Those jobs Americans won't do

Get a job!

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me@rescam.org

Those jobs Americans won't do

Get a job!

these two postings can be read as if there were no unemployed Americans who would be glad for any job no matter how dirty or heavy the work is, and who want a job with wages to be able to afford a simple life...
When I was in the States back in the 90's, the Rescue Shelter Missions and Employment Centers told me another truth...

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Account frozen...

Those jobs Americans won't do

Get a job!

these two postings can be read as if there were no unemployed Americans who would be glad for any job no matter how dirty or heavy the work is, and who want a job with wages to be able to afford a simple life...
When I was in the States back in the 90's, the Rescue Shelter Missions and Employment Centers told me another truth...

Virtually most of those you saw at the rescue missions were either alcholics, drug users, or the mentally ill...unemployable anywhere.

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Account frozen...

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Account frozen...

Those jobs Americans won't do

Get a job!

these two postings can be read as if there were no unemployed Americans who would be glad for any job no matter how dirty or heavy the work is, and who want a job with wages to be able to afford a simple life...
When I was in the States back in the 90's, the Rescue Shelter Missions and Employment Centers told me another truth...

Virtually most of those you saw at the rescue missions were either alcholics, drug users, or the mentally ill...unemployable anywhere.

Can you cite any data showing this to be true?

Those jobs Americans won't do

Get a job!

these two postings can be read as if there were no unemployed Americans who would be glad for any job no matter how dirty or heavy the work is, and who want a job with wages to be able to afford a simple life...
When I was in the States back in the 90's, the Rescue Shelter Missions and Employment Centers told me another truth...

Virtually most of those you saw at the rescue missions were either alcholics, drug users, or the mentally ill...unemployable anywhere.

Can you cite any data showing this to be true?

I don't need data...I have spoken to people at the Salvation Army and at St. Vincents, they all said the same thing. There are exceptions, but that is the general rule. Data has its' uses, but I prefer to get out into the real world and not sit behind a desk, or hide in some classroom. As an example, you don't need data to tell that the weather has been changing over the years...all you need to do is go outside and observe for yourselves. The friends that I spoke to at the missions probably have piles of data, but their experience speaks better volumes than dry statistics.

But since you insist...

As many as 3.5 million people experience homelessness in a given year (1% of the entire U.S. population or 10% of its poor), and about 842,000 people in any given week.

Familial composition
40% are families with children—the fastest growing segment.
41% are single males.
14% are single females.
5% are minors unaccompanied by adults.
1.37 million (or 39%) of the total homeless population are children under the age of 18.

Ethnicity

49% are African American (compared to 11% of general population).
35% are Caucasian (compared to 75% of general population).
13% are Hispanic (compared to 10% of general population).
2% are Native American (compared to 1% of general population).
1% are Asian-American (compared to 3% of general population).

Health-concerns

22% are considered to have serious mental illnesses, or are disabled.
30% have substance abuse problems.
3% report having HIV/AIDS.
26% report acute health problems other than HIV/AIDS such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, or sexually transmitted infections.
46% report chronic health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or cancer.
55% report having no health insurance (compared to 16% of general population).
58% report having trouble getting enough food to eat.

Backgrounds

23% are veterans (compared to 13% of general population).
25% were physically or sexually abused as children.
27% were in foster care or similar institutions as children.
21% were homeless at some point during their childhood.
54% were incarcerated at some point in their lives.

Education
38% have less than a High School diploma.
34% have a High School diploma or equivalent (G.E.D.).
28% have more than a High School education.

Employment

44% report having worked in the past week.
13% have regular jobs.
50% receive less than $300 per month as income.

Location

71% reside in central cities.
21% are in suburbs.
9% are in rural areas.

Duration

80% of those who experience homelessness do so for less than 3 weeks. They typically have more personal, social, or economic resources to draw upon.
10% are homeless for up to two months. They cite lack of available or affordable housing as responsible for the delay.
10% are so called “chronic” and remain without housing for extended periods of time on a frequent basis. They typically struggle with mental illness, substance abuse, or both.

