The Paid Vaction Act of 2009

Starting with a abridged history of Irish Poverty in the 1800’s …

The Irish lived on land that their forefathers had lived on, until the British came and took over, calling themselves landlords. They taxed the Irish and told them what to farm. The soil in Ireland is wet and soggy. It is not ideal for any kind of agriculture, but the British wanted wheat and the so the Irish grew it. When the yields were not as high as the landlords wanted, they took away the family garden plots to increase their saleable crop. This necessitated families to move into tenements and share kitchens. With the three square feet of ground remaining to each family, the Irish grew potatoes-- the only plant known to create enough food to satisfy from such a small patch of ground.

But this was not enough for the British: they increased taxes. The Irish went into debt to pay those taxes and lost everything they owned in order to stay on ‘their’ land. Eventually they had nothing left and were boiling potatoes over a shared cooking fire and peeling them with a fingernail in order to eat them plain, because they were so poor they didn't even have a knife. Such was the level of poverty when the potato blight struck.

The potatoes literally rotted in the ground and the British, unsympathetic to the problem, shipped out the grain that the Irish were able to grow and let the people starve.

One might think that the British aristocrats were different from the lower classes, but in my reading everyone in Britain, master and servant, had the same hatred of the Irish. They thought that they were dirty, lazy, stupid and morally corrupt, when in fact they were poor and they became ever poorer because the British took everything away from them.

The Irish had little choice. They escaped to America and conditions were little better. The Irish immigrants were forced by hunger to work terrible hours in horrible conditions for a pittance.
You would think that the people of our country would have had compassion, but Americans adopted the British attitudes towards the Irish, and passed laws that discriminated against them and kept them poor.

American attitudes towards the poor have not grown noticeably more enlightened over the last hundred years. I read an article online by Susan A Heathfield about the Paid Vacation Act of 2009.

http://humanresources.about.com/b/2009/05/21/paid-vacation-act.htm#gB3

She writes that the act is going to harm employers all over America and most employers offer paid vacation anyway, so why the government interference? She then encourages all of her readers to post other reasons why this act is a bad idea.

The first comment was a reasonable rebuttal but, starting with this comment, responses start to be filled with vitriol:

“I want to know why the government thinks this is necessary? I have never worked for a company, nor heard of a company, that has not provided vacation of some sort and all of the plans I have participated in have been more generous than what congress is proposing. Is there really a need for a federally mandated vacation policy? With everything that is going on in the country can’t we focus on more important issues?"

I would just like to point out that I’ve never had a job with paid vacation but I don’t assume that no one has paid vacation. This bothered me, but the following comment bothered me more:

It is absolutely unbelievable that some politicians want the government to control every aspect of our lives including what we do, where we live, and how we live. It may be helpful to remind people that we fought the American Revolution to get the government (i.e. the British) out of controlling our lives. Anybody remember the Boston Tea Party? Or do they teach history in our schools anymore? This country and people used to value freedom above all other values? We did not want government to control our lives. Isn’t that why the U. S. Constitution says that all powers NOT specifically stated belong to the STATES–NOT to the federal government? I think some people need to learn more about our history.
Like April said, all the companies that I have worked for over 30 YEARS have provided paid vacation. Also, I too really don’t know any company that does not provide for vacation. However, like you said, Susan, is it possible that any such employer that does NOT provide vacation MIGHT have a legitimate reason for that practice? WHY do employers provide vacation? Do Brian or Todd know why? Do people understand that employers DO provide vacation as one means to attract quality employees? We live in a market economy in which employers compete in products or services and for employees as well. That means we tend to get better wages, better working conditions, and better benefits, among other things as compared with other countries around the world. Have anybody lived in Africa, as I have, as one example?
Has anybody noticed that China has adopted a market economy (i.e. capitalism) and is prospering beyond belief? Does anybody realize that it is predicted that China will be the next superpower (replacing the U. S.)? Is there a reason for that? And please don’t get sidetracked by erroneous issues like low pay–that misses the point. Do people realize that Western European countries are starting to turn away from socialist policies because their economies can no longer support the economic burden of such policies? This is in addition to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the communist governments. It is wrong to use ideology to make government policy, in my opinion.
I have seen my family get all twisted up over religion, and I see people doing the same thing today over ideology in making government policy. I am happy I am closer to the end of my life and will not have to see this evil come to pass much longer. Government can NEVER know more about a company’s employees than the company does. NEVER!!
Some people need to remember some of these things so that they have a balanced picture of reality based on truth–not based on prejudice.

