Just had to give myself a daily affirmation to chant. It's not really working though. This is just a plain old rant with no rhyme or reason but usually I love my job of working with pre-school children. I feel it's a very important job on several levels. But even having a center full of all our most challenging children all at once would be no where near as difficult as it has been dealing with some of the parents over the years. It causes me the most stress of all and it is happening again right now. And there really isn't a whole hell of a lot I can do about it. Word of mouth advertising is one of the most important things for all businesses but even moreso in childcare. We happen to take care of real live human beings for a living, and if word gets around that you are not up to par, or are rude to a parent, then LOOK OUT. Your business can really suffer. So I basically have to keep my trap shut and it really drives me crazy sometimes.
Long story short, I found head lice in a child's hair on Friday. Real live walking around insects with little tiny legs and everything. You'd think I couldn't be mistaken about that fact eh? I picked them out of the child's head myself when I found them (after she spent days itching and scratching the heck out of her scalp).... and I put them in a little baggie to show the parent when she was picked up. I come in today to find out that the parent has raised all holy heck over it, saying that she took her child to the Health Unit, a doctor and a hairdresser and all three said the child did not have lice.
Um....... what? I saw them. I chased them around. I caught them in a comb and put them on a white kleenex and watched them walking around on it while I slid it into a clear plastic bag and sealed it up. I watched them continue walking around before shoving the bag in the freezer til home time.
So what the heck? I have a blasting angry parent saying that she NEVER wants us to touch her child's head again. Oh now that's just great. She doesn't want any of the staff at our center to touch her. If that is true, why on earth would she even keep her child in our care? I am baffled and I am upset. If the kid's ponytail is half hanging out of her head and pulling her hair and hurting, I am going to stop and wonder if I am allowed to do that. What if the mom asks the child if anyone touched her hair and she says 'yes'? She is only 3, who knows what she could say.
But mainly I am upset that my boss had to take an angry phone call from a parent, and that supposedly other professionals said I am incorrect. How could I be fricken wrong? What kind of dandruff, dermatitis, or dirt has SIX LEGS AND WALKS??? And no, it was not an ant, in case you are wondering. I pulled out 5 lice of varying sizes (full adult and even a teensy little nymph) and they walked. I don't even know if the parent showed anyone the bag or if she just had them check her head. But to add to the fun, her head is also full of nits (eggs). There are at least 60. I know what they are. I know exactly what they look like, and I'm not an idiot. I shaved my own daughter's head bald almost 4 years ago because she had lice and the school would not allow her back in until all the nits were pulled out. I worked 4-5 hours a day for 9 days and still couldn't get them out. My child missed 6 days of school and I was sick of it. Her hair is more like chinchilla fur and impossible to manage for lice issues... so I got out the razor and she got a buzz cut on the lowest setting. It was horrible.
But I obviously know what I'm talking about and it doesn't take rocket science degrees to know that when you pull actual walking moving insects out of a child's scalp hair, it's not dermatitis, which is what the parent is claiming. I think she did not show or tell anyone about the bag or how I said they were walking and moving. I don't know what to say about it all and I just had to vent on here. I did not have the foresight to keep one of the larger adults in a separate bag as 'back up proof'. We've had other children over the past 12 years with lice issues and I've never ever had a parent flip out and tell us we were wrong and then demand we never go through their hair again because we have no idea what we are talking about. There is also a disconnect where the regional health authority does not want a big deal made about lice because they don't carry disease and happen so often --- but I also look at it like this: I don't want bugs in my children's hair! I don't want nymphs biting my kids' scalp and sucking their blood and making them itch. I don't want my kids to have trouble sleeping because they are itchy and irritated by critters crawling around in their hair. And I dont want my kids to have to stay home from school (as is the current policy in most of my district's schools) and me to lose money from work to stay home with them. So, if something happens at my job where I know 100% that a child has head lice, I am going to ask the parent to deal with it. Is that so wrong?? I don't get it.
My boss is in a quandry as well because she agrees, but has this parent calling her very upset and angry. I then call the health unit to find out who told this parent that it was not lice, only to be told by the head nurse that they have a policy of 'no confirming or denying' so she doesnt know who on earth would have told the parent a definitive 'no' anyway. They can only suggest treatment ideas. Like if a parent comes in saying 'is this lice?', the nurses cannot say 'yes' but they can say 'this is how you treat lice'. If they thought it was not lice and instead a case of dermatitis, they could say to the parent 'there is also dermatitis as a possibility, so you should go to the doctor and if that is it, they will prescribe a cream or ointment'. So basically they are telling you what it is in a roundabout way, but not saying YES or NO.
So where is all this coming from? And why would several hair dressers say it wasnt lice, leading this parent to freak out on us and be upset? IT IS. I know it is and I know without any shadow of doubt that I am right. All my coworkers saw it and agree 100% as well. So where does that leave us?
