NOT Getting Groped by the TSA

...Aaaaand, stuff like this is why I'm taking the Amtrak home for Christmas.  I'm not much of a "protestor"- I just don't see real results when people protest, since it usually involves holding signs and shouting things - but I will be protesting with my wallet and not flying home in December.  These new security measures are leaving men, women, and children feeling violated, and if this continues I suspect that airlines are going to start loosing money over the next year and change always occurs when rich people start loosing money.  I actually like taking the train, anyway, it gives me time to relax and be by myself for a while.

From PostBourgie - "Colorlines: Race and the Economic Recovery" Full Eppy

H/T to PostBourgie.

I remember when my mom was on unemployment (that's what they call welfare in MD) when I was little hearing her complain about having to go to those silly classes when she'd been working in the same field for more than 10 years and already knew everything that they were teaching.  It's a waste of time for many people.  There are some people who need job training out there, but most of the people who are on welfare or unemployment are just people who were unlucky enough to get fired and not get another job within a few weeks.

It's a damn shame that the woman interviewed had to go back to an abusive relationship because he could help support the kids.  It also disturbs me how often poor women are threatened with getting their kids taken away from them.  No, lead paint is not a safe environment for the kids, but neither is living with a daddy who likes to hit your mom.  I would say that an abusive father is a much more immediate danger.  What the hell else were her options?  Child Services needs to be more reasonable, or helpful, about things like this.

From NPR 12.07 - Unemployment and African American Men

Even with all of the venom coming from the Republicans on Cornell's campus, I never quite grasped how widespread the belief seems to be that Black students are on college campuses or have good jobs because of affirmative action. How do people justify thinking this about all of us (and this assumption seems to be automatic, so Blacks are guilty of being unqualified until proven intelligent), and then vehemently deny being racist? I've seen the surprise on people's faces when I say I got my degree from Cornell. And then I get defensive and try to make it sound like it wasn't as hard as it was. It was hard. And I graduated in four years, working harder than I ever have before. I should say "Yeah, I graduated from a better school then you. And I have a mother who barely graduated from high school, Mr./Ms. middle class. Step up your game!"