For those of you less familiar with the various torture techniques our government uses on people that may or may not be terrorists or guilty of anything (we have no way of knowing we just have to take the government's word for it which worked real well with those WMDs), walling is slamming someone into a wall by the way and wall standing is chaining one's arms to the ceiling and locking their ankles so they are forced to stand for days on end. Doctors (first do no harm...great job guys!) were actually brought in during the prolonged standings to measure the swelling of the detainee's legs to make sure everything is going well. I wonder if they had a wheel they would spin to see which one you would get that day... I would hope for the insect in a confined box... that one sounds like the easiest one... Except for the guy they used it on who was deathly afraid of bugs, but thats another story.
********************** While on the theme, I wanted to share this "proud to be an American" spreadsheet I came across the other day. Maternity leave by country... this one hits a little close to home. In the US (thanks Clinton for FMLA at least it is something) we finally get up to 3 months off with no pay... good deal right? Well just about every country IN THE WORLD treats their working mothers better than the USA. It makes me sick. Cameroon 14 weeks, 100% pay, Algeria 14 weeks, 100% pay, Nigeria 12 weeks 50% pay, El Salvador 12 weeks, 75% pay, Even Islamic countries treat their women better!! Jordan 10 weeks, 100% pay, Saudi Arabia 10 weeks, 50 to 100% pay, Egypt 50 days, 100%. We haven't even got to the good countries yet.... Austria 16 weeks, 100% pay, Italy 5 months 80% pay! Sweden 14 weeks, 450 days paid parental leave; 360 days at 75%, and 90 days flat rate!!! And here we sit with 12 weeks at 0%... who else is with us in this elite company? Swaziland & Lesotho. ..In fact the only country worse than ours is Papa New Guinea with 6 weeks no pay.
Also, In Estonia mothers are entitled to 18 months of paid leave, starting up to 70 days before due date! If even 25% of the countries on that list had no maternity pay I wouldnt complain, but it is painfully obvious by this spreadsheet that there is a world standard for maternity leave and we are on the very bottom of that standard. This is disgraceful.
3 comments:
It amazes me how people don't even question the way things are done in America. We are essentially 2nd to last for maternity leave, 39th in infant mortality, we are about at the 50th percentile for secondary education among industrialized nations, and the list of poor to mediocre rankings goes on and on. I'm not saying the old USA isn't a great country, but maybe we need to stop assuming that we do everything the best, and start understanding that everyone else has figured out better ways to educate and provide for their people. I'm just sayin'.
I think Sean Hannity might disagree with you DW... HA! Seriously, This blindly thinking we are the best at everything and God's #1 country is harmful, it stifles curiosity, and promotes complacency. We are already the best, how could we do things better? And people like Hannity make it seem like admitting that fact is unamerican and treasonous. Wanting to make America a better place means first acknowledging that it is not the best in everything, something the "love it or leave it" can't stand, they would rather put their heads in the sand than take a look around and see the crap and try to fix said crap.
Here is another good quote from GG's blog one of the commenters mentioned... I will have to try this: the next time you're pulled over by a police officer for speeding, quote Barack Obama: "This is a time for reflection, not retribution." See if that works. If not, move to: "It's time to focus on the future, not look to the past." Criminal defense attorneys should try that on juries and judges, too.
You 2 America-haters just provided enough sound-bytable material to ruin your chances at political office.
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