2006-2008 Hearing for Medicaid to prove my current status:
The 1st hearing has now elapsed; it was a hurtful emotional experience. Right from the beginning the judge tried to default the appeal. She first asked how many times I had appealed, and my lawyer answered twice. The judge then asked coldly for the Metro Health file, and added, “We cannot continue the hearing without the file from Metro Health!”
I responded, “The Metro Health file is from 2003 and is irrelevant!”
The judge replied, “This file was reviewed before by the appeals team, and we cannot go forward without it.
Searching through the raft of papers, the lawyer and I managed to find a good half of the file.
While looking for that file, I considered: ‘The only reason she wants that file is because the doctor stated in 2003 that I could work part time.' I further considered 'This fact proves that the ordinance, the harassment, and the bashing has damaged me since then, and therefore could prove my case!’
My Legal Aid lawyer then handed the updated medical file, compiled by the psychologists Walsh and Oyer, to the judge. Mary (my lawyer) stated: “Your honor, I’d like you to take notice of Mr. Walsh’s report on Richard, where he gives Richard a rating of 50, indicating this high number means that Richard is unable to work. I would also like to bring to your attention that Mr. Oyer’ states that he is in agreement with Mr. Walsh’s findings about Richard’s impairments, as well as the reason for them. Richard is traumatized from being harassed by the two women at Wal-Mart, and by the South Bend, Indiana, ordinance indicating he has no gay civil rights!” (I’ve included Doctor Walsh’s report for your review.)
The judge then rudely responded, “With all do respect, what are Mr. Oyer’s credentials?”
Mary replied, Mr. Oyer is an MA!”
The Judge then reluctantly looked over the findings in my records.
My Lawyer asked me, “Richard, what would you like to say to the judge?”
I respond mournfully, “I wish someone would have a heart a give me my life back…
I feel as though this situation is my undoing and I will never see justice!
I couldn’t fight back against Wal-Mart because of the ordinance. If all citizens were protected, I could have sued them.
Now the women who harassed me can victimize someone else!
I won the employment hearing, and still had my employment cut early. I asked for my job back, and was refused. Yet the women who harassed me still hold their jobs and positions at Wal-Mart.
I’m not a fraud. I had dreams of which I now know will never be; I wanted a car and a home of my own. I would work if I could, but I know how easily I get upset and sick from anxiety. I can’t sleep, have headaches and heart palpitations. I throw up a lot. I’ve lost weight, going from 240 to 157. What has happened to me in Indiana living under lack of a protective ordinance caused me to have a nervous break down. My life has been destroyed! Being beaten, left for dead, knowing my perpetrator was never prosecuted because I have no rights regarding orientation, is devastating! Knowing this man could kill someone, or come back for me, is extremely disturbing! The police did nothing to investigate my case because in Indiana there are no laws specifically invoking gay related abuse!”
My lawyer then asked, “Richard, what happened the night you were bashed?”
I replied, "I was dealing with the harassment from the women at work. My ex, Robert, had called, talked to me, and he told me…" I continued, sobbing and shaking, "Robert said to me, 'Want do you want me to do- take you back out of pity Ricky!
I celebrate every may that you’re gone Ricky! How come you’re not dead yet Ricky?”
Later, I asked a friend to take me out because I Knew I’d be drinking and couldn’t drive. While I was at the bar I met a man who followed me home. My friend left us alone,and this man beat me and left me for dead!http://whitehouse.gov
2006-2008 Hearing for Medicaid to prove my current status:... more
Getting out and talking to people is what's important. Its not about black VS white or Left VS right, this is about those with power dominating those without, wake up before its too late.Getting out and talking to people is what's important. Its not about black VS white or... more
Is the man who took so many lives a victim, himself, or have we become so full of psychobabble that we can't see the stark truth about a murderer?Is the man who took so many lives a victim, himself, or have we become so full of... more
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A former cashier for The Home Depot who has been wearing a "One nation under God" button on his work apron for more than a year has been fired, he says because of the religious reference. The company claims that expressing such personal beliefs is simply not allowed.
"I've worn it for well over a year and I support my country and God," Trevor Keezor said Tuesday. "I was just doing what I think every American should do, just love my country."
The American flag button Keezer wore in the Florida store since March 2008 says "One nation under God, indivisible."
Earlier this month, he began bringing a Bible to read during his lunch break at the store in the rural town of Okeechobee, about 140 miles north of Miami. That's when he says The Home Depot management told him he would have to remove the button.
Keezer refused, and he was fired on Oct. 23, he said.
"It feels kind of like a punishment, like I was punished for just loving my country," Keezer said.
A Home Depot spokesman said Keezer was fired because he violated the company's dress code.
