continue our war in Afghanistan. We beat our chests at Iran. For what?


The government of Myanmar refuses to accept most help from the world. This is unacceptable. This is a rogue state! This government of Myanmar should be in the Axis of Evil. We're just standing by with shipments of food and supplies in Thailand, We're just waiting for clearance to land or make airdrops.


BULLSHIT

We shouldn't be taking this crap from anyone! We're the USA. If there is a just reason to invade a country without direct provocation; this is probably it. The people will die either way.

Besides a military defeat is the only sure way to destroy a military government. Well, that's how it happened in Argentina. :)

Tags: rant, world issues
Current Location: home
Current Mood: angry
Current Music: CNN

Well, today was interesting (in the apocryphal Chinese sense).

Upon returning from lunch, I was unable to go back to my office. The folks building the North Shore Connector managed to hit another gas line. (Construction Crews Strike Downtown Gas Line). After the Fire Department (awesome folks--BTW) checked the fume levels we were allowed back into the building. The fumes were not bad enough to cause an explosion. But many people in the building began having headaches and nausea. This compounded with the COMPLETE LACK OF HEAT WHICH HAS BEEN GOING ON ALL SEASON, meant that we had to close the building.

Unfortunately this is not the only problem we've had in this section of town lately. The construction for the North Shore Connector has been a pain in other ways. Not only is there constant noise (and I'm on the 11th floor), you have to navigate a maze to find the building where I work. People can't tell if we're open or closed. Other businesses in the area can't tell either. I know of at least one person that was told by someone working at a local bank that "You can't get there from here." Also, climate control has not really existed since the project began. There have been both air-conditioning and heating failures since the project began in July. Just so no-one thinks I'm crazy... I'm not the only one complaining (No Dirty Joke: Stanwix businesses Confront Grime...) Please note the pictures of the air filters... This cannot be good for the health of anyone living or working in the area.

So, I call upon Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. Please, stop this project from getting worse. Yes, the Port Authority has the right to extend rail-based mass transit in the region, and I support it fully (though OAKLAND is a much bigger DAILY traffic concern than the North Shore). I just don't think you should be allowing the Port Authority or these contractors to run roughshod over the city, its residents and its workers. You are allowing these people to make a noisy mess out of a section of Downtown that you (and many others) hope will become home to many residences of fancy new condominiums. You want more people to shop downtown. You want people to ACTIVELY SEEK downtown jobs. You want it to be a night-life destination. But there are many more construction projects going on and even more just over the horizon. If you allow the Port Authority and their contractors to continue making a mess out of downtown, how are you going to stop the others? If that happens we'll have to re-erect the sign that read "WILL THE LAST PERSON OUT OF DOWNTOWN PLEASE TURN OUT THE LIGHTS?"

Tags: anger, rant
Current Location: home
Current Mood: angry
Current Music: Astronomy Podcast (not really music)