With a child in our center with an active lice infestation that we cannot do anything about and the parent does not believe it needs any treatment. I'm sure the other parents at the center would be totally thrilled if they knew what was going on. But I feel yuck inside about it because I have to face this parent every day as well as in extra curricular places outside of work, and she thinks I am a dork who made a totally wrong judgment and caused her a huge amount of strife at home that I will not go into here because it does not relate directly to me. The parent also said that I horrified her by talking about it in front of other parents. That is absolutely untrue! When the parent came, there were two men standing there, my coworker's brother and father. They had no idea what was going on and I very deliberately did not say a single word about hair, scalp, lice, etc. I followed her out the door to pass her the bag from the freezer and said 'I put them in there so you can show them'... meaning to the Health Unit because she told me on the phone she has taken her daughter there several times and they kept saying it was not lice (nits)... That is all I said and I was very conscious of the fact that other people were standing right there. But this mom is upset and she has it in her mind that I talked about the lice in front of those two men. How do you get around that?? You can't! Not without arguing and that's not a good plan either.
So I have to face that and hope that ... what?.... the issue just goes away and we don't end up with other kids infested and then their parents and siblings? Great.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Random Thought......
Awhile back I was ashamed of myself for falling for a trick. This is just a random thought but it deals with how we listen to the news and take it at face value too often and don't think outside the box to expand our understanding. At least, I was definitely doing that one evening awhile back.
I was watching the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC for some reason (she irritates me but I tune in sometimes because her sarcasm is sometimes quite funny). Anyway on one particular evening she was ranting about govt ideas to cut the federal postal service down to only a few days a week, cut out Saturday delivery, etc in the US. She got out the constitution and read from it a part about the feds providing a federal postal service. She was saying that republicans rant on and on about how Obama is not doing things constitutionally, but they want to do something that is against the constitution they apparently hold so dear as well.
I admit that at first I was thinking 'oh crud, well I guess they have to be careful. It's in the constitution that they have to provide a Federal postal delivery system and oversee it'....
But a few hours later I was thinking about it again and I gave myself the proverbial smack in the forehead. Yes the constitution does lay claim to that but it does NOT say in there that it has to be 5 or 6 days a week or provide benefits or offer next day delivery. Of course it doesnt because at the time it was written, it was not even fathomable that mail could get from one coast to the other in less than a day. So everything that Maddow listed from news about changing the USPS does NOT actually fall under the constitution. I could not believe I fell for that.
Not once did she talk about the govt wanting to end the whole program, she only listed things about ending next day delivery, three days a week service instead of 5 or 6, benefit programs for employees, etc. Sorry Maddow but none of that appears in the constitution so I think you are quite wrong about it being illegal, as you so bluntly represented on your program.
I was ashamed of myself for not seeing through that immediately. But then I had to wonder - did SHE think of that at all? Did anyone else take her aside during discussions about that night's topic and point that out to her? She either knew she was lying, or herself and everyone else on her staff are total dunces for not thinking of it either. I was a dunce for a little while but thankfully I brought myself out of it on my own with just simple 'thinking'. Phew!
I was watching the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC for some reason (she irritates me but I tune in sometimes because her sarcasm is sometimes quite funny). Anyway on one particular evening she was ranting about govt ideas to cut the federal postal service down to only a few days a week, cut out Saturday delivery, etc in the US. She got out the constitution and read from it a part about the feds providing a federal postal service. She was saying that republicans rant on and on about how Obama is not doing things constitutionally, but they want to do something that is against the constitution they apparently hold so dear as well.
I admit that at first I was thinking 'oh crud, well I guess they have to be careful. It's in the constitution that they have to provide a Federal postal delivery system and oversee it'....
But a few hours later I was thinking about it again and I gave myself the proverbial smack in the forehead. Yes the constitution does lay claim to that but it does NOT say in there that it has to be 5 or 6 days a week or provide benefits or offer next day delivery. Of course it doesnt because at the time it was written, it was not even fathomable that mail could get from one coast to the other in less than a day. So everything that Maddow listed from news about changing the USPS does NOT actually fall under the constitution. I could not believe I fell for that.
Not once did she talk about the govt wanting to end the whole program, she only listed things about ending next day delivery, three days a week service instead of 5 or 6, benefit programs for employees, etc. Sorry Maddow but none of that appears in the constitution so I think you are quite wrong about it being illegal, as you so bluntly represented on your program.
I was ashamed of myself for not seeing through that immediately. But then I had to wonder - did SHE think of that at all? Did anyone else take her aside during discussions about that night's topic and point that out to her? She either knew she was lying, or herself and everyone else on her staff are total dunces for not thinking of it either. I was a dunce for a little while but thankfully I brought myself out of it on my own with just simple 'thinking'. Phew!
