This ‘n That Chit Chat
Posted by Michelle Moquin on November 6th, 2014
Wow…I haven’t used that title in awhile! :) I’ve been trying to post. I updated this and lost my connection…but here is it (I HOPE) .
Good morning!
Readers: I didn’t say it yesterday, but I want to thank all of you for your continued support and involvement here and out in your world. And for YOUR efforts in getting out the vote, voting, and helping others to vote. It’s unfortunate there weren’t more of us.
Health Info: Yep, that’s what I heard. Looking forward to getting info from your new sources. Ah…the Huff Po now? :)
Mike, TM: Yes, it was and I am still feeling the affects from it. Yeah, it might be worth seeing the sting. Sometimes people have to learn the hard way just how good they had it. They just didn’t show up like the last midterms.
Two-thirds of registered voters didn’t vote. I don’t get it – It’s one day every two years to make some important decisions on how this country is going to be run, and how it is going to affect your livelihood. If you can’t make it on election day, vote early, and mail it in. How simple it really is, yet people, especially the younger ones and single ladies, just didn’t bother.
They weren’t motivated. The Dem party didn’t inspire them to vote. And they weren’t self motivated. Instead of motivating themselves, by getting involved, really looking at the issues and making informed decisions, they just didn’t go out and vote.
Well…we’ll see how bothered they get now.
Thank you, for all your efforts in reporting things, allowing us to be privy to, that we never would have known, if not for you.
Lacy: I agree with you. And the same people who don’t vote, complain when they get treated badly.
For example, places like Ferguson are a microcosm of the country. If the blacks had just went to the polls in the past they would most likely have a black mayor and a police department that was representative of their community. But they, like many other Americans, were lazy, and didn’t participate in the voting process year after year. Until one day they woke up to a city controlled by those who hated them and felt that they could do anything to them because they didn’t get involved in their local politics and didn’t vote. And the cops did just that. It is horrific.
However, I even blogged about it awhile ago when they same thing happened to another black boy, Kajiema Powell in aother town close by to Ferguson, and the truth was all caught on video, (an even more horrific murder if you can say that). There was hardly any media coverage and not one person was protesting in the streets about this blatant murder. What happened there? What does that say?
I’ll say again what I blogged that day:
This may not be true but their actions say that the people aren’t really serious about putting an end to their boys getting murdered. The thugs tested their power again, and guess what? They can get away with murder again. They now know how far the public will go and sadly, it is short lived.
The thugs are relentless and ruthless. Change is not going to happen unless the people are relentless and ruthless too with their fight for justice.
In situations like this, people expect the world to come to their aid magically, when the solution was simple – get your asses to the polls. (In light of the midterm elections, I want to note that blacks did show up in large numbers!)
Now, I realize that it is very simplistic to say that all you need to do is vote. I said to Mike, TM above, “…that is is one day every two years…” But really, it is not just one day of voting, it is our daily work of getting involved and being informed, if we truly want what is best for our communities and our country.
Voting means that people have to keep up with the issues and that takes time, and many people are too lazy to get involved philosophically with what is going on around them. They see nothing beyond their daily needs. And to be frank, pathetically they are useless to themselves and despised by those who want to discard their politically useless asses. Too harsh? I feel I can say this because I was once pathetic and useless myself many years ago. Yes, I voted, but I had very little knowledge on what the issues were all about.
Daniel: You broached the topic I was going to bring up today: The lack of support from the Democratic politicians and especially throughout this campaigning cycle.
Why candidates thought that distancing themselves from the president, would garner them votes is just beyond logical thinking. The repubs did enough on their own to make their party look bad, not supporting Obama and touting all that he has done (and he has done a lot!) only made them (the repubs) look more appealing. Can you imagine?
I was on board for Grimes in Kentucky – I wanted McConnell out – but her not supporting Obama does not send the message to Obama supporters that she approved of him. And Grimes wasn’t the only one.
I am proud to be a Dem, but we have a party that doesn’t have the guts to stand up for what is right. The Dems ran away from supporting Obama. They thought that would get some of the republicans to vote for them. If they stuck to telling the people that what they were doing was right, (Obama needed to do more of this too - That was the mistake Obama made in the beginning of his term.) they would have the people continually motivated to go for more.