Somewhat different data seem to be presented in the full demographics reported in the 1996 NSHAPC survey which include:

Family status

61% Single men
15% Single women
12.2% Women with children
4.6% Other women
5.3% Other men
2.3% Men with children

Racial demographics of head of household

41% White, non-Hispanic
40% Black, non-Hispanic
11% Hispanic
8% Native American
1% Other

Length of current homeless period

5% Less than one week
8% Greater than one week, less than one month
15% One to three months
11% Four to six months
15% Seven to twelve months
16% Thirteen to twenty four months
10% Twenty-five to sixty months
20% Five or more years

Lifetime self-reported alcohol, drug and mental health problems

62% Alcohol
58% Drug
57% Mental health
27%% Mental health and alcohol or drug (dual diagnosed)

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Account frozen...

Those jobs Americans won't do

Get a job!

these two postings can be read as if there were no unemployed Americans who would be glad for any job no matter how dirty or heavy the work is, and who want a job with wages to be able to afford a simple life...
When I was in the States back in the 90's, the Rescue Shelter Missions and Employment Centers told me another truth...

Virtually most of those you saw at the rescue missions were either alcholics, drug users, or the mentally ill...unemployable anywhere.

Virtually may be, but not really (at least those I met). Well, there were some who drank, and some who smoked pot, and most of THEM had started drinking or doing drugs AFTER they became dependent on welfare - but the very most of the people I met have been unlucky ones: lost their job (for example because of being one of some thousand who got fired due to "economization"), got into debts, lost their home because of not being able to pay their rent anymore (or their house was sold to pay back some of the debts) ---> no home no job, no job no home... Most of the poor people I met had kept so much "dignity" not to beg in the streets or to steal for food or alcohol and drugs...

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Account frozen...

Those jobs Americans won't do

Get a job!

these two postings can be read as if there were no unemployed Americans who would be glad for any job no matter how dirty or heavy the work is, and who want a job with wages to be able to afford a simple life...
When I was in the States back in the 90's, the Rescue Shelter Missions and Employment Centers told me another truth...

Virtually most of those you saw at the rescue missions were either alcholics, drug users, or the mentally ill...unemployable anywhere.

Can you cite any data showing this to be true?

I don't need data...I have spoken to people at the Salvation Army and at St. Vincents, they all said the same thing. There are exceptions, but that is the general rule. Data has its' uses, but I prefer to get out into the real world and not sit behind a desk, or hide in some classroom. As an example, you don't need data to tell that the weather has been changing over the years...all you need to do is go outside and observe for yourselves. The friends that I spoke to at the missions probably have piles of data, but their experience speaks better volumes than dry statistics.

But since you insist...

As many as 3.5 million people experience homelessness in a given year (1% of the entire U.S. population or 10% of its poor), and about 842,000 people in any given week.

Familial composition
40% are families with children—the fastest growing segment.
41% are single males.
14% are single females.
5% are minors unaccompanied by adults.
1.37 million (or 39%) of the total homeless population are children under the age of 18.

Ethnicity

49% are African American (compared to 11% of general population).
35% are Caucasian (compared to 75% of general population).
13% are Hispanic (compared to 10% of general population).
2% are Native American (compared to 1% of general population).
1% are Asian-American (compared to 3% of general population).

Health-concerns

22% are considered to have serious mental illnesses, or are disabled.
30% have substance abuse problems.
3% report having HIV/AIDS.
26% report acute health problems other than HIV/AIDS such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, or sexually transmitted infections.
46% report chronic health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or cancer.
55% report having no health insurance (compared to 16% of general population).
58% report having trouble getting enough food to eat.

Backgrounds

23% are veterans (compared to 13% of general population).
25% were physically or sexually abused as children.
27% were in foster care or similar institutions as children.
21% were homeless at some point during their childhood.
54% were incarcerated at some point in their lives.

Education
38% have less than a High School diploma.
34% have a High School diploma or equivalent (G.E.D.).
28% have more than a High School education.