Friday, February 10, 2012
the EI system errr.... scam?
You know, our EI system can really suck. I don't know how so many people manage to be on it over and over again. There are those of course that think it shouldn't even exist - being forced to pay for something you may never use. But it is there right now and we deal with it.... but wow I had no idea how much it can truly suck.
take for instance a good friend of mine. She is 46 years old and has been working pretty much non stop since her teens. She only took 3 months maternity leave after both her sons, who are now 20 and 15, and did not take federal mat leave pay because her job at the time actually did it themselves (and paid more)...and she has never in her life been on Unemployment. Now though, she is having a very hard time, and she applied for EI back in December and found out yesterday that she was denied. It took them 2 months to decide and she is in deep shock.
What has she been doing in the meantime? Well, after being laid off from her last job in November, she spent 2 weeks looking for a new job and applied at dozens places online, via fax, or in person - she has actually applied at 83 places total since then. She kept track for EI in case they asked for proof.Anyway, first week of December, she didn't get any callbacks and decided to file for EI just in case she needed it. She was going to cancel her application if she got a job of course and kept looking and applying. But then whammo, she fell off her front step in December and broke her ankle and foot.
Because she had already filed for EI, she thought 'well at least I will have that to fall back on' (pun intended). She figured it would kick in around the time she got her cast off and help her through until she found a job, what with the back pay, etc. She and her son that still lives at home had a very meager Christmas and she was feeling very down and depressed, stuck in a cast and not exactly prime material for job prospects as she hobbled in to some interviews. Her church and friends brought groceries over and she ate humble pie and accepted the help.
She kept calling EI to ask what was taking so long to figure out in her file and finally she got the letter in the mail yesterday saying she was denied because she was 145 hours short in her last year of employment. Whoa. She had read online that you had to be employed at your last job for at least 20 weeks, which she was, but did not have any idea about the 910 (or whatever) hours in the past 12 months rule.
So here is a woman who has paid into EI for over 20 years, never used it, and when she needs it most, she cannot get it. Something is really wrong with this system!! I know a 22 year old guy who has collected unemployment 3 times in the past 3 years after being repeatedly laid off from his oil rig job. He has no children, shares an apartment with a roomie, and has no other responsibilities other than paying his low bills on time. He can get EI after only paying in for a few years, but someone employed for over 20 tax paying years cannot? What's up with that?
I feel badly for my friend. She has always had a rough go of things, a decade of being just on the breadline, but she has never been on welfare and never collected from EI. Now she is up poo creek without a paddle. She lives in the upstairs of a tiny house in a run down old part of town, 2 bedrooms, one bathroom, small kitchen, etc... but welfare won't even cover half her rent even if she does go for it. So what is she supposed to do? Move to a tiny apartment and put herself on welfare and be stuck there until things shape up around here? It's truly depressing. I'm not sure who thought up all of these rules for collecting EI but they should also take into account how many years a person has put into the program before slicing them off due to a bad year. She had 3 jobs, running concurrently for a few months, in this past year but only 20 hours or less at each one. She sometimes worked all three on the same day, just trying to keep afloat and feed her kid. And now she is getting the shaft. Another fun point to note is that her 35 hour a week job in the first half of the year was a govt place that got shut down suddenly due to mismanagement by senior staff. If that lovely govt run place had not closed lickety-split and run just a few weeks longer, she would have had enough hours to help her in her great time of need right now. It's like a slap in the face really.
It's people like her that I really feel badly for and want to help through these Social systems. That's who I always assumed WOULD be getting the help. Shame on me for being an optimist and trusting that the govt sometimes knows what it's doing. And too bad over $500 is taken from my cheque each month for taxes for who-knows-what because that would be enough to fill her fridge for a month and I could play knock-knock-ginger and leave her a pile of food on the nasty step that laid her up. She had enough money saved (attempt at retirement savings) to cover two months rent and living expenses, barely, but now all of it is gone and she has no idea what to do. On top of that, she went to the cast clinic today to get her cast off, hoping that would jump start getting a job at least - but her foot is also cracked and she has to keep it on for at least 3 more weeks. She is feeling lower than low right now and I am in my overdraft already for the month so there isn't a whole hell of a lot I can do either. She wouldn't want me to because I have 3 kids and a grandchild on the way on top of that.... but I wish I could help. I will have to figure something out. Her son is my son's best friend. I will wrack my brain for some ideas.
