When words fail me...

 

Sometimes words fail me when I hear about how heartless, how selfish some people can be in regards to the suffering of their fellow man. How can they turn their backs on starving children, the disabled, and the elderly living on less than $5 a day? Rep. Jackie Speier of California put a lot of my thoughts into words in her address to Congress today. You can read her words or watch a short video of her speech at this link.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/19/rep-speier-holds-up-vodka-and-steak-on-house-floor-to-shame-food-stamp-opponents/

Thanks, Jackie. You put it well. When will we ever learn?

You can join the conversation here or at Facebook at The Mad-as-Hell Party:
http://www.facebook.com/madashellparty
 

Do People Really Matter?

It's been a tough year for a lot of us. We're unemployed, underemployed, without health care, without health insurance and without hope. We're treated as if we don't exist by those in power. Corporations and the mega-rich seem to always get their way. It does make one wonder:


Do people really matter?

By "people" I mean human beings. The reason I ask this is because of an intriguing statement I heard on a radio program this evening. I stopped to listen to it since the show's host said this gentleman had the answers as to why so many of us who are constantly applying to jobs and desperately looking for work can't seem to connect with employers. It's not that employers don't have jobs--this individual assured us they most certainly do. And then the expert stated the reason why more of us don't get hired is this:


"No one qualified applies for the jobs."


Huh? There are millions looking for work. Surely some of these people have some job skills, right?

The expert then gave the example of a corporation that recently needed to hire an engineer--pretty much an entry level position. 25,000 applications were submitted for that one opening. That's the population of many small cities. And guess what? No one qualified applied for the job according to the corporation. Not a one. What are the odds of that happening?


In fact, there were probably many qualified individuals who applied for the position, since the self-same corporation had downsized  recently and had eliminated similar positions. A few  ex-workers probably re-applied to work at their old firm, right? Why were there no "qualified applicants"?

Answer: the computer that scanned the 25,000 applications told the corporate big-wigs that there were no qualified applicants.

Obviously, those that have the power to hire are more apt to believe a machine than their own senses. Because if those corporate types had kept on the human beings who staffed their human resources (as opposed to computer resources) department, the bosses would have been given a large number of qualified applicants to consider for the engineer opening.


But in the end, the big-wigs decided they didn't need human beings to help make hiring decisions. Computers could make these decisions just as well, if not faster. After all, human beings expect to be paid a wage and they might want such horrendous things as medical and dental insurance and sick leave. Can't have that, can we?

So, do people really matter? I guess not--at least not until computers start demanding days off with pay and health insurance.

The Mitt Romney Memorial “Bring out the Poor Vote Movement

Hello again. Yes, it’s me, the “mad-as-hell” woman who in my first video made a $2 bet with Mitt Romney that he’ll never make it to the White House. 

February in the US is Black History Month. Living in the St. Louis area, I’ve visited the Old Courthouse and stood in the courtroom where Dred Scott sued for his freedom. In its 1857 decision regarding Scott’s case, the Supreme Court held that blacks could not be citizens of the United States.

Essentially the court said that Dred Scott and his family were property and not human beings. They were things to be used by the rich without monetary compensation and without thought to their dignity and self-worth. 

Hmm… A parallel to the plight of today’s working poor might be in order here. Funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same.

In July 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment was passed giving the right to vote to all male citizens regardless of race. It seemed too good to be true the newly freed slaves. Of course, most good things come to an end all too soon.

By 1896, the Supreme Court held that the states could impose segregation so long as they provided similar facilities—the formation of the “separate but equal” doctrine.  It wasn’t until 1954 that the Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregation in itself was harmful to black students and, therefore, unconstitutional. The Civil Rights Movement had begun.


Leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. “had a dream” and stuck to it in spite of difficulties. So by the time I started first grade my reading materials featured stories featuring children of all races, as opposed to my older siblings’ boring  all-white “Dick and Jane” stories.


From the struggle of Black Americans we learn that when rights are systematically taken away from most economically and socially disadvantaged, step by step these rights have to be restored—hopefully once and for all.


