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POPSWelcome To The Real World "Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it." -John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776
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POPSYou Know Who We Really Hate? As I contemplate how to pry a few dollars from these systems designed to humiliate and degrade my clients, already struggling with being social outcasts, chronic illness, drug addiction and mental illness I sigh audibly. I read of billion dollar bailouts and disappearing pallettes of cash as I ponder how to help a family with $400.00 so they will not be homeless in three days. I am so very tired.
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POPSChild Marriage A very good resource on the worldwide prevalence of child marriage. Source also has a section containing stories of young girls who went through this....
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POPSArtecnica - design with conscience Our challenge is to develop a competitive product that will encourage the survival of indigenous craft. Fulfilling this mission requires a smart designer, a savvy and visionary project producer, and a willing and ambitious artisan. Our objective is to avoid the mechanization of the artisan, which devalues his work and undermines the project from both a design and an economic standpoint.
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POPSChild maid trafficking moves from Africa to USA Thousands of kids in US suburbs in forced labor. One family gets caught: "The couple pleaded guilty to all charges, including forced labor and slavery. They were ordered to pay $76,000, the amount Shyima would have earned at the minimum wage. The sentence: Three years in federal prison for Ibrahim, 22 months for his wife, and then deportation for both"
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POPSIs There Slavery In Your Chocolate? This clip is for abailart. This is another even worse example of the bottom line being the driving force behind inhumane treatment of the workers who produce the things we buy every day. This story broke back in 2001, and I'm glad to read that there has been some progress in addressing this atrocity. But as can be seen by this quote from the article there is still money talking in these decisions. "the U.S. chocolate industry and its allies mounted an intense lobbying effort to fight off legislation that would require "slave free" labels for their products." Unfortunately, Money Talks! Legislators have their hands tied by lobbyists and special interest groups. Sad!
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POPSVatican Calls US-Mexican Border Fence "Inhumane" Speaking for the pope, Cardinal Martino also addressed the issue of the integration of Muslim immigrants in European countries. “Much still remains to be done,” he said, adding, “It is necessary to provide for legislative, juridical and social intervention to facilitate such an integration.”
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POPSCultural Divide There is this disturbing elephant in the room. Mohammad took a bride who was 9 years old and consummated the marriage when she turned 11. Most people today would view this as depraved behavior. I'd like to know how modern day Muslims feel about this.
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POPSSocial welfare programs do not keep a country from prosperity
The Nordic states have also worked to keep social expenditures compatible with an open, competitive, market-based economic system. Tax rates on capital are relatively low. Labor market policies pay low-skilled and otherwise difficult-to-employ individuals to work in the service sector, in key quality-of-life areas such as child care, health, and support for the elderly and disabled. The results for the households at the bottom of the income distribution are astoundingly good, especially in contrast to...American social policy. The U.S. spends less than almost all rich countries on social services for the poor and disabled, and it gets what it pays for: the highest poverty rate among the rich countries and an exploding prison population. Actually, by shunning public spending on health, the U.S. gets much less than it pays for, because its dependence on private health care has led to a ramshackle system that yields mediocre results at very high costs.
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POPSCBS Was Warned on ‘Kid Nation,’ Documents Show "...a state labor inspector was turned away from the site..." Who else could turn a state inspector away? This show is an experiment. I don't know if I'll watch it, but something about it is compelling. I can't help but wonder how the kids worked things out, so that's the pull for me. What do you think?
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POPSbottom of the ladder - Human Rights WATCH reports
June 15, 2007 Bottom of the ladder. Girls recruited into domestic work in Guinea often live in conditions akin to slavery, and many are victims of trafficking. A 15-year-old girl, sent by her father at age 8 to work for a woman in the capital Conakry, told Human Rights Watch: "The woman suggested to my father that she could look after me and send me to school .... I have not been in contact with my father since ....her husband rapes me. He does it each time his wife travels. I am scared." There is no child protection system in Guinea. Child trafficking, child abuse, and labor exploitation are very rarely prosecuted. Mexico: The Second Assault Obstructing Access to Legal Abortion after Rape in Mexico March 6, 2006 This 92-page report details the disrespect, suspicion and apathy that pregnant rape victims encounter from public prosecutors and health workers and exposes continuing and pervasive impunity for rape and other forms of sexual violence in states throughout Mexico.
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POPSExactly the Wrong Response to Caplan I absolutely agree that there is a difference between economic rationality and something like good judgment, but child labor and minimum wage laws (and every other real check on the market) come not from the better angels of our natures, but from the stubborn struggle of the workers, and the fear of that struggle among the decision-making elites. The moralistic rejoinder to free market ideologues is liberal in the bad sense--fuzzy headed wishful thinking.
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POPSMaking History: Man Prepares To Give Birth This is completely fascinating to me. Of course, it reminds me of the old Billy Crystal movie, "The Rabbit Test", where Crystal plays a man who becomes pregnant. I haven't seen that movie in years. But, ever since I saw it, I have watched to see if science would ever advance the real idea of men giving birth. Technically, the man in this clip is transgendered, meaning he was born with female reproductive organs, but looks like a man and lives as a male. The discrimination and the bigotry that he has faced through the healthcare system and from his own family is sad and despicable. I will continue to follow this story with some fascination. Mostly because it smacks in the face of everything we have come to know and expect when it comes to the idea of creating a family.
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POPSGet Ready for Detroit-Style Labor Relations in our Hospitals 
The current House version of ObamaCare (H.R. 3200) goes much further. Section 225(A) grants Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius tremendous discretionary authority to regulate health-care workers "under the public health insurance option." Monopoly bargaining and compulsory union dues may quickly become a required standard resulting in potentially hundreds of thousands of doctors and nurses across the country being forced into unions. Ms. Sebelius will be taking her marching orders from the numerous union officials who are guaranteed seats on the various federal panels (such as the personal care panel mentioned above) charged with recommending health-care policies. Big Labor will play a central role in directing federal health-care policy affecting hundreds of thousands of doctors, surgeons and nurses. Consider Kaiser Permanente, the giant, managed-care organization that has since 1997 proudly touted its labor-management "partnership"
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POPSYou Need a Lineup to Know Who the Scum Are The other day, an organization I thought was great - CARE - Asked me and thousands of others to buy Old Navy GAP and Banana Republic items on sale, so GAP would make a big donation to CARE. I had no handy list to see if those companies were not involved in child labor or abusive labor practices. It took me a while to find out that buying those products contributes to labor and child trafficking. We need the list that our government has and is supposed to publish!
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