Check this out:
14 Facts About The Obama Presidency That Most People Don’t Know
People have many perceptions of how the US economy or the country as a whole is doing in recent years. Depending on your political views, you may think the country is doing exceptionally well or on the verge of collapse.
Listed below are 14 objective facts, without interjecting any opinion, about the state of America under the leadership of President Obama. Every statement is followed up with a link to a source where you can verify these facts for yourself.
1. We’ve now had 63 straight months of economic expansion.
That’s right, for 63 consecutive months the US economy has gotten progressively better. That includes 54 consecutive months of private sector job growth. Forbes magazine, no fan of President Obama, crunched the numbers and demonstrated how the economic recovery under President Obama has been better in just about every measurable way than the recovery under President Reagan.
2. We are currently enjoying the longest period of private sector job creation in American history.
Again, this statistic comes from the Forbes Magazine article listed above. In fact, we have now had 54 straight months of private sector job creation. That is the longest period of job creation since the Department of Labor has been keeping statistics. See the link below.
3. Unemployment has dropped from 10.1% in October of 2009 to 5.9% and projected to reach 5.4% by summer of 2015.
Not only has the unemployment rate dropped significantly, but since the recession ended, our economy as added over ten million new jobs. You can refer to the Forbes article above or check this article on PoliticsUSA.
4. The stock market continues to set new records since President Obama has been in office.
Since early 2009 there has been a steady trend in stock market growth. The Dow Jones Industrial averages reached an all-time high of 17,098 in August, 2014. Since most Americans have 401K retirement investments in the stock market, this stock market growth benefits millions of middle class Americans.
http://www.macrotrends.net/1358/dow-jones-industrial-average-last-10-years
5. The Federal budget deficit is shrinking. It’s been reduced by two-thirds since 2009.
The $1.4 trillion federal budget deficit that Obama inherited in 2009 was in a large part due to the high rate of unemployment. When millions of people were put out of work in 2008 and 2009, it resulted in far less income taxes and less economic activity to generate federal revenue. As ten million people have been put back to work, there have been billions more tax dollars generated. As a result, the deficit has been shrinking each year. The 2014 deficit is projected to be around $500 billion, the smallest deficit since 2007 and roughly 1/3 of what it was in 2009.
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/federal_deficit_chart.html
6. Under President Obama, spending has increased only 1.4% annually, the lowest rate since Eisenhower was president.
You may have heard critics say that President Obama is spending money wildly and running up our debt. According to this article from Forbes, Obama has increased spending by 1.4% annually, far less than President Reagan (8.7%) or George W. Bush (8.1%). In fact, Obama has increased spending less than any president since Eisenhower.
7. For 95% of American taxpayers, income taxes are lower now than just about any time in the previous 50 years.
After President Obama took office, thousands of Tea Party members all over the country held rallies protesting Obama’s tax increases. At that time, President Obama had actually passed several tax cuts to stimulate the economy. Most of the Tea Partiers who were protesting had only seen their taxes decrease under Obama. Yet polls indicated that most Tea Party members wrongly believed their taxes had gone up.
In fact, the only people whose income taxes have gone up during Obama’s presidency are those making $400,000 per year or more. That’s less than 2% of the population. Today, for the vast majority of people, tax rates are exactly where they were when Obama first took office or lower. The article below from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains this in greater detail.
8. Our dependence on foreign oil has shrunk due to record domestic oil production and improved fuel efficiency standards.
While some people claim that oil production has declined under President Obama, the truth is just the opposite. Oil production has reached record highs. The United States now produces so much oil that we export more oil and gasoline than we import.
9. At least 7 million more Americans now have health insurance than before.
Depending on whose numbers you use, between 7 and 10 million Americans acquired health insurance due to the Affordable Care Act. Now that those 7 to 10 million Americans have insurance, the rest of us are no longer on the hook to pay for their health care when they get sick. This saves the American people billions of dollars in the long run.
10. The Affordable Care Act has added years to the life of Medicare.
The Medicare trust fund had been on course to run out of money by the end of 2016. But due to cost savings from the Affordable Care Act and lower healthcare expenses, Medicare’s trust fund is now stable until the year 2030 without cutting benefits.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/medicare-social-security-headed-in-different-directions-1406564712
11. Since passage of the Affordable Care Act, we are seeing the slowest rate of increase in healthcare costs since 1960.
Contrary to the predictions from Republicans, health care costs have increased at a much slower pace since the passage of the ACA.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/healthcostreport_final_noembargo_v2.pdf
12. We currently have fewer soldiers, sailors and airmen in war zones than any time in over 10 years.
With the end of the Iraq war and the steady withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, we have fewer people in war zones now than any time since 2002.