In honor of the Fourteenth Amendment and the protections it gives to all Americans, I propose that we pledge ourselves to a new endeavor to help restore our rights as citizens… I call this, “The Mitt Romney Memorial Bring out the Poor Vote Movement”.  


If the poor don’t matter to fat cat politicians, because the poor are not seen as a large voting bloc, then maybe it’s time we change that perception. Maybe it’s time we help the poor be heard via the ballot box. Perhaps it’s time that these millions of struggling Americans are seen as human beings worthy of dignity and compassion instead of easily forgettable slaves to be used, abused and then downsized when CEOs decide to give themselves million dollar bonuses instead of investing company profits for the well-being of the workers.


Here are just a few ways we can help “Bring out the Poor Vote”:

1.      Let’s register to vote those who have been displaced by failed mortgages, lost homes and jobs and other financial hardships. If you know of someone who is living on their parents’ sofa or a family sharing a home with another family, perhaps they’re not registered to vote in the district they’re living in currently. We need to make sure these displaced voters are eligible to vote come November. So please help these struggling Americans get the necessary paperwork together in time to receive their voter’s cards. It’s a great way to meet your neighbors.

2.      Volunteer to babysit for a single mom. It’s a great way to help working parents who aren’t able to easily get to the voting booth with little ones underfoot. I’m sure they’ll appreciate having free hands to mark their ballots and a few minutes of respite from demanding little ones. You might even make some new friends!

3.      Help organize transportation for those without any means of getting to the polls. Distances between polling stations in suburban and rural areas can be quite large, so offer your neighbors a lift there and back again. It’s yet another way to make some new friends.

Yes, it’s time we as the 99% made our voices heard. We’re mad-as-hell and we’re not going to take it anymore. Let me know what ideas you have for helping to Bring out the Poor Vote, and I’ll keep you informed as to when Mr. Romney pays his $2 bet.

My Rebuttal to Mitt Romney’s “I'm-not-concerned-about-the-very-poor” comment

My Rebuttal to Mitt Romney’s “I'm-not-concerned-about-the-very-poor” comment:

This is a time people are worried. They're frightened. They want someone who they have confidence in. And I believe I will be able to instill that confidence in the rich American people. And, by the way, I'm in this race because I care about rich Americans.  I'm not concerned about the very rich. They have plenty of safety nets. If any need repair, they’ll be able to effectively lobby Congress to fix them.

I'm not concerned about the very poor; they're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of the American people, the 1 to 5 percent of rich Americans who right now are struggling with paying more than 15% in income tax, and I'll continue to take that message across the nation. 

Thank you Mr. Romney for making it oh-so-clear where your political leanings lie… Very near your wallet.

We at the Mad-As-Hell Party are focused on all struggling Americans. We could focus on the rich. But that's not our focus. We focus on the very poor because so many fat cat politicians who make $21 million a year don’t focus on them enough. Maybe it could be they’re too busy making $10,000 bets with each other.

Mr. Romney, I’d like to make a bet with you. I bet you that you will not make it to the White House in 2012. Hmm—how much would you like to bet me, an underemployed, struggling-to-survive American? Ten thousand? Well… let’s see what I have in my wallet to bet… two dollars. I look forward to your two dollars very soon, Mr. Romney. It’ll go a long way to fix my “safety net”.

Sincerely yours, 

Cindy A. Matthews

If you’d like to comment on my rebuttal, please do so in the comments section below.  And you can join the discussion on Facebook at The Mad-as-Hell Party page. Thank you.

It's Official--The Middle Class is No More

It’s official--the middle class is no more.

When the icon-of-middle-class-America starts lowering its prices and changing the lay-outs of their stores, you know that an era is passing.

JC Penney announced that as of February 1, 2012, it will permanently slash all of its prices by at least 40% with what their CEO Ron Johnson said is “a sweeping overhaul of its stores and strategy.” Soon middle-class America will discover that Target and Wal-Mart aren’t the only cheap department stores on the block.

