Tag Archive for report

Climate Change Making Us Mentally Unstable?

April 5, 2016 Comments Off on Climate Change Making Us Mentally Unstable?

According to the EPA, climate change can affect our mental health.  The EPA report just released says that man-made global warming is making us sicker, both mentally and physically.  The Surgeon General agrees, saying that doctors are seeing more and more climate-related cases.  Asthma is worsening because of it.  Extraordinary heat is killing tens of thousands of people.

This is no flimsy White-House-conspiracy report; it’s based on 1800 scientific studies.  And our governmental health agencies aren’t doing enough about the situation.

Read more details at “Fever: Federal Report Says Global Warming physical health,White House,EPAMaking US Sick.”

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Immigrants, English, and Crime

September 22, 2015 Comments Off on Immigrants, English, and Crime

Immigrants refuse to learn English, our national language, and cause greatly increased crime in our neighborhoods.  We hear this all the time.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine have completed a two-year study of 41 million immigrants to the U.S., and, yes, they included the 11 million who are not here legally. Their report is an eye-opener.  You can read about it at the Omaha News/Nation.  Here’s the upshot, though: today’s immigrants are assimilating rapidly into our country, learning English as soon as they can, getting an education, finding jobs, advancing in careers, and–here’s the kicker– they’re not as likely to commit crimes as the rest of us American citizens.

Gives us something to chew on, doesn’t it?

 

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Disabled Parking Fraud

January 14, 2015 Comments Off on Disabled Parking Fraud

You’ve undoubtedly seen a vehicle pull into a handicap parking space and watched the driver jump out and dash into the store.  Or a motorcycle parks in the cross-hatch section, making the adjacent parking space unusable for vans with wheelchair side-lifts.  Those divers probably don’t have even a hidden handicap, like a heart condition, yet they display a handicap parking placard or figure the cross-hatch is up for grabs anyway.  Even if the passenger in the car is disabled, because he/she isn’t going into the store, the driver should NOT be using that space.  It’s for people who need it, not healthy drivers of people who need it.

The situation is not only illegal but also unfair to many of us: those with real disabilities (visible or hidden) who can’t find a usable parking space, shop owners who lose revenue because disabled customers can’t park and shop, and taxpayers who lose out on parking meter money when the culprit parks on the street.

There’s an organization that is trying to do something about this problem, handicappedfraud.org, which is an independent reporting organization.   You should report abusers to them; each month they send a report to your state.  Also, leave a post-it note saying “Disabled Parking Violation. You have been reported” or something similar.  (For $5 you can get at supply of printed post-its at http://www.handicappedfraud.org/index.php?mod=postit.  See below.)

Don’t get into an argument by confronting the violator.  And don’t worry about reporting someone with a valid placard, because people with disabilities appreciate others being concerned about this issue (I’m one of them).

Thank you for ordering

 

 

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Don’t Be Charitable to Scammers

December 15, 2014 Comments Off on Don’t Be Charitable to Scammers

You may be tempted to give in to charitable appeals between now and Dec. 31, the deadline to claim them on your 2014 taxes.  But be sure those donations do some real good for real people rather than enriching scam artists or CEOs.  Clark Howard offers some tips:

  • Don’t give cash. Legitimate charities will take a check.
  • Don’t give out your credit card, bank account or personal information to telemarketers. If you want to donate, initiate the call yourself.
  • Don’t fall for Internet appeals if the cause does not look legitimate and doesn’t check out. Make sure to do your research!
  • Expect specific information. Ask what kind of relief this organization is going to provide. Don’t accept vague explanations.
  • Check out the charity with national, state, and local authorities. Established charities register with the Internal Revenue Service. You can search for specific non-profit organizations on the IRS website: irs.gov.
  • Beware of newly formed organizations. If the charity is new, you may have to rely on your relationship with the company or sponsor of the organization to determine whether you trust the group.
  • Report abuses to the nearest Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney General’s office. Both are listed in local telephone directories. You can also report abuses to the National Fraud Information Center at (800) 876-7060. NFIC also has a web-based complaint form at www.fraud.org.

And here’s one of my own:  Check to see how much of your donation will go to charitable work as compared to administrative costs (including CEOs) and fundraising costs.  Look them up at www.CharityNavigator.org or the Better Business Bureau site www.BBB.give.org.

For more tips on donating, check out Clark’s Donation Guide.

 

 

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Walmart’s Great Deal

December 9, 2014 2 comments

As you shop for Christmas and Hanukkah gifts, you’ll likely think of the great deals Walmart has.  Personally, I do as well on prices and better on quality elsewhere if I shop carefully and take advantage of coupons and sales.  That’s good, because my conscience won’t let me shop at Walmart.

It’s a matter of respect and concern for their workers.  Their mistreatment is a matter of record.  I’ve read the news stories and investigative reports from reputable news agencies: hiring the undocumented and locking them up in stores (http://www.nbcnews.com/id/4146540/ns/business-us_business/t/suit-wal-mart-locked-janitors-stores/#.VHoEIzHF-So); hiring people with the promise of benefits, then as the corporate profits skyrocket, cutting those benefits (http://dailydigestnews.com/2014/10/profit-behemoth-wal-mart-cuts-benefits-raisies-healthcare-costs-for-part-time-workers/), knowing that most of their employees depend on their jobs to keep just this side of the poverty level; hiring the undocumented and making them work in harsh conditions, without overtime or even a day off (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/05/us/illegally-in-us-and-never-a-day-off-at-wal-mart.html); and practicing intimidation, discrimination, careless pollution, tax avoidance, and bribery (http://www.corp-research.org/wal-mart).

I agree that Walmart has great deals, but for the corporation, not for the workers.  So I take my wallet elsewhere.

 

 

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Apple & Child Labor

January 25, 2013 Comments Off on Apple & Child Labor

Today’s news reported that Apple found they employed only .004% children in their workforce, including none in final assembly.  Sounds good, especially for such a huge corporation.  However, this doesn’t tell the real story: what’s going on with Foxconn, their supplier, and its suppliers.  One Chinese circuit-board-parts supplier uses 74 kids under age 16. Parents forging papers to say their kids are older is a common practice.  For more details, go to http://news.yahoo.com/apples-child-labor-problem-runs-deep-141954177.

Apple is trying.  I’ll give them credit for that.  But they need to solve the problem in the 5% of their factories that they audited that use child labor and go deeper into the supply chain to ensure that children are not victimized just so we can have our i-everythings.

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