Employment

44% report having worked in the past week.
13% have regular jobs.
50% receive less than $300 per month as income.

Location

71% reside in central cities.
21% are in suburbs.
9% are in rural areas.

Duration

80% of those who experience homelessness do so for less than 3 weeks. They typically have more personal, social, or economic resources to draw upon.
10% are homeless for up to two months. They cite lack of available or affordable housing as responsible for the delay.
10% are so called “chronic” and remain without housing for extended periods of time on a frequent basis. They typically struggle with mental illness, substance abuse, or both.

Somewhat different data seem to be presented in the full demographics reported in the 1996 NSHAPC survey which include:

Family status

61% Single men
15% Single women
12.2% Women with children
4.6% Other women
5.3% Other men
2.3% Men with children

Racial demographics of head of household

41% White, non-Hispanic
40% Black, non-Hispanic
11% Hispanic
8% Native American
1% Other

Length of current homeless period

5% Less than one week
8% Greater than one week, less than one month
15% One to three months
11% Four to six months
15% Seven to twelve months
16% Thirteen to twenty four months
10% Twenty-five to sixty months
20% Five or more years

Lifetime self-reported alcohol, drug and mental health problems

62% Alcohol
58% Drug
57% Mental health
27%% Mental health and alcohol or drug (dual diagnosed)

Nice post there Dogbytes. So good I had to quote it.

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Reality Internet Personality

Nice post there Dogbytes. So good I had to quote it.

You two better be getting them all into Harvard as fast as you can.

They need you.

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Cordially,
Rush

elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com
Remove the obvious...

Duration

80% of those who experience homelessness do so for less than 3 weeks. They typically have more personal, social, or economic resources to draw upon.
10% are homeless for up to two months. They cite lack of available or affordable housing as responsible for the delay.
10% are so called “chronic” and remain without housing for extended periods of time on a frequent basis. They typically struggle with mental illness, substance abuse, or both.

Dogbytes, you seem to have a slight misunderstanding of what the word "most" and the term "virtually all" (misstated by you as "virtually most") mean.

The numbers that you reference above state that 10% of the population subset in question meet the criteria you set,"Virtually most of those you saw at the rescue missions were either alcholics, drug users, or the mentally ill...unemployable anywhere." from Message ID 513515.

For the term "most" to be used the percentage would need to be at least a plurality, in other words the category with the highest percentage.

Even your term "virtually most" (which is redundant as "virtually" in this context means "for the most part") because most of the population subset you refer to (90%) does not meet the criteria you set.

Duration

80% of those who experience homelessness do so for less than 3 weeks. They typically have more personal, social, or economic resources to draw upon.
10% are homeless for up to two months. They cite lack of available or affordable housing as responsible for the delay.
10% are so called “chronic” and remain without housing for extended periods of time on a frequent basis. They typically struggle with mental illness, substance abuse, or both.

Dogbytes, you seem to have a slight misunderstanding of what the word "most" and the term "virtually all" (misstated by you as "virtually most") mean. Please remember that minced words are inediable.

The numbers that you reference above state that 10% of the population subset in question meet the criteria you set,"Virtually most of those you saw at the rescue missions were either alcholics, drug users, or the mentally ill...unemployable anywhere." from Message ID 513515.

For the term "most" to be used the percentage would need to be at least a plurality, in other words the category with the highest percentage.

Even your term "virtually most" (which is redundant as "virtually" in this context means "for the most part") because most of the population subset you refer to (90%) does not meet the criteria you set.

I'm sticking to my guns...we were talking about "rescue missions" which generally deal with the worst of the worst in the case of homelessness. We have a big one here that takes the ones that St. Vicents and the Salvation army can't handle or deal with.

Please remember that minced words are inediable...like split hairs.

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Account frozen...

Nice post there Dogbytes. So good I had to quote it.

What would we do without you?

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me@rescam.org

Military Pork

Drawing lessons from California

By Glyn Davis and Joshua Frydenberg

Davis is president of Melbourne University.
Frydenberg, a former senior adviser to Australian Prime Minister John Howard, is a director of a leading international investment bank.
Both were participants in the Australia-U.S. Leadership Dialogue held recently in California.