I don’t know whether to be thrilled or sad. I’m thrilled to know I no longer have to wait until the “after Christmas sales” (which, of course, began before Christmas these past few years) to find bargains. But deep down I’m feeling confused and more than a bit sad. It’s sad because, if you add Sears’ recent announcement that it will close many of its retailers, you’ll realize there’s no longer a range of department stores in between the lowbrow of Wally World and its ilk and the upper-crust snobbism of the Lords and Taylor/Saks 5^th  Avenue type of stores. 

JC Penney won’t be able to maintain its high quality of clothing and merchandise, I fear, because with dwindling price tags, how will the executives continue to bring home those big paychecks they’re used to from the profits? They’ll have to start stocking the cheap, made-in-China crap that fills Wally World’s shelves. Possibly JC Penney will be able to keep their quality products available at these discount prices, but the only way is probably by slashing their employees’ rate of pay by 40% and hiring only part-time and seasonal workers (while downsizing the number of full-time Penney’s employees still on the books). Either way, this news doesn’t look like a happy ending for a lot of folks.

Underpaid/underemployed/unemployed Americans will be forced to shop at stores with low quality goods, and the “fat cats” (who live off the interest of their large offshore bank accounts) will continue to shop at their high end designer fashion boutiques. Nothing new there, really, but for a while at least some Americans thought they had the right to be called “the Middle Class”.

Face it folks, most of us reading this blog are in the bottom 99% with no hopes of ever becoming part of the top 1%. Do the math, look at your checkbook, and tell me where you’ll be shopping (if you can afford to) next week.

(For another example of how 99% of Americans have been taken advantage of, read:  Emblematic of 1 Percenters, Cooper Tire Punk’d Workers)

How are you coping with the ever-widening gap between "haves" and "have-nots"? Any tips on where to find a decent paying job? Please share your comments and concerns below... Perhaps if the 99% sticks together we can make the world a better place.

(Please join the discussion on Facebook at the Mad-As-Hell Party page, too.)

2011: The Year Without Health Insurance

In January, I started off 2011 with my blog post 2011: The Year Without Snark, a plea for more civility on the Internet and in all our personal communications. Thanks to all who commented or have taken the pledge seriously and are doing your best to eradicate snark in all its nasty forms.

This month, I’m tackling yet another example of uncivilized behavior apparent in the world today, particularly in the good ol’ U.S.A. You’d be correct in assuming this is a piece about the unfair current state of health care in this country. What you might not have guessed is that I, your dear blogger, am caught in the middle of the whole sordid mess.

Yes, I’m one of those Americans who *gasp!* are currently without decent health insurance.

Since there really is no “emergency back-up plan” for Americans once they’re unemployed (or the family member whose insurance plan included them becomes unemployed) other than the ridiculously expensive COBRA option, we go overnight from being freely allowed in the front door of a doctor’s office if we have a complaint to being told (sometimes politely, sometimes not) to get lost. I think the acronym COBRA says it all—we are transformed into poisonous snakes who aren’t worthy of a fairly priced (or free for those who can’t afford it) health insurance plan. And the fear of snakes is a very common phobia indeed.

So we are forced to choose between health care and food and shelter. After the last month of record setting low-temperatures and snow dumps in the Midwest, guess which items we chose to fund? Well, we didn’t quite freeze and we didn’t eat like kings, but we’re still here.

At the prodding (read: demanding) of my mother, I finally found an overpriced, super-high deductible, temporary health insurance plan we can barely afford to tie us over for at least six months. However, I hold little hope that it will actually help out much should the need arise. If the deductible is more money than you have, and you’re currently unemployed and living on your meager savings, how the heck are you suppose to meet the deductible? Will a surgeon perform emergency surgery knowing you’re only going to pay him a small fraction of the bill? I suspect hospitals routinely use these temporary health insurance cards for toilet paper for all their worth.

To be honest, I carried my defunct insurance card in my wallet around for a while, so overwhelmed was I at the prospect of being denied medical help. I figured if I was in a coma or knocked unconscious, the paramedics or police would rummage around in my purse and find the said lapse insurance card and assume that I was properly insured and would give me the emergency medical care I require. Only after I became conscious and they found out the truth would they have been forced to kick me out of my I.C.U. bed and tell me not to come back until I could afford treatment.