What these two responses seem to have in common is the assumption that everyone worth anything is like them. People who are like them have a choice about where to work. They can say ‘no’ to an employer who doesn’t offer vacation. People who have money have a choice. People who don’t have money have little or no choice about the working conditions they must accept.

I thought about it a lot. I realized what bothers me about this is the hatred. These two posters imply that no one who is poor deserves protection because anyone who is poor deserves everything that happens to them.

This hatred of the poor is as American as apple pie. Americans have always discriminated against the poor, which is why we had to pass an amendment to the constitution to allow black men to vote. (Black slaves were poor). We had to pass another amendment to the constitution to allow women the vote. (Women were poor). In both cases the change occurred not because we were enlightened but because the group who was oppressed into poverty managed to break out of poverty and have enough money to become a respected group of society. They earned buying power.

Wave after wave of immigrants have been met with hatred by the immigrants already settled here: the Chinese building the railroad in the Pacific Northwest, the Mexicans in California, the Italians and Irish in New York, the Haitians in Florida-- the list goes on and on.

The Paid Vacation Act protects only the voiceless poor, and anyone pointing this out will only be helping kill the Act, because Americans really hate the poor.

I don’t know why this is true, but poverty is more than frowned upon in our society. It is looked upon as a contagious disease.

But if you look at the poverty of the Irish, they were forced to be poor. They did not choose it. No one would choose to be poor. But Americans assume, just like the British in the 1800s, that poor people are lazy, stupid, selfish thieves, out for no one but themselves, who would murder us all in our beds if given half a chance.

I suppose this viewpoint protects people from feeling shame at having so much more than someone else. I can see no other rational reason for such an opinion. So it stands to reason that the only rational reason for opposing the Paid Vacation Act of 2009 is because you hate poor people.

My Garden Then and Now

This is what my garden looked like back in February after the snow melted off. Pretty grim isent it?

And here is what it looks like today!
Sorry the images are kind of wierd my computer dosen't have a merge photo option so I had to print the pictures and tape them together and then scan them back into the computer but my computer scanner softwear wouldent crop them right so I just left them as is.

Intresting Stuff

Apparently Michelle Obama went to volunteer at Miriam's kitchen in DC. Hears an article:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/03/05/at_miriams_kitchen_michelle_ob.html

Then Julie Gunlock wrote a nasty piece subtly criticizing Michelle Obama for choosing Miriam's kitchen to vollenteer in. Because of Miriams snobery (when in fact they are not snobs at all, and are working hard to help people) and then maed a big deal about the money that the government is giving to food banks. (One ten thousandth of the money in the simulous bill, a reduculously small amount whoop-de-ding) All the while saying that the two food banks she mentions are not hurting for money because the government is giving it to them, which is patently untrue!

I really think Julie Gunlock sounds very convincing, which is what is so horrible about her article. She implys a lot and retains deny-ablity while saying nasty things with no basis in fact. I hate how easy it is for her to tear down a bunch of people who do a lot of good while at the same time sounding completely reasonable. Its kind of sickening.

You can read it here:

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjYzM2I4NzVjNzY1MWFkYmZlYzA3Mjg0NDI1ODNhNDM=

So it was really great to read the rebutal by the people at Obama Foodarama:

http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2009/05/national-review-says-let-them-eat-crap.html

It made me feel a lot better about the whole thing.

Greenwashing

I just read about The Seven Sins of Greenwashing. Greenwashing is defined as: the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.

Apparently they used to have six sins but this year they added a seventh. The seven sins of greenwashing are:


1)Sin of the Hidden Trade off (Example: paper that is sustainably forested: if it is also bleached, it causes other water quality issues)

2)Sin of no Proof (example: stating things that are unverifiable: claims of post consumer material but no proof.)

3)Sin of Vagueness (Example: Claims of All Natural: Arsenic is natural but its also poisonous)

4)Sin of Worshipping False Labels (Example: creating false third party endorsements)

5)Sin of Irrelevance (Example: Saying CFC free when CFCs are illegal)

6)Sin of Lesser of Two Evils (Example: distracting claims such as organic cigarettes or Energy efficient hot tubs)

7)Sin of Fibbing (outright lies)



The report was put together by two company's TerraChoice and EcoLogo. They went out of there way to research products in North America, the UK, and Australia and write up this report. The report dose not list the products guilty of the sins. It leaves that up to consumers to figure out. Probably because they would get sued if they did list the company's that had sins on there packages. Anyways the website is interesting but not exactly tangibly helpful for grocery shopping. I will try to remember the sins but it still leaves the burden on the consumer to educate themselves about the thousands of products out there and unfortunately I don't think a lot of people have time for the kind of research that entails.

