Monday, June 11, 2007
In Our Infinite Wisdom
Mom and I went news surfing again tonight. One of the news programs at which we landed was ABC World News with Charles Gibson. One of the stories was about the 63 million dollar boondoggle of an airplane still being supported by us through congress, despite the fact that the Pentagon long ago pronounced the project a failure. It was immediately followed by a very short mention of today's Supreme Court ruling in the case of Long Island Care at Home vs. Coke (this link is to a search for articles on a website which discuss the merits of the case) that home health care workers are not entitled to overtime pay or minimum wage.
Isn't that interesting? We, as a country, are willing to throw away millions of dollars on an airplane in which even the military has no confidence, all because Anthony DuPont, president of DuPont Aerospace (El Cajon, CA), who designed and continues to work on the craft, is a campaign contributor to at least a couple of congressmen. But, you know, grant minimum wage and overtime pay to a 73 year old retired home health care worker who worked in the field for 20 years and consistently went the extra mile for her charges, let alone do so for all home health care workers? Nah...this woman, and home health care workers in general, are not major campaign contributors. A ruling like this would bankrupt our businessmen! Hell...do these employees even exist?
Interesting: Although I was unable to locate an online bio indicating Mr. Anthony DuPont's age, from the video of him in the news story he looks to be in his 60's. He's not too far away from the eventuality of needing to hire home health care workers to take care of him (unless he's very lucky and dies before old age or a devastating illness grabs hold of him). I wonder what he's planning on doing at that time: Hop into the animated version of his Aircraft DP2 and expatriate to a country that is kinder to and more aware of its home health care workforce?
Just wondering.
My audience might be interested to know that I am not officially classified as a "Home Health Care Worker". I'm not even officially classified as "unemployed", which actually delights me, since I am not unemployed, but I am employed unofficially, off the charts, as are millions like me. Thus, the Supreme Court's highly questionable and infuriating ruling, today, would not have affected me from an employment perspective. It probably will never affect me from an employment perspective because I'm not about to ever hire myself out as a "Home Health Care Worker"...for reasons which should be obvious to you if you've read even a little of my journals. However, it certainly will affect all of us, deleteriously, in the future, when we need Home Health Care. Want to know why it's so hard to find compassionate, reliable, worry free home health care? Want to know why it will become even harder in the future? Ask our Supreme Court. Then, remember that in this country we have a little considered but oft touted belief that "we" are the government...and ask yourself.
Later.
Isn't that interesting? We, as a country, are willing to throw away millions of dollars on an airplane in which even the military has no confidence, all because Anthony DuPont, president of DuPont Aerospace (El Cajon, CA), who designed and continues to work on the craft, is a campaign contributor to at least a couple of congressmen. But, you know, grant minimum wage and overtime pay to a 73 year old retired home health care worker who worked in the field for 20 years and consistently went the extra mile for her charges, let alone do so for all home health care workers? Nah...this woman, and home health care workers in general, are not major campaign contributors. A ruling like this would bankrupt our businessmen! Hell...do these employees even exist?
Interesting: Although I was unable to locate an online bio indicating Mr. Anthony DuPont's age, from the video of him in the news story he looks to be in his 60's. He's not too far away from the eventuality of needing to hire home health care workers to take care of him (unless he's very lucky and dies before old age or a devastating illness grabs hold of him). I wonder what he's planning on doing at that time: Hop into the animated version of his Aircraft DP2 and expatriate to a country that is kinder to and more aware of its home health care workforce?
Just wondering.
My audience might be interested to know that I am not officially classified as a "Home Health Care Worker". I'm not even officially classified as "unemployed", which actually delights me, since I am not unemployed, but I am employed unofficially, off the charts, as are millions like me. Thus, the Supreme Court's highly questionable and infuriating ruling, today, would not have affected me from an employment perspective. It probably will never affect me from an employment perspective because I'm not about to ever hire myself out as a "Home Health Care Worker"...for reasons which should be obvious to you if you've read even a little of my journals. However, it certainly will affect all of us, deleteriously, in the future, when we need Home Health Care. Want to know why it's so hard to find compassionate, reliable, worry free home health care? Want to know why it will become even harder in the future? Ask our Supreme Court. Then, remember that in this country we have a little considered but oft touted belief that "we" are the government...and ask yourself.
Later.