"This associate chose to wear a button that expressed his religious beliefs. The issue is not whether or not we agree with the message on the button," Craig Fishel said. "That's not our place to say, which is exactly why we have a blanket policy, which is long-standing and well-communicated to our associates, that only company-provided pins and badges can be worn on our aprons."
Fishel said Keezer was offered a company-approved pin that said, "United We Stand," but he declined.
Keezer's lawyer, Kara Skorupa, said she planned to sue the Atlanta-based company.
"There are federal and state laws that protect against religious discrimination," Skorupa said. "It's not like he was out in the aisles preaching to people."
Keezer said he was working at the store to earn money for college, and wore the button to support his country and his 27-year-old brother, who is in the National Guard and is set to report in December for a second tour of duty in Iraq.
Skorupa noted the slogan on Keezer's pin is straight from the Pledge of Allegiance.
"These mottos and sayings that involve God, that's part of our country and historical fabric," Skorupa said. "In God we trust is on our money."
Michael Masinter, a civil rights and employment law professor at NOVA Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, said any lawsuit over religious discrimination might be a tough one to win.
"Because it's a private business, not one that's owned and operated by the government, it doesn't have to operate under the free speech provisions of the First Amendment," Masinter said.
"But we're not talking about religious displays here," he said. "This sounds more like a political message ... Wearing a button of that sort would not easily be described as a traditional form of religious expression like wearing a cross or wearing a yarmulke."
--------------------------------------------
I understand that some thing "Under God" and "In God We Trust" should be removed. But that isn't the case here....it exists on said money as well as in the pledge and until it is removed that's where it exists. So stating that it should be removed isn't adding much and is totally avoiding a real answer.WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A former cashier for The Home Depot who has been wearing a... more
Opponents of same-sex marriage are preparing to turn to the courts if
the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics denies their request for a
ballot initiative next year on whether marriage should be limited to
one man and one womanOpponents of same-sex marriage are preparing to turn to the courts if
the D.C. Board... more
By SCOTT GOLDSTEIN / The Dallas Morning News sgoldstein@dallasnews.com
Editor's note: Comments have been disabled on this story.
Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle said this afternoon that his officers have written at least 39 citations to people over the past three years for not speaking English.
Apologizing publicly to the city's Spanish-speaking community, the chief said all officers and supervisors involved will be investigated for dereliction of duty. All pending citations will be dismissed, and people who paid fines will be reimbursed.
Click for More.....By SCOTT GOLDSTEIN / The Dallas Morning News
sgoldstein@dallasnews.com
Editor's... more
currently i am trying to get a better job at an office supply store.
as most people who know me, know i smoke pot all the time(in small amounts but still). i have stopped for almost 3 weeks *sigh* pains been back but i need a better job that doesn't require heavy night shifts. i don't like to cheat, so i ruled out fake urine when i was told i would face a drug test and talked to my manager about my cannabis consumption, my manager could careless as long as i don't come into work blitzed(which i would never do), but he still has to follow "company policy" and says unless my piss is squeaky clean they cannot hire me.
great, he gave me a couple weeks to flush it outta my system, and i had already been clean for a week prior, i have a fast metabolism and last time i had to take a drug test only took a week and a half to flush, so i felt confident today as i went to walgreens to pick up an at home kit.
to my surprise the results weren't clearly negative like i had suspected... instead they were "priliminary" because at home tests want you to send in your pee if its not negative to confirm that it is positive.
the whole time i have been off the sticky icky and back on my prescription shit drugs, naproxen and ibprofen (and even then i still had to deal with the pain), because i didnt want to take my vicodin for fear it would show up on the drug test.
so now because of un-marijuana related meds, i MAY (i may still have it in my system) have a false positive that stops my manager from hiring me.
thanks prohibition!
anyways,
now for an article i think most of you pot-heads (i say it with love) and advocates would be interested in:
"What is a false positive? It is a test result that is returned when a substance tests positive for another compound. It is a case of mistaken identity. For example if you eat a couple poppy seed cakes before testing, you can get a positive result for opiates.
The chances of you getting a false positive depends on the quality of the laboratory that does the testing. There seems to be about 1,200 of these labs in the United States currently testing for drugs. Less than a 100 of these meet federal standards and most of the individual states do not regulate drug test labs. The number of false positives returned range from 4% to over 50%, depending on the lab.
A concern here is that, if your company tests for drug useage, they are probably not required to use a certified drug testing lab, which means you have a greater chance of getting a false positive.
Listed below are products reported to cause a false positive drug test result. With your help, this will grow into a comprehensive list.
Last updated, December 19, 2008. "1. Advil
2. Aleve
3. Anaprox
4. Ansaid
5. Apo-Naproxen
6. Bayer Select Pain... more
Judge claims to be "looking out for the well being of the children" as he discriminates against interracial couples.