In the end though, what I wish is that real human beings sat around making up rules and regs for systems like EI. Someone who has actually worked real jobs in their lifetime and knows what real life is all about. Sometimes people get dealt a totally crap hand and need help temporarily and that's what I thought these social systems were for. She could try for disability, but she has already been in the cast over 6 weeks and by the time it kicked in, she should be back to working status (if she can nab a job). But also there is another problem - her doc made sure originally to file that she could still work with her hands because she did not want the injury to affect the EI she was sure she would be getting. So she may not be able to get much, if anything, from disability either. Especially considering they would be looking at her last XX number of weeks of employment and she has had zero earnings since mid-november. Oh oh. She will hopefully find out more info on Monday.
It just sucks. We all pay in to this week after week, month after month, year after year, being told it's insurance to help us if something happens where we find ourselves unemployed - only to find out that some of us won't get a dime afterall. It's rather shocking really. How would any of us feel if we paid car and house insurance or heck, life insurance, for over 20 years and when it came time to finally file a claim, they said 'no' for feeble reasons. Gee that reminds me of the health care situation where insurance companies are constantly being called out as The Bad Guys and the govt wants to jump in there and fix it (think Obamacare south of the border), but then govt insurance itself leaves a bad taste in your mouth and might not be there for you in dire times either. What's wrong with that picture?
take for instance a good friend of mine. She is 46 years old and has been working pretty much non stop since her teens. She only took 3 months maternity leave after both her sons, who are now 20 and 15, and did not take federal mat leave pay because her job at the time actually did it themselves (and paid more)...and she has never in her life been on Unemployment. Now though, she is having a very hard time, and she applied for EI back in December and found out yesterday that she was denied. It took them 2 months to decide and she is in deep shock.
What has she been doing in the meantime? Well, after being laid off from her last job in November, she spent 2 weeks looking for a new job and applied at dozens places online, via fax, or in person - she has actually applied at 83 places total since then. She kept track for EI in case they asked for proof.Anyway, first week of December, she didn't get any callbacks and decided to file for EI just in case she needed it. She was going to cancel her application if she got a job of course and kept looking and applying. But then whammo, she fell off her front step in December and broke her ankle and foot.
Because she had already filed for EI, she thought 'well at least I will have that to fall back on' (pun intended). She figured it would kick in around the time she got her cast off and help her through until she found a job, what with the back pay, etc. She and her son that still lives at home had a very meager Christmas and she was feeling very down and depressed, stuck in a cast and not exactly prime material for job prospects as she hobbled in to some interviews. Her church and friends brought groceries over and she ate humble pie and accepted the help.
She kept calling EI to ask what was taking so long to figure out in her file and finally she got the letter in the mail yesterday saying she was denied because she was 145 hours short in her last year of employment. Whoa. She had read online that you had to be employed at your last job for at least 20 weeks, which she was, but did not have any idea about the 910 (or whatever) hours in the past 12 months rule.
So here is a woman who has paid into EI for over 20 years, never used it, and when she needs it most, she cannot get it. Something is really wrong with this system!! I know a 22 year old guy who has collected unemployment 3 times in the past 3 years after being repeatedly laid off from his oil rig job. He has no children, shares an apartment with a roomie, and has no other responsibilities other than paying his low bills on time. He can get EI after only paying in for a few years, but someone employed for over 20 tax paying years cannot? What's up with that?
I feel badly for my friend. She has always had a rough go of things, a decade of being just on the breadline, but she has never been on welfare and never collected from EI. Now she is up poo creek without a paddle. She lives in the upstairs of a tiny house in a run down old part of town, 2 bedrooms, one bathroom, small kitchen, etc... but welfare won't even cover half her rent even if she does go for it. So what is she supposed to do? Move to a tiny apartment and put herself on welfare and be stuck there until things shape up around here? It's truly depressing. I'm not sure who thought up all of these rules for collecting EI but they should also take into account how many years a person has put into the program before slicing them off due to a bad year. She had 3 jobs, running concurrently for a few months, in this past year but only 20 hours or less at each one. She sometimes worked all three on the same day, just trying to keep afloat and feed her kid. And now she is getting the shaft. Another fun point to note is that her 35 hour a week job in the first half of the year was a govt place that got shut down suddenly due to mismanagement by senior staff. If that lovely govt run place had not closed lickety-split and run just a few weeks longer, she would have had enough hours to help her in her great time of need right now. It's like a slap in the face really.
It's people like her that I really feel badly for and want to help through these Social systems. That's who I always assumed WOULD be getting the help. Shame on me for being an optimist and trusting that the govt sometimes knows what it's doing. And too bad over $500 is taken from my cheque each month for taxes for who-knows-what because that would be enough to fill her fridge for a month and I could play knock-knock-ginger and leave her a pile of food on the nasty step that laid her up. She had enough money saved (attempt at retirement savings) to cover two months rent and living expenses, barely, but now all of it is gone and she has no idea what to do. On top of that, she went to the cast clinic today to get her cast off, hoping that would jump start getting a job at least - but her foot is also cracked and she has to keep it on for at least 3 more weeks. She is feeling lower than low right now and I am in my overdraft already for the month so there isn't a whole hell of a lot I can do either. She wouldn't want me to because I have 3 kids and a grandchild on the way on top of that.... but I wish I could help. I will have to figure something out. Her son is my son's best friend. I will wrack my brain for some ideas.