Yes, it is a worse case scenario, and I do have an overactive imagination I’ll admit, but somehow I get the feeling this scenario is based more on fact than on fiction.

Since no one enjoys a whiner, I direct your attention now to a blog written by a friend who expresses her concerns over the current healthcare debacle quite well:
souptonutts.blogspot.com

How can we prevent our fellow unemployed/underemployed citizens from discovering their health isn’t important as those with money and power just because they’re not carrying around a current, decent health insurance card? You do wonder if the darn cards aren’t made of platinum or gold… In some way, perhaps they are.



ADDITIONAL: I'm currently reading Inside WikiLeaks by Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a former insider who describes the whole WikiLeaks phenomenon. One of the more interesting quotes I've come across has to deal with a leak about a German pharmaceutical company.

...The public didn't take much interest in the files we published in November 2009 concerning a German pharmaceutical company. If I had to name my favorite leaks from that year, these files would definitely be among them. They read like a case study in corruption and can be easily understood by laymen.

The files concerned payments made by pharmaceutical representatives to doctors so that they would prescribe more of the company's medications. We published ninety-six pages of investigations carried out by police and prosecutors. They detailed the practices used by some pharmaceutical company representatives. If doctors prescribed their patients those products, they received a cut of the additional profits. Moreover, there were direct payments. In an internal e-mail, one of the company's regional directors had written, "If a doctor wants money, call me and we'll find a way." Another means of encouraging physicians to prescribe more of the company's products was to give them coupons for expensive seminars.

---from Inside WikiLeaks, pp. 50-51. (Daniel Domscheit-Berg with Tina Klopp, Crown Publishers, NY)

It does make one wonder who really is driving healthcare costs through the roof--the doctors, the insurance companies or the pharmaceutical industry. Of course, we'll blame (and double bill) the patients... After all, they can help it if they get sick or injured, can't they?

The Christmas Tree Without Presents

The lights shine just as brightly on a Christmas tree without presents.

And there's a whole lot more room under it to position your nativity scene, Christmas village, HO train track, stuffed animals, Santa figurines or other decorations you've accumulated and managed to hang on to over the years.

Looking at my Christmas tree this year, I can see just how much I have been blessed. I have been fortunate to accumulate many ornaments just by living this long and for having friends and family members who have gifted me with such treasures. None of my ornaments are what you'd call "pricey", but to me they are "price-less". What price can you put on love and good memories?

It's a difficult holiday season for us this year without an income and without much hope of finding jobs in this bleak economy, but for now we can afford to keep the lights turned on our Christmas tree and that is enough. When I think of all those who don't even have this much--no place to call home or no tree filled with the ornaments of good memories--I try to stop my pity-party and mentally kick myself in the rear. But I won't lie to you--it's difficult.

If I could give everyone in the world a gift, I'd like to give the gift of hope. Hope that tomorrow the tree will have presents and that the lights will always be turned on, twinkling in the darkness, proclaiming that a Light bigger than ourselves is shining over us. May He shine over us all forever.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

The sun sets over Caister Castle... and so do I.

Another month has come and gone—and I didn’t get hardly anything I wanted to get done in March, done. For some reason, I just can’t give up sleeping, eating or taking daily showers. Those sorts of things really cut into your free time, you know—especially the sleeping.

I’m not getting any creative writing projects I’ve started finished. I’d had hoped to do so during my week off, but I just didn’t have the will to write more than a few pages on my work-in-progress. I’ll admit it, too—my heart simply isn’t into writing fiction lately. E-publishers are folding right and left it seems, taking some of my books along with them. I can’t afford to go to writing conferences and schmooze with the agents and editors from the big houses, so I can’t get a foot in the door by making a personal connection. And having a foot in the door seems to be the only way to gain the big guys’ attention these days.

Everyone with a computer seems to have written a book this past year. The submissions are flooding the slushpiles. You have to do something outrageous or illegal—or both—to get an editor’s attention. Just look at former governor Rod Blagojevich. He’s done both—and now he’s got his own radio talk show. You really wonder if becoming a criminal is where it’s at for becoming a best-selling author.