13. There have been zero successful attacks by al Qaeda on US soil since Obama became president.
Despite Dick Cheney’s claim that if voters elect a Democrat as president, we’ll be “hit again and hit hard” by al Qaeda, we have actually been far safer from terrorist attacks on US soil in recent years than we were under the previous president. There have been several unsuccessful attacks against the US under both presidents, but under Obama, al Qaeda has been largely unsuccessful in striking the US on our home soil.
14. We now successfully catch and deport more illegal immigrants than ever before.
Despite the publicity from busloads of children who illegally entered the country, the numbers prove that President Obama has deported more illegal immigrants than any other president.
All of the facts stated above can be confirmed through multiple sources, yet most Americans are not aware of all of this positive news. I invite you to do your own research and check these facts for yourself.
The truth is, most other presidents would envy President Obama’s record despite the fact that he inherited the worst economic crash since the Great Depression.
Here’s a bonus. If you feel particularly ambitious, feel free to research these additional facts.
- Since Obama became president, our economy has gone from losing 800,000 jobs per month to adding 200,000 jobs per month. That’s a net improvement under Obama of about 1 million jobs per month!
- Before Obama became president, our financial system was in ruins and millions of people were at risk of losing their life savings. Now, the financial loopholes have been fixed and we are no longer at risk of another financial collapse.
- In 5 years under Obama the economy has created twice as many jobs as were created in 8 years under George W. Bush.
- President Obama passed credit card reforms that protects consumers from excessive fees, rate hikes, deceptive marketing and unreasonable due dates.
- Thanks to “Obamacare”, senior citizens have saved billions of dollars on prescription drugs.
- The Affordable Care Act requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% of your premiums on health care. As a result millions of Americans have received refunds from their health insurance companies.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/24/health-insurance-rebates_n_5614570.html
Despite the unprecedented obstructionism and record number of filibusters used by Republicans to kill even the most routine legislation, the fact remains, in almost every measurable way, the American people are profoundly better off today than they were before President Obama took office.
*****
Readers: It’s unfortunate they didn’t ride their campaigns on the above. But they abandoned Obama, they did not declare that what he was doing was good for the country. They hid from their accomplishments and expected the people to come out on their own to vote for them. How one would think that would bring about success…well, that logic escapes me. In the end, no guts got them what they got.
As you all know it isn’t just about voting. There is so much more to take into consideration: support and dedication, motivation, perseverance in the issues and wanting a better country for all…etc.
The Dems didn’t support Obama, Obama’s approval rate went down, voters didn’t feel that the party supported him, they weren’t self motivated to get involved in the issues, hence they decided to stay home instead of voting.
Like I said, it is a tall order. We are in a much lesser position of power now. When we had it pretty easy, we still didn’t come through, and yet Obama got a lot done. The opportunity (Obama) “presidented” itself, and we the people were not prepared. :) (Ahh…I can only dream of how great this country could’ve been if…)
Now, with the repubs in control, will the American people do it? Are we willing to put in the time? Will we get anything done that the Dems want, or will Obama be exercising his right to veto. Yes, we’ll just have to wait and see. But so far we haven’t had to wait long – I see the repubs are already getting on with all that they want to do. (deep sigh)
Thoughts? Ideas? Blog me.
Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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November 7th, 2014 at 3:31 am
This white woman is waiting for the hammer to fall. The republicans will show their evil ways as soon as they take office.
November 7th, 2014 at 3:34 am
What’s up? I couldn’t get in. I guess it’s closed.
November 7th, 2014 at 3:42 am
It reads ERROR MESSAGE. every time I try to get in.
November 7th, 2014 at 3:48 am
This is what you get when you vote color.
The Most Extreme Election Winner You Have Never Heard Of – http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/11/06/3589464/gordon-klingenschmitt/
November 7th, 2014 at 7:33 am
Protect Yourself from Latest Job Scams
Any day of the week, you can do a quick Google news search on the term “Craigslist jobs scam” and you’ll see scores of reports from just the recent past.
