There can be no work place fairness if employees have no redress of grievances.

Undocumented workers (click here) are among the most vulnerable and exploited workers in our country, as frequent victims of unpaid wages, dangerous conditions and uncompensated workplace injuries, discrimination, and other labor law violations. Workers who attempt to remedy the abuse routinely face physical and immigration-related threats and retaliation....

Welcoming the stranger among us means far more than anyone realizes. When people come out of the shadows of fear, oppression is relieved and we all have a safer and moral life to live. 

...In New York and 27 other states, (click here) court challenges have established that undocumented workers are entitled to workers’ compensation – typically the reimbursement of medical expenses and a cash benefit covering a percentage of lost wages –  just as any other workers are entitled to such compensation.

Many immigrant workers are unaware of these protections and advocacy groups have worked assiduously to inform them of their rights. Nonetheless, despite education campaigns, undocumented workers who are injured on the job are reluctant to confront their employers and press their claims. Fausta and others like him who have fought for compensation and won are in a distinct minority.

Fearful of retaliation, job loss, and deportation, undocumented workers keep quiet about their health and deal with injuries as best they can. Many work as day laborers on jobs that are inherently dangerous – roofing, carpentry, masonry, landscaping, window washing and the like. Even car washing, as Fausta’s case shows, can lead to serious injury.

While some workers in low-wage jobs are citizens, many are not. They are often paid in cash, and kept “off the books. ” Some employers won’t offer these undocumented workers a health plan or create any kind of safety net should they be injured....

When low wage workers receive recognition of their rights as human beings we are all safer.

November 20, 2014
By Alan Constantini

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. – One of those (click here) most interested in President Obama's speech on immigration was undocumented worker Miguel. He and his wife work in the Twin Cities and have lived here for 30 years, but are not here legally under the law.

Miguel told KARE 11 that he has been living in fear of deportation because of his three children, Miguel, 5, Francesco, 2, and Esperanza, 1. The children were born here and are American citizens, but Miguel and his wife are from Mexico.

"I am hoping that President Obama give us our relief," said Miguel. "This is really just a step to go to immigration reform."

Minneapolis business immigration law attorney Sarah Stensrud consulted with the Obama White House in Washington, D.C. last week. She said stopping the deportations of people like Miguel is good for business...

W E L C O M E !!!!!!

From the "King and I," enjoy...."...we'll do it again."

Why would Republicans want to degrade education in the USA? Votes because of Common Core or is it more?

If it is votes, there is no valid reason to have those policies. There are very few counties in the country that have exactly the skilled labor they need. The reason stunting the growth of higher education makes sense with Republicans is it serves as a dog whistle for their voters.

This is really bad news. I know for a fact The Cameron School of Business on the UNCW campus turns out excellent prospects for employees in the finances industry. I know young women (I am sure their aspirations include someday to replace Chairwoman Yellen.) that currently work with Wall Street firms and have been there since their graduation with a one year paid internship. That is great news, isn't it? They are not burdened with loans they can't pay.

Just as a note: One of the young ladies had lost her mother to breast cancer going into her final year in UNDERGRADUATE work. She was supported by the fact her mother wanted her to graduate and find a good way of making a living. She came through for Mom. These students are great people. They need to have the chance to learn. This generation has been hurt by so many years of Republican dogma changing good policy into junk.

But, the Republican governance of NC is diminishing funding for education across the board including universities. It is the private schools and universities they favor. They favor these schools for political reasons, including cronyism. It has nothing to do with improving education. These educational programs in private schools or charter schools don't have a great record to date and they've been in existence since "W." Currently in NC school teachers are conducting their classes without books, supplies (unless students bring their own) and teaching assistants in classrooms where they have proven to be needed.

The country is in trouble and the next two years will bring about more trouble considering the US House and Senate have Republican majorities. 

What occurs anymore with voters that vote according to dog whistles, is that they demand the work be done they voted for. All those extreme agendas such as personhood and defunding public education become priorities to re-election. With majorities in the US House and Senate, the country is going to have a lot of problems by 2016 if their legislation actually makes it into law. It is going to be a very long and ruthless two years the way I see it.

Republicans talk a good story, but, they lie like rugs.

November 20, 2014
Fewer than 1 in 3 states (click here) – California among them – has a strong enough supply of skilled workers to match intense demand for their services, according to a new report about the growing skills gap....

...Between 2006 and 2012, some areas have made great strides – specifically Alabama and Washington, D.C., in the supply of skilled workers and Alaska and Montana in the demand for such employees.

But OECD researchers said many barriers remain to encouraging businesses and workers to seek higher skills and connecting them when they do.