In the end though, what I wish is that real human beings sat around making up rules and regs for systems like EI. Someone who has actually worked real jobs in their lifetime and knows what real life is all about. Sometimes people get dealt a totally crap hand and need help temporarily and that's what I thought these social systems were for. She could try for disability, but she has already been in the cast over 6 weeks and by the time it kicked in, she should be back to working status (if she can nab a job). But also there is another problem - her doc made sure originally to file that she could still work with her hands because she did not want the injury to affect the EI she was sure she would be getting. So she may not be able to get much, if anything, from disability either. Especially considering they would be looking at her last XX number of weeks of employment and she has had zero earnings since mid-november. Oh oh. She will hopefully find out more info on Monday.
It just sucks. We all pay in to this week after week, month after month, year after year, being told it's insurance to help us if something happens where we find ourselves unemployed - only to find out that some of us won't get a dime afterall. It's rather shocking really. How would any of us feel if we paid car and house insurance or heck, life insurance, for over 20 years and when it came time to finally file a claim, they said 'no' for feeble reasons. Gee that reminds me of the health care situation where insurance companies are constantly being called out as The Bad Guys and the govt wants to jump in there and fix it (think Obamacare south of the border), but then govt insurance itself leaves a bad taste in your mouth and might not be there for you in dire times either. What's wrong with that picture?
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Daycare Strikes
Long has it been the plan for Liberals and I believe the NDP to have a national childcare program similar or the same-as Quebec's - $7 a day! Woo! Who wouldn't want that? Some places are paying well over a thousand bucks a month for childcare and let's face it, that is painful on the pocket book and keeps many families on lower income because it is not financially viable for one to take a lower paying job (for example, the mom) and then fork over most of her cheque to the daycare each month. I am not stupid - I see how this seems very good. Full time workers may only pay $140 a month! Wow. That is freaking fantastic. I am a mother of three as well as a long-time daycare worker so believe me, I understand. I did not work for awhile when my second child was born because I did not see the point of working 22 days a month for only $400 profit after daycare fees. What kind of an idiot would I be to leave my children in someone else's care and barely make any profit from it? so $140 each per month sounds a million times better.
Or does it. I have spoken about this on my blog for quite awhile now and today I discovered an interesting news article to support my thoughts. Before I share that though, let's go over my worries. First off, what the heck would my wages be? If the center (mine, with 20 children) was only taking in about $3000 a month on average (tops, by the way), that would only pay for one staffer's wages. The rest would be coming from the government (by which of course I mean tax payers)..... so what would my wage be? I have not seen any plans showing how much workers pay scales would be at all. I have no idea. Would it be more or less than I get now? What would the raise program be like? Would there be benefit programs as well? I don't want one. I have 100% coverage with my partner's program so I don't want to be paying into another benefit program that I won't even use (cos what could I use it for?? We are covered 100% in everything you could imagine right now). Anyhoooo, I have spoken my concerns in that regard as well as who would be covering operating costs of the center? Today our extra-space's furnace broke and my boss has to get it fixed asap because it's kinda winter and kinda cold and we cannot take the kids to the Wake Up room during nap time until it is fixed. If we were under this public daycare program, how would that work exactly? The center would have absolutely no profits so who would be paying to fix it? What if we needed new tables, or wanted to buy new activities and craft supplies? Who would be paying for that? Not the parents, there is no profit from what they are paying. I guess we could keep the 3 grand or so a month for operating costs, license fees, professional development courses,fixit jobs, etc and get the entire wage list from the govt...oh but then there are book keeping fees, tax filing fees, utility charges, insurance for liability and injuries and fire/building damage each month, first aid course fees, police record check fees, meals snacks and drinks, craft and activity supplies needed daily, field trip costs, bus rentals, etc etc etc... who pays all that? so I'm a little confused.
And then I had the worry that the whole thing would become unionized and I do not want to be part of a union. But if we all fell under the same roof and had to become a public center, I would have no choice. And that is what brings me to today's news - daycares across Quebec striking for the second time this week. On Monday I read it was over 100 centers on strike that day. Today says 300 centers will be striking tomorrow (Friday). Holy crap. So here we are - all happy and thrilled with $140/month daycare across the country, no matter your earnings, and BOOM - the center is closed with one day's notice for a strike. SURPRISE.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/02/09/public-daycare-strike-quebec.html
Apparently the workers have been 'without a contract' for 2 years despite a couple dozen meetings. Oh wow. What a shock. The govt coffers are not paying enough wages or not giving a strong enough benefit program, not improving working conditions. No! You don't say! that's just not possible.