February 7, 2007

Recently, a group of senior Australian politicians, editors, business and university leaders spent time at two of the great Californian research institutions: the University of California San Diego and Stanford University.

The Australian delegation was visiting the West Coast as part of the annual Australia-America Leadership Dialogue. Inaugurated in 1993 but held this year for the first time outside Washington, D.C., the dialogue brings together in a bipartisan spirit senior policy-makers from both countries to discuss issues of mutual interest.

At the forefront of this year's conversations between Australian and American leaders was the dramatic and rapid growth in new technologies, the importance of a well-funded and innovation-focused higher education system and the extensive commercial opportunities that currently flow from the rise of China.

On each of these issues the Australian delegation found California showing real leadership. It is clear California is inventing the future. Dialogue leader Phil Scanlan closed the discussions by announcing the team would return next year to continue its exploration of the new world called into being along the Pacific Coast of North America.

California policy-makers understand that manufacturing will gravitate to low-wage countries. To compete, therefore, California must be the home of new technologies, captured and distributed by thousands of startup companies.

In his latest state budget proposal, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced important new initiatives in renewable energy, to match the state's $3 billion investment in stem cell medical research. Schwarzenegger knows private-sector entrepreneurs will take up his challenge.

Already, about 1,000 California startup companies are working on alternative energy products, eager to benefit from the state's decision to take seriously efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. They are funded by venture capitalists who share the governor's view that solving environmental challenges is the next big industry.

Underpinning the state's strategy is an extraordinary asset: the best university system in the world, producing both the fundamental research and skilled graduates essential to a high-technology California. The state is home to a broad network of community colleges, 23 state universities, the elite University of California system with 12 world-class research institutions, and leading private schools such as Stanford and the California Institute of Technology. The state they serve is the eighth-largest economy in the world and the base for many famous technology brands.

In medical breakthroughs, the Salk Institute at UCSD is tackling neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's disease. Schwarzenegger has taken on his own Republican Party and President George W. Bush to promote stem cell research. His innovative bond issue will fund new university facilities and employ new research staff. In the global competition for talent, the Schwarzenegger initiative will ensure California continues to attract the best and the brightest.

When asked how it will protect the intellectual property developed by these research facilities, California legislators provide a surprising answer. The technologies matter but even more important are the people trained in research: graduates who take their good ideas from university laboratories straight into startup companies in California. These quality researchers are not only flocking to California in droves for their training, they tend to remain in the state to commercialize and capitalize on their knowledge.

In the suburbs close to the UCSD and Stanford campuses are vast blocks of incubators, warehouses and garages where recent graduates try out commercial applications of their newly acquired knowledge. Many will fail, but the successes are legion: biomedical firms in San Diego and information technology companies such as Yahoo! and Google from the student ranks of Stanford.

In turn, successful high-tech entrepreneurs have made huge philanthropic contributions to their alma maters. With a $4.4 billion capital-raising program under way, Stanford has consistently been adding more than $600 million to its endowments each year from donations, funding an unprecedented expansion of research facilities and student scholarships. Although UCSD may have some way to catch up, overall the scale and wealth of the best Californian universities are unprecedented in world history.

The California strategy is clear and it is working: Produce the engineers, scientists, researchers and MBA graduates who will invent new industries. The approach created by Silicon Valley is flourishing in biomedicine and looks set to boom in biofuels, energy alternatives and new fields such as robotics.

Each begins in university research facilities but moves quickly to startup companies and markets. The process once took years. Now the cycle is getting shorter, with knowledge transfer a core business for American universities.

Like California, Australia must consider its future. We share much in common: a welcoming climate, natural resources, an immigrant culture and an economy in which services rather than manufacturing provide most employment. Like California, Australia, too, is seeing and seizing the economic opportunities in Asia, particularly in China.