Even in California, the skills gap is threatening economic growth. More than half of companies surveyed by the Society for Human Resource Management said they have struggled to recruit candidates for open positions, particularly for higher-wage jobs....

Great Britain is asking for Crowd Funding for their space mission program. That's a new one.

I don't think this is in lieu of paying taxes. First austerity which impoverished people throughout the UK and while they are seeking ways of making a living through crowd funding, the government is going to interfere with that as well adding their own priorities to a global community. Amazing.

Next thing the world will know is that Great Britain is asking for donations for it's Treasury with a brick of recognition at a palace of your choice.

Donate and receive a tax credit.

The Republicans in the US House can take example and pay for the government with global crowd funding when they close it down for days on end. That should make every Republican happy. They keep all the money and make everyone else pay for things like infrastructure and social programs that feed people. Crowd funding for government. I don't think so.

November 18, 2014
By Pallab Ghosh
A British-led consortium has outlined its plans to land a robotic probe on the Moon in 10 years' time. (click here)

Its aim is to raise £500m for the project from donations by the public.

In return, donors would be able to have photos, text and their DNA included in a time capsule which will be buried under the lunar surface.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

The project's long term legacy will be a new way of funding space exploration”

David IronFounder, Lunar Missions Ltd

Lunar Mission One aims to survey the Moon's south pole to see if a human base can be set up in the future.

The plan has received the endorsement of a host of well-known scientists and organisations. These include Prof Brian Cox, the Astronomer Royal Lord Rees, and Prof Monica Grady of the Open University.

David Iron, who is leading the project, said he was setting up the initiative because governments were increasingly finding it difficult to fund space missions.

"Anyone in the world will be able to get involved for as little as just a few pounds. Lunar Mission One will make a huge contribution to our understanding of the origins of our planet and the Moon," he said....

It is all brainwashing for political reasons, not the truth.

This is an automated truck in Australia at an iron mine. The color has a red hue to it and gives away the fact there is a lot of iron in the soil.

But, when miners want to complain that the US government is destroying their livelihoods, they need to stop and realize what exactly is changing their way of life. Not the government, not the EPA; it is Wall Street destroying their jobs.

Robots may hold the key (click here for video) to preventing an industrial crisis in a country whose geography makes many key jobs undesirable.

I knew Australia was big, but it didn't really hit me till I stood on a viewing platform hanging over a valley in the Blue Mountains.

As I watched the land fall away below me, giving way to a valley of forest that stretched to the horizon, I could feel thousands of miles of silence sucking me in like a vacuum.

Part of Australia's beauty is also its problem. Its untamed, uninhabited interior contains rich pickings, but there are few who want to go and get them.

"We have a labour shortage in the areas we want them, in agriculture, mining, and other primary industries," Sydney University's professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems Salah Sukkarieh told me....

"Most of the population likes living along the coastline, along the beach," he says....

As a matter of fact, the Obama Administration in it's first term in office, sought to close the mountain top mines because of their destructive results to the environment and water quality to nearby towns. What occurred instead of miners looking for work, was a return to work of miners to work in 'in the ground mines.' So don't blame the Democrats for killing jobs, it is quite honestly the polar opposite, because, Republicans strive for higher profits and kills labor and the minimum wage. Americans need to grow up. 

In the real world rather than the political universe most Americans seem to live in today, mountain top mining destroys a work force of miners and reduces it to less than one eighth.

The facts in the real world is that Republicans destroy jobs. They hate labor unions, the Middle Class is a burden until elections roll around and they completely oppose the minimum wage. So, people need to stop hating Democrats because it is they and their current President that have worked the hardest at restoring the economy and good paying jobs.

The Republicans can be understood best when realizing the US House has refused to write an immigration bill or pass the Senate bill on immigration. The Republicans have REFUSED to pass immigration legislation since Reagan, so don't even try it anymore.

August 7, 2014
By Erica Peterson

...Kentucky coal employment (click here) hit its peak—about 75,000 miners—in 1949. Then employment started dropping, bottoming out in 1966, when there were 19,313 coal miners in Kentucky. It picked up again, but unfortunately for Kentucky’s coal industry, the overwhelming employment trend has been downward since about 1979.

This was before the Environmental Protection Agency—under Obama—announced plans to make coal-fired power plants restrict mercury and carbon dioxide emissions. It was also before the EPA began scrutinizing surface mining permits and before the Mine Safety and Health Administration began conducting enhanced coal mine inspections to check for safety violations.

The fluctuations in natural resources-based economies are complicated, and are based on a variety of factors. It may be politically convenient for McConnell and other politicians to focus only on the past decade of Kentucky coal employment, but doing so misses the big picture....