Is that what we really want? 8000 families in Quebec are struggling to find somewhere to put their kids tomorrow so they can go to work? If this was Canada-wide and zip-zam-pow we all went on strike, how many hundreds of thousands of families would be freaking out right at this moment? They can risk being fired, laid-off, miss out on a raise,lose wages, get given the dirty work boring jobs, demoted, etc if they don't show up on such short notice. Is that what we want to do to parents in this feeble economy? I dont care how much it is supposedly growing - people are struggling and piling up debt to pay for normal every day costs let alone luxuries and now we want to pile everyone into this program to be fair and civil and what's happening? The workers are striking.
We talked about this at work today and decided we would all rather be Scabs. And that would be okay because there are only 5 of us and we would choose to remain open and would not be throwing tomatoes at each other. But if staff at other centers got wind of our dastardly plan, we could very well find them standing outside the center ready to scream at us for daring to do our jobs and trying to keep other families employed in their jobs. Oh the joys. Let's sign me up for this program now. It looks so tantalizing.
Or does it. I have spoken about this on my blog for quite awhile now and today I discovered an interesting news article to support my thoughts. Before I share that though, let's go over my worries. First off, what the heck would my wages be? If the center (mine, with 20 children) was only taking in about $3000 a month on average (tops, by the way), that would only pay for one staffer's wages. The rest would be coming from the government (by which of course I mean tax payers)..... so what would my wage be? I have not seen any plans showing how much workers pay scales would be at all. I have no idea. Would it be more or less than I get now? What would the raise program be like? Would there be benefit programs as well? I don't want one. I have 100% coverage with my partner's program so I don't want to be paying into another benefit program that I won't even use (cos what could I use it for?? We are covered 100% in everything you could imagine right now). Anyhoooo, I have spoken my concerns in that regard as well as who would be covering operating costs of the center? Today our extra-space's furnace broke and my boss has to get it fixed asap because it's kinda winter and kinda cold and we cannot take the kids to the Wake Up room during nap time until it is fixed. If we were under this public daycare program, how would that work exactly? The center would have absolutely no profits so who would be paying to fix it? What if we needed new tables, or wanted to buy new activities and craft supplies? Who would be paying for that? Not the parents, there is no profit from what they are paying. I guess we could keep the 3 grand or so a month for operating costs, license fees, professional development courses,fixit jobs, etc and get the entire wage list from the govt...oh but then there are book keeping fees, tax filing fees, utility charges, insurance for liability and injuries and fire/building damage each month, first aid course fees, police record check fees, meals snacks and drinks, craft and activity supplies needed daily, field trip costs, bus rentals, etc etc etc... who pays all that? so I'm a little confused.
And then I had the worry that the whole thing would become unionized and I do not want to be part of a union. But if we all fell under the same roof and had to become a public center, I would have no choice. And that is what brings me to today's news - daycares across Quebec striking for the second time this week. On Monday I read it was over 100 centers on strike that day. Today says 300 centers will be striking tomorrow (Friday). Holy crap. So here we are - all happy and thrilled with $140/month daycare across the country, no matter your earnings, and BOOM - the center is closed with one day's notice for a strike. SURPRISE.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/02/09/public-daycare-strike-quebec.html
Apparently the workers have been 'without a contract' for 2 years despite a couple dozen meetings. Oh wow. What a shock. The govt coffers are not paying enough wages or not giving a strong enough benefit program, not improving working conditions. No! You don't say! that's just not possible.
Is that what we really want? 8000 families in Quebec are struggling to find somewhere to put their kids tomorrow so they can go to work? If this was Canada-wide and zip-zam-pow we all went on strike, how many hundreds of thousands of families would be freaking out right at this moment? They can risk being fired, laid-off, miss out on a raise,lose wages, get given the dirty work boring jobs, demoted, etc if they don't show up on such short notice. Is that what we want to do to parents in this feeble economy? I dont care how much it is supposedly growing - people are struggling and piling up debt to pay for normal every day costs let alone luxuries and now we want to pile everyone into this program to be fair and civil and what's happening? The workers are striking.