Oh, well. I can sit around and mope and groan, or I can crawl back into the saddle and get going again. Since I like horses, I’ll go the saddle route.

I think I’ll put the novel writing on hiatus until I’m unemployed at the end of May. Between trying to find another job and keeping the work I have currently, I don’t have energy to write creatively. I can write a short piece here or there (like my blogs), but the stamina to keep my concentration focused for 50,000 words or more isn’t there. I have to spend my free time sending out resumes and dealing with the rejection emails/snail mails. You think an editor’s rejection of your manuscript is bad? “Sorry, but we don’t want you to work for us,” is a lot worse, especially when your bills are due.

Lots of writers tell me this phase will pass, but I’m not so sure. It just feels like that if I give up writing fiction for a short while I’ll never return to it, and that’s tantamount to cutting out my heart. The good news is that my heart is in good hands. April may bring showers, but I’m hoping to have plenty of flowers by May when my fiancé arrives in the US. Then I’ll have another excuse for not writing—but it will be a much happier one!

Mom and the Swiss Cheese Resume

Editor's note: This essay was written seven years ago, but it seems very timely, considering I'm in the midst of a job hunt once again.

The end of August has arrived! The kids are all tuck away comfy-cozy in their nice little school rooms, and Mom at last has the run of the house between the hours of nine and three. It's enough to make a grown writer cry, particularly after a long summer of noise, noise, heat, humidity, bored and cranky children, heat, humidity and more noise. (Did I forget to mention the noise? I thought so.)

Writers are prone to depression brought on by noise and constant interruptions, like children screaming, "She's touching me--again!" and "Why can't I eat cereal for both breakfast and lunch three days in a row?" and the classic, "Oops! Is this thing I broke something important?" Although Mom doesn't really like to admit this, the opening of school while bittersweet for the under eighteen set, brings her much welcomed mental relief.

Fall also gives Mom time to pause and reflect on the other aspects of her life such as her business persona, and how much she really would love to have an agent to sell her novels for her. It also brings about opportunities for Mom to foray out into the "Real World" (as opposed to the TV show, which isn't) sans children and put out her resume in order to dredge up some more "paying gigs" for herself.

In the past this type of activity gave Mom waking nightmares, as the long, cold and impersonal pages of your typical job application are very intimidating--

Give graduation date? Yes, I finished high school but do I have to say when? Elementary schools attended? Sheesh! I can barely remember college as it is...

Briefly explain gaps in my work history? That's simple-- "Two kids." Enough said.

Birthdate and medical history? Be real! I can sue you for that privileged information. Next thing you'll want to know is my actual weight and height without high heels...

But lately, Mom has utilized her creative writing abilities and taken on the problems of the "Swiss cheese resume" with much verve and enthusiasm. Mom the writer can fill in the daunting holes without even batting an eyelash. After all, this is one area that writers excelled in--elaboration:

For example:

This period of time away from the regular workforce is easily explained. You see, it was during this time I was working hard on composing the "Great American Novel." I was exploiting this gap between regularly paying jobs to observe the culture and rituals of the "Great American Family" up close, in order to capture it faithfully in words for the "Great American Public." Although this opus has yet to see the light of print, all relevant research is thoroughly cataloged in several photo albums and scrapbooks and has proven itself most advantageous in writing short articles and essays about said "Great American Family."

List your employers for the last five years: The editors of numerous periodical publications and a couple of book publishers. Did you quit any job? No, not until I got them to pay what was owed me. May we contact your former employers? Sure. I'm still on good speaking terms with most of them--except the ones who never paid up.

What do you feel are your best work-related skills? Written, verbal and non-verbal communication, an eye for detail, and the ability to type 100 wpm when the kids are happily occupied with their Barbies in the basement playroom.

So you see, the "Swiss cheese resume" no longer holds any fear for Mom the Writer. And, it tastes excellent melted under the broiler on wheat bread with a dab of brown mustard, too.

Copyright © 2000 and 2007 by Cindy Appel, all rights reserved.