Over the course of a year, they multiply into the hundreds or even thousands of phony employment ads as scammers cast their nets to haul in their job-hunting victims.
Craigslist, probably the biggest and best-known online classified ad service, goes to quite a bit of trouble itself to spot fake job ads as well as issuing a warning to its users about the risks of scams.
But they can’t check every one of the thousands of new ads that go online each day so it’s down to individuals to be vigilant against the tricksters.
Over the years, we’ve covered lots of these job scams — mostly aimed at getting victims to pay upfront for everything from supposed credit checks to training materials, targeting them with advance fee scams, or fooling them into handing over personal information for ID theft.
For example, see these earlier reports:
Don’t Be Fooled by These Tricky New Job Scams
Poor Economy, New Tricks Drive Up Job Scams By 500%
More recently, crooks have become much more sophisticated in dressing up their ads and follow-up messages to seem more convincing.
They’ve also adopted new scam tactics to trick victims into helping them earn money for nothing.
Let’s take a close look at these two new approaches.
Seems Like the Real Thing
Because we and other anti-scam organizations advise our subscribers to check out the companies behind job listings, con artists have now taken to disguising themselves as genuine companies.
They use the names of these firms and their real contact details in their ads and follow-up emails so that people who check them out online will make a mental connection between the ad and the real company.
But most victims never bother to actually verify that the genuine firm is offering the jobs that have been advertised or that they listed them on Craigslist.
The simple lesson here is to look for the advertised jobs on the firm’s website. If you don’t see them, phone the company’s HR department and ask them about vacancies.
Of course, this assumes that the site belongs to the real firm and is not just a scam website dressed up to mimic them.
In that case, do a search on the company name both to find out if it has been used in a scam and to get their real phone number to check out if they are looking for new hires.
A Nice Little Earner
One of the legitimate ways of earning money on the Internet is by providing links to other sites and products on your website, which you get paid for when other people click them and buy products.
These are called affiliate links. Perhaps the most common example is the affiliate links to books and other products sold by Amazon.
You see them on many websites and when you click through and buy the book or product, the site that hosted the link gets a small sales commission from Amazon.
Scammers have seized on this, not to sell books but to get job seekers to sign up for web conferencing services.
The trick works like this:
A person applies for a job usually advertised on Craigslist and is told they’ve been shortlisted.
Before final selection, however, they’re told they must attend an online teach-in, after which they may have to take a test.
The scammer provides a link for the online conference service where the victim is invited to sign-up for a free 14-day trial.
Now the conference service is perfectly legitimate and has no direct connection with the scammer, so it probably knows nothing about the supposed teach-in.
What it does do though is pay the scammer an affiliate fee of $3 for each person that signs up for the trial, with a further bonus if the victim becomes a paid subscriber.
This is just the most blatant example of affiliate-type scams. In other instances, job hunters go through a never-ending series of links, often crammed with advertisements, in their quest to find work, earning a small fee for the scammer for each click.
These tricks may cost you nothing beyond a serious waste of your time but by being alert to them you might be able to save yourself a lot of frustration.
How to Avoid Job Scams
Before we sign off, here are five simple tips to help you steer clear of phony jobs on Craigslist and elsewhere:
In the real world, high pay and “no experience necessary” don’t go together so anyone mentioning them both in the same ad is probably a fake.
A job offer, or even a shortlisting, without an interview is usually a scam.
Genuine employers don’t ask you to pay upfront for training, software, kits and materials, credit checks, drugs tests, or other forms of vetting.
If you can’t verify contact details independently of the ad, it’s probably a scam.
If the job involves receiving and forwarding payments or goods to another address, it’s likely to be part of fraudulent activities such as shipping stolen goods — another well-known job scam.
November 7th, 2014 at 9:02 am
[…] Owen, Lorri: Yep, I had the same problem. I was on the phone working on getting it resolved. This was a new one to me. It was temporary and shouldn’t happen again (fingers crossed) […]
November 7th, 2014 at 9:02 am
[…] Owen, Lorri: Yep, I had the same problem. I was on the phone working on getting it resolved. This was a new one to me. It was temporary and shouldn’t happen again (fingers crossed) […]