We talked about this at work today and decided we would all rather be Scabs. And that would be okay because there are only 5 of us and we would choose to remain open and would not be throwing tomatoes at each other. But if staff at other centers got wind of our dastardly plan, we could very well find them standing outside the center ready to scream at us for daring to do our jobs and trying to keep other families employed in their jobs. Oh the joys. Let's sign me up for this program now. It looks so tantalizing.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Scary News
Yesterday the news networks (tv,radio,net) were bursting at the seams with reports that Iran is willing to attack the US, on US soil. I saw all sorts of headlines online, on news tickers, email breaking news stories, etc and noted many people in the anti-Ron Paul groups jumping all over the news headlines, of course discussing their dislike of RP's 'foreign policy'... of course using the news to jump around shouting 'oooooOOOooo let's all be friends'.... sarastic obviously. But I didn't have time last night to go through anything to see what was up. All I made note of were headlines such as these (found again via Google and typing in Iran + Terrorist):
US intelligence: Iran could launch terror attacks on America
Iran, perceiving threat from West, willing to attack on U.S. soil, U.S. intelligence report finds
US spy chief: Iran could launch terrorist attacks on US soil if it feels threatened
US fears increased terror threat from Iran
Well, you get the idea. It was alllllllll over the news, no matter the agency. But this morning I happened to catch the last hour of the Mike Church show and heard him discussing these news stories and reading from the actual intelligence statement. Lo and behold,,, there seems to be a problem. Mr Church linked to a blog post you can read for yourself at Lew Rockwell ... oh noooooooooo not that crazy lew rockwell blog eh? Well read it and see what you think. Then click on the link to the actual statement the post writer (michael rozeff) provides at intelligence.senate.gov itself. What kind of words are missing? You see that the writer is correct - in that statement, the speaker does not use the word 'terrorist' or 'global jihadist - the statement's further definition of terrorist, as seen at the start of the statement', anywhere to do with Iran. Hmmm well why do all the headlines I copied and pasted straight from the major news networks above say 'terrorist attack'? That's strange. And you will also note that they like to remove the words 'real and' and just say 'perceived threat' . The statement goes on a later point to say that the biggest concern in the coming years is Iran (along with China and Russia) using cyber espionage. The statement also says that they do not believe Iran has nuclear weapon capability at this time, but they could be moving toward it maybe possibly. Nothing concrete, just guessing.
you may wonder if we should sit around and wait for an attack instead of moving on Iran before the attack. But what exactly would that mean for all of us? Moving on a country that does NOT have nuclear weapons just because they *might* one day, and if they get them, they *might* decide to use them if they thought it would do any good. My guess is that Iran would have to make sure they had the mother load of nuclear weapons ready, taking out everyone at the same time, or they would be knocked off the face of the map themselves with all the retaliation that would definately without a doubt be heading their way. Do you think Iran is ready for that? Seriously ready to risk that? It's just something to think about. My bet is that they would be annihilated before they had time to think about what they just decided to do. Sorry but I don't think that they have a death wish. The leaders like to send others to do the dirty work and keep themselves alive and happy. While a nuclear bomb would be devastating to whomever they aimed at, they must surely know that the remaining weapons around the world would be pointed straight at them and while putting a dent in Israel or America, they would end up being a big empty crater after the retaliation hit. I really do not think they would risk something like that. I don't think they are that crazy. But whatever, that is my personal opinion.
In the meantime, the real issue is the news reporting. We see this stuff coming across our televisions and internet from supposedly reputable news networks and assume it must be true. Only to find out that words were taken out of context, mixed together, words added in that did not appear in the text in the first place, and then spat out as a scary headline to make everyone blood thirsty for moving on Iran in the near future. That is just plain wrong, in my humble opinion.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Waiting Game
A status update from my friend's FB page this morning,,,, as a little reminder that while our Canadian health care system may feel like it's free and beneficial to all, and better to just be able to go to the doc and not get a bill - there are other ways that we 'pay'. Sacrificing quality for quantity (aka cost)?
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Pot..... Kettle.........
In light of my earlier posts regarding Ron Paul-ia, I saw some more interesting exchanges between RP non-supporters and a supporter (actually another supporter pops in at the end, but I was interested in what went on between two main posters). This again from a new FB group that my family members found themselves a member of because the group owner changed the name and purpose of it from finding out stuff about George Soros, to 'booting Ron Paul from the Republican Party'. I realize there are groups like this all over the place, left and right, up and down, but I am particularly interested in groups such as this one because the gist of the whole thing is to say that Ron Paul supporters are nuts, wacko, nutjobs, crazy, bat sh*t crazy, insane folk. But repeatedly in this group for the past few days, all I have seen are the ones against RP slamming other people into the ground, name calling, posting stupid photoshopped pictures, and generally acting... well..... crazy themselves. I don't get it. I don't understand how they cannot see that they are acting in the very same manner they accuse Ron Paul voters of. It's mind boggling.