The positive side of this is that there are more 'green' products on the market than ever, which means that advertisers and product makers see a real trend in consumers. This means that people really care about individual impacts that products make. This also means there is more reason to lie for thousands of consumer dollars. I hate the popular maxim "vote with your money" but in this case the consumer dollar will be helpful in stopping liar's and con artists as long as they cant get to the money.

Onion Free Chicken Garlic Pizza

Papa Murphy's makes a Garlic Chicken Pizza which my dad mom and I would pick up sometimes. It has this wonderful creamy garlic sauce, as well as chicken, cheese, and other incidentals. The thing is its kind of salty. We eventually gave up on buying pizzas there because my mom would eat half a slice and then be salted out. But I really missed it.

I tried a few different cream sauces (some were good some were just dreadful) and I finally did some research which is what I should have done in the first place. The common consensus online is that the garlic sauce that Papa Murphy's uses is a ranch sauce with more garlic. So I looked up ranch sauce and turns out ranch has onion in it. My mom has an allergy to onions so we avoid it. I figured it couldn't be too hard to make ranch without the onion. Ranch also has buttermilk in it. The first time I made the pizza I didn't add any because I didn't have any and it still turned out great. Which is why I put optional next to it. Just substitute sour cream for it and you have the right consistency. Also you can substitute chopped fresh herbs for the dried ones no problem.

The thing is: now I like this better than the Papa Murphy's.

Pizza

3/4 cup warm water
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 1/4 cups flour

Mix warm water, yeast, sugar, salt, olive oil and ½ cup flour in bowl. Proof for fifteen minutes. When batter is nice and bubbly start adding flour 1/2 cup at a time beating well between each addition. Kneed briefly till dough is smooth and satiny. Roll out on a floured board and place on a greased 13 inch pizza pan (or 2 9 inch pans) and prick the entire surface aria with fork.

Sauce

½ cup Sour Cream
½ cup Buttermilk (optional you can use one cup sour cream instead)
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1 Tablespoon dried parsley
2 Tablespoon dried Parmesan
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 teaspoon ground pepper

Mix all ingredients together and let sit in refrigerator for several hours for flavors to meld. You will only need about half of this for one 13 inch pizza. Spread on pizza crust

Toppings

Cooked chicken pieces (I simmer them in chicken broth until done)
chopped fresh or fried mushrooms
chopped red pepper
mozzarella sliced or shredded
feta/white cheddar/Parmesan/ or whatever other kind of cheese you have available shredded

Sprinkle on cooked chicken, mushrooms and peppers, cover with plenty of cheese (otherwise toppings dry out) and bake in 400 degree oven for 18 to 20 minutes.

Radish

We pulled out our one successful radish yesterday. Here's a picture of me the proud gardener with it.

The radish was not really that big but after reading about them online my mom and I decided that we didn't want it to get, "Mealy and hot" as the website says they get if you don't harvest them when they are young. I'm going to take it over to my grandma. She seemd excited that we were growing radishes. I did it to amend the soil rather than to eat.

Fathers Day and Choclate Chip Cookies

Hello from the wilds of Pullman!... where the first day of Summer has yielded... rain and low temperatures. I can actually say I am cold because I made the silly decision to open up last night. Burrr....

In other news I have chocolate chip cookies coming out my ears. I wanted to make some for my dad beacuse they are his favorate and thought that if I made my regular half batch there wouldn't be any left over. I forgot that a whole batch feeds the southern continent of America. Oops!

I include the half recipe here. Which makes about 24 to 30 cookies. The trick to making them perfect is making all of the cookies the same size on the pan and baking them till they are starting to brown on top but are not dark brown on the bottom.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 stick butter softened
3/4 cup sugar (1/2 brown 1/2 granulated)
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat together butter and sugar really well so that there are no lumps of either ingredient. Add eggs again beat truly thoroughly. Add vanilla, baking soda, and salt, stir well before adding flour. When cookie dough is firm but still sticky add chocolate chips. Form 1/2 Tbs. sized balls of dough and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 9-11 min at 375 degrees.