Tag Archive for term

Why a White Elephant?

August 15, 2017 Comments Off on Why a White Elephant?

After Christmas, it’s thought of as great fun to have a “White Elephant Party,” where you exchange gifts you received but have no earthly use for–except to take up space and gather dust.  In case you’ve wondered, here’s the origin of the term “White Elephant” – something useless that nobody wants and is a burden to  own.

Actually, in Thailand, white elephants were once thought of as sacred.  At the same time, the Siamese king would foist one onto someone who fell out of his favor in order to punish him. That is, someone who made the king mad would find himself burdened with a white elephant, which was very expensive to care for and maintain, often driving the new owner into poverty. The “gift,” then looked like generosity on the king’s part but was really a sneaky way to get even.

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Unemployed FINALLY Put in their Place

January 31, 2014 2 comments

People who lost jobs in the recession got hit twice: once when losing their jobs, then again when nobody would hire someone who had been out of work for six months or a year.  I guess the reasoning was that if people wanted to work rather than sponging off of unemployment insurance they would have found jobs by now.  This may have been true for some people, but certainly not for the majority, who were trying to feed their families on unemployment money, let alone have luxuries like rent and health insurance.

President Obama is trying to change that by going to large employers and asking them to place the long-term unemployed back in line for jobs.  He’s doing it publicly enough that maybe companies who refuse to give up their unreasonable prejudice against the long-term unemployed will be “outed” and embarrassed enough to reconsider.

It’s about time these willing workers are put back into their proper place–the workplace.

 

 

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OK If Lobbyists Write Our Laws?

May 20, 2013 Comments Off on OK If Lobbyists Write Our Laws?

Interest groups are writing our laws.  It surprised me to learn that a Capitol Tracking study of CA bills introduced during the 2011-12 session found that 27% were written by interest groups.  Lawmakers simply added their names to them, and thy’re not required to acknowledge who actually wrote the bill. The bills that the governor signed into law during that time–60% were sponsored by interest groups and 30% by legislators.  That means that lobbyists–non-elected individuals–are essentially making our laws.

In defense of our elected officials, term limits ensures that most are new to the job.  It takes much of their terms of office to learn a little about a lot of issues and a lot about a few issues.  Then they’re out of a job and new people take over.  They have to depend on someone, then, to advise them.  That’s the lobbyist’s task, and we can only hope that our best interest is being put forward along with whatever it is that the lobbyist is promoting.

Are you happy with the laws being proposed and passed?  In January,Senator David Vitter (R-LA) introduced a Constitutional amendment to impose term limits on Congress.   If you think that all Californians are getting fair treatment and protections under our system, support Vitter’s proposal.  If not, let your discomfort with the idea be known to your Congress-member right now.

 

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