The Romney Connection: Why Marriott Fired a Candidate Worker

by Nomad

A Florida case poses the question: What happens when the First Amendment rights of an employee comes into conflict with the corporate free speech guaranteed by the Citizens United decision?

Is it legal for an employer to fire  workers who campaign against their corporate-supported candidate?

Raw Story has a story about a Democratic candidate running for Osceola County Commission who was fired for attempting to unseat the candidate her company supports. Viviana Janer's employer, Marriott Vacations Worldwide reportedly gave her the choice of either quitting her campaign or losing her job of 11 years.

Janer told reporters:

“After a decade of accolades and promotions, I was told my job would be abruptly terminated if I did not drop out of the race. Despite my wish to continue working, I felt I could not turn my back on the many citizens of Osceola County who worked so hard to get me elected. I refused to drop out of the race, and on Friday I was fired from a job I loved.”

According to the termination letter from Senior Vice President and Chief Audit Executive Julie Meyer, Janer was fired because she had not received permission to run for office. 

However, as Janer pointed out, company policy actually encourages political involvement in general.  

Here's how the employee guidelines read:

Marriott Vacations Worldwide encourages your personal participation in elections and government processes. However, you must conduct your personal political activities on your own time and without use of the company’s resources (e.g., stationery, copying machines, or office supplies).

A Special Message from The Caped Crusader

by Nomad

Once upon a time, these are the ideas that children grew up with. Yeah, it was a form of brainwashing, I suppose. But there are worse things to teach children.

Back in the 1960s, children were taught that if it wasn't always true or always true for all people then it was at least a goal for a proud and  respectable nation.

I wonder what values are being instilled in children today?  

Hypocrites in the Spotlight- Dr. Ben Carson

by Nomad

I admit that I cannot verify everything on this meme, but there are plenty of good links out there (and here) that confirm enough of his background to rate him as a first-class hypocrite. 

That's not to say he is not an excellent doctor but as a public figure, he is way-way-way out of his depth. This is a man who with a straight face compared Obamacare to slavery. (That's right, the whipping and chaining institution that considered men with black skin to be little better than animals or a commodity to be exploited.)

Carson also equated homosexuality to pedophilia and bestiality. and declared white liberals to be “the most racist people there are”. (That was, no doubt, a crowd pleaser for his conservatives audiences.)

Unbelievable

by Nomad

Bust: How the Republicans Lost the War on Drugs 1/5

by Nomad

Starting with President Nixon, the War on Drugs has been a series of costly mistakes. Sadly, most of the misjudgements might have been avoided if only officials had listened to the experts and to the people most affected.

Part 1. Nixon, Drugs and the Hippie Removal Scheme

Nixon and the Mandate of the Silent Majority 

To understand what went wrong with America's War on Drugs, we have to go back to the days of President Nixon and the time before Watergate. In this turbulent moment in US history, there was a fundamental difference of opinions about the causes of the upheaval in the 60s.

Taking a look at the nation in turmoil at colleges and universities, President Richard Nixon not long after taking office, said:

It's not too strong a statement to declare that this is the way civilizations begin to die... The process is altogether to familiar to those who would survey the wreckage of history. assault and counterassault, one extreme leading to the opposite extreme; the voices of reason and calm discredited.

(As it turned out, it was a oddly accurate assessment and it is even more true today than then.) 

At the time many people, especially conservatives, considered the liberal policies of the 1960s, particularly, domestic programs of the Great Society, to be a failure. The Supreme Court decisions, on abortion and civil rights, combined with liberal idealism had opened a Pandora's box. That was what a lot of middle class people across the country genuinely believed.   

The rebellious counter-culture, which included the hippies, the yippies, the anti-war protesters, the bra burners, the liberationists, the anarchists, the Communists,  was fueled not by resentment or by anger at injustice. Drugs had to be behind it all. What else could make kids from well-off backgrounds, drop out of society, throw away all of the material advantages and live like gypsies? What else could make them so wild and violent?
That view was both widespread and often propagated by the mainstream news media. The conventional wisdom said that the widespread use of illegal drugs was just another example of the general breakdown of law and order.