But if Australia is going to take the next step and become a hub for innovation and new markets, it is our universities that must become the fulcrum for this change. Building closer relationships between educators and business, encouraging a greater culture of philanthropy, increasing our appetite for venture capital-type risks, and a more active program for recruiting and nurturing the best talent are just some of the techniques Australia needs to more effectively employ. There is much to be learned from California.

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me@rescam.org

Lawmakers' letters led to Lam's ouster

By Joe Cantlupe
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

February 7, 2007

A top Justice Department official said yesterday that San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam was being targeted for dismissal because of “performance-related” issues after his office received letters from several members of Congress complaining about her handling of immigration enforcement cases.

Questioned by Senate Judiciary Committee members, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty repeatedly declined to spell out what Lam's performance shortcomings were, other than to note the complaints.

“What about Carol Lam? Why was she terminated?” committee member Rep. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., asked McNulty.

“I respectfully decline to go into specific reasons,” McNulty said.

“I think the committee needs to know why she was terminated,” Specter responded.

But all McNulty would say is that “the phone calls made in December were performance-related.” He was referring to calls made to Lam and five other prosecutors demanding their resignations. A seventh U.S. attorney, based in Arkansas, was dismissed earlier last year to make way for a former aide to White House adviser Karl Rove, McNulty said.

The forced resignations and secrecy surrounding them have triggered concerns among Democrats that the Bush administration is trying to circumvent the Senate's right to approve or disapprove U.S. attorney appointments.

Democrats, including California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, have objected to a provision slipped into the USA Patriot Act last year allowing U.S. attorney replacements to be appointed and serve indefinitely without Senate approval. Democrats are preparing legislation to overturn the new presidential power.

“I have observed, with increasing alarm, how politicized the Department of Justice has become,” Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said at the start of the hearing. “I have watched, with growing worry, as the department has increasingly based hiring on political affiliation.”

McNulty vigorously denied the allegation: “When I hear you talk about the politicizing of the Department of Justice, it's like a knife in my heart.”

Separately, he added: “The attorney general's appointment authority has not and will not be used to circumvent the confirmation process.”

Schumer noted that Lam “was in the midst of a sweeping public investigation,” referring to the probe of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Rancho Santa Fe, and others. Cunningham is in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion charges, but investigations are pending for several co-conspirators.

“Was her firing political retaliation? There's no way to know that,” Schumer said. But he said he assumed that “politics is involved. The appearance is plain awful.”

McNulty denied the assertion.

When questioned about the continued Cunningham-related investigations, McNulty said, “We never have and never will seek to remove a United States attorney to interfere with an ongoing investigation or prosecution or in retaliation for a prosecution.”

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who supports Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' right to remove the prosecutors, referred to a series of critical letters about Lam from members of Congress who questioned her lack of aggressiveness in immigration-related cases.

Lam had been “subject to a number of complaints,” Sessions said.

Last June, Feinstein wrote to Gonzales regarding her concerns about immigration-related prosecutions in Southern California. On July 30, 2004, a group of 14 California representatives wrote to the Attorney General also to express their “concern” about immigration-related cases.

In October 2005, Rep. Darrell Isla, R-Vista, wrote to Lam complaining about “non-prosecution of criminal illegal aliens,” and a year later criticized her office about its failure to carry out immigrant-related smuggling cases.

The Attorney General's office was familiar with all the letters, McNulty said. “We received letters from members of Congress,” McNulty acknowledged. “I don't want to go into the substance of them.

“We take them seriously,” he said. “We give them consideration.”

Lam, 47, who has been the top prosecutor in San Diego for more than four years, announced she is resigning Feb. 15. She has declined to comment on reasons for her resignation, but sources said they were linked to Justice Department officials who were concerned about her handling of immigration-related prosecutions.

Lam's office said she had no comment about yesterday's proceedings.

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me@rescam.org

Military Pork

...PORK, the other white meat.

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Account frozen...

Please remember that minced words are inediable...like split hairs.

What is your point?

Please remember that minced words are inediable...like split hairs.

What is your point?

The obvious.

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Account frozen...

Please remember that minced words are inediable...like split hairs.

What is your point?

The obvious.

Once again, please state your point clearly.