So its 2009 - Barack Obama is president- that means racism, prejudice, and bigotry are over and done with right? LOLOLJudge claims to be "looking out for the well being of the children" as he... more
Exquisite irony. The BNP are a minor political party in Britain, notorious for their overtly race-based policies. For example they propose as part of their manifesto offering non-indigenous British people "financial incentives," to return to their family's country of origin. Most recently leader Nick Griffin proposed that the EU should start sinking ships containing illegal immigrants at sea. The wry response from the BBC interviewer was, "Yes, I don't think the EU are in the business of murdering people at sea," to which Mr Griffin suggested they should be thrown a life boat and pointed back to Libya! You get the idea, these are not very enlightened people. To the embarrassment of most British people they actually won a couple of seats in the latest European elections, largely because not a lot of people voted.
They've now been ordered to change their constitution to allow non- white, non- indigenous members into the party, because as it turns out discrimination on the grounds of race isn't legal. Three things are great about this, firstly the BNP will have to go against the principles on which their party is based, secondly I love the idea that anyone non-white would want to join the BNP, but it would be awesome if they did. Imagine how pissed off party members would be if the very people they want to deport start turning up in large numbers at their conferences! Thirdly, the whole legal battle is bankrupting the party, and the less money, power and influence these idiots have the better.Exquisite irony. The BNP are a minor political party in Britain, notorious for their... more
The Obama administration's point man on civil rights said Wednesday he will seek to fight discrimination against gays, an area in which the Justice Department has had only a small role in the past.
Tom Perez, the assistant attorney general in charge of the department's Civil Rights Division, said pending legislation in Congress will allow the department to attack discrimination against lesbian, gays, bisexuals and transgender people, a group often referred to by the acronym LGBT.
That would be new territory for the division that has historically gone after discrimination based on race, gender or religion. It would also be a major shift from the division's work during the Bush administration, which opposed expansion of the federal hate crimes law to prosecute those who attack gays.
Perez on Wednesday he gave his first speech to division employees, saying the division must be transformed "so that we are capable of tackling the civil rights challenges of the 21st century," include issues not historically addressed by the department.
"We must fight for fairness and basic equality for our LGBT brothers and sisters who so frequently are being left in the shadows," he said, and to "ensure that there's a level playing field in which our LGBT brothers and sisters are judged by the content of their character."
Allison Herwitt, legislative director for Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights group, called Perez's words "fantastic."The Obama administration's point man on civil rights said Wednesday he will seek to... more
Jonathon Escobar is the kind of kids who stands out from the crowd, especially when he wears his pink wig. Escobar prefers to wear wigs, makeup, and feminine-style clothing, a style choice that’s gotten him in trouble at school.
For his first day of school at North Cobb High School in Georgia, Escobar chose a pink wig, skinny jeans, and flats. Everything went smoothly until lunchtime when a fight broke out. Someone said something mean about Escobar and another student came to his defense.
That’s when the assistant principal told Escobar that he needed to either dress more “manly” or be schooled at home. “You can’t wear clothing that causes a disruption,” Cobb Country school spokesman told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
Escobar left his formal high school not because the school had a problem with his fashion choices, but because his parents did. He now lives with his older sister and was careful to ask school administrators before he started if he could wear heals and wigs to school. They said yes.
“I don’t consider myself a cross-dresser,” says Escobar. “This is just who I am….They should’ve told the students to back off. They should have never given me the option of homeschooling or changing who I am.”
Escobar left North Cobb after just three days, but since then over 900 students have rallied to his defense, even creating a Facebook group called Support Jonathan. And despite the school’s warning, Escobar won’t be taking off his wig anytime soon.
“If I can’t express myself, I won’t go to school,” he said. “I want to get the message out there that because this is who I am, I can’t get an education.”
Seems like this situation would have been better handled by administrators with a heavy dose of eye-rolling and a little patience. Sure, teens get distracted by the kid who stands-out, but given time the excitement usually wears off.
What do you think: Should Escobar be able to wear what he wants, or do you defend the administration’s right to tell him to dress like a man?Jonathon Escobar is the kind of kids who stands out from the crowd, especially when he... more
A former pharmacist at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. who claimed she was fired after asking to be paid the same as her male colleagues is entitled to $2 million in damages awarded by a jury, the state's highest court ruled Monday.
(Lavoie, D., 2009, October 5, par.1)
Cynthia Haddad was fired in 2004 after working more than 10 years for Wal-Mart...[The company] claimed she was fired because she left the pharmacy unattended and allowed a technician to use her computer security code to issue prescriptions during her absence.
(Lavoie, D., 2009, October 5, par.2-3)
Haddad, however, claimed in a discrimination lawsuit that she was fired because she complained about being paid less than her male counterparts, including a bonus given to pharmacy managers. The company paid the bonus, then fired her two weeks later.
(Lavoie, D., 2009, October 5, par.4)
In 2007, a jury found that the company discriminated against Haddad, and awarded her $