The following is a list of screen shots taken a few mins ago from one of the newest threads posted today. One RP supporter in particular goes out of her way to provide links, comments, information and asks questions of the anti-ron paul members but is repeatedly bashed and it's eye-opening. I have doubled up on some posts so that you can see that I did not skip anything. As in, I cut the screen shot above and below the last post each time so that you know full well this is the whole conversation in it's entirity, without any edits unless you count that I snipped off all my identifying info at the top of the page and the ads along the side. You should be able to click on each one to view it a bit larger so you can read it. One other RP supporter comes in and takes their bait and does not act as eloquently as the original RP supporter, but it's 'Jennifer' that I was interested in. And just to remind you, this is an 'Open' FB group, all content visible to anyone and everyone, so I am only posting info that is already public. Hence why I did not bother removing the names of the posters. They chose to post in a public forum visible by anyone who comes across the page.I am not a member of this group (they denied me), and I can obviously see them. so here we go:
So basically, if anyone was reading this who wasn't sure about Ron Paul - would they get any actual info out of it? There are other threads about RP being a suspected KGB agent, and this is the current Group Description that was posted a few hours ago (it changes often but this is the most recent):
"""Ron Paul is a stooge of the Iranian Government and clearly a left winger that has infiltrated the Republican Party. RINO's are bad enough, but Ron Paul has to go NOW.
The following is a list of screen shots taken a few mins ago from one of the newest threads posted today. One RP supporter in particular goes out of her way to provide links, comments, information and asks questions of the anti-ron paul members but is repeatedly bashed and it's eye-opening. I have doubled up on some posts so that you can see that I did not skip anything. As in, I cut the screen shot above and below the last post each time so that you know full well this is the whole conversation in it's entirity, without any edits unless you count that I snipped off all my identifying info at the top of the page and the ads along the side. You should be able to click on each one to view it a bit larger so you can read it. One other RP supporter comes in and takes their bait and does not act as eloquently as the original RP supporter, but it's 'Jennifer' that I was interested in. And just to remind you, this is an 'Open' FB group, all content visible to anyone and everyone, so I am only posting info that is already public. Hence why I did not bother removing the names of the posters. They chose to post in a public forum visible by anyone who comes across the page.I am not a member of this group (they denied me), and I can obviously see them. so here we go:
"""Ron Paul is a stooge of the Iranian Government and clearly a left winger that has infiltrated the Republican Party. RINO's are bad enough, but Ron Paul has to go NOW.
Iran and Pakistan are Russian terror proxies. Ron Paul is their American Propagandist...very simple.
Ron Paul Archives
http://
Ron Paul spews 100% Iranian and Russian Propaganda. He should be thrown into prison for giving aid and comfort to Iran as a U.S. Congressman. Iran has been directly linked to Al Qaeda, the 9/11 attacks (via Hezbollah) and the deaths of thousands of U.S. Soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is a Marxist that says "conservative slogans" to draw in suckers. The Republicans can't out him, because thy still spread the lie that "Reagan defeated communism". Why are Russian missiles still pointing at Eastern Europe? DUH. - Steve Cooper."""
One of the group owners, this Steve Cooper, has even been deleting friends he has had for 2+ years from what I have seen in the group so far. Like a man named Dan today who talked about why he liked RP and the next thing you know, Steve wrote that he 'sent dan to Gitmo' (meaning booted him from the group). This after Steve called RP a soviet implant, a KGB agent, and a marxist. Dan questioned why and then listed things RP talks about that would be opposite of a Marxist, said 'I have been friends with you for two years' and still got the boot. It's just totally bizarre behaviour. I know, you could find me a host of RP supporters acting like nimrods too, just like you could for any candidate at any time - but those who follow RP seem to get the most backlash for being insane. They get far more flack than Obama supporters do - and I mean from the Republican voters! I have been in political forums for years and I have never seen so much outward nastiness as I have from the jabs thrown at RP supporters. And yet these people don't see it. They are so completely blind to it I don't understand how they can't see their own craziness and 'bot-ery'. I'm waiting for them all to fight now because some can't stand Newt and some can't stand Romney and they have even poked fun at Santorum so I'm sure the inter-bickering excluding Ron Paul will get going more as the elections progress. That should be a riot to see as well.
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Oops here are some more posts that were added to the above thread while I was writing this:
And now 11 mins have gone by with no answering of the questions asked.
And then I found something rather hilarious. The same dude posting above in favor of the boot ron paul page (Erich), mentioned a list of republicans that he supports and said The Tea Party Loves You!!!... one of those he named was Senator Jim DeMint. So I thought that was rather hilarious, considering that mr DeMint just came out on television to say that he agrees with ron paul's ideas on FOREIGN POLICY. Oh my, poor Erich won't know what to say if he manages to see that link..... and here it is for your enjoyment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA_dIaF1nrQ
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Just to update from January 23, 2012 - here is another lovely comment from the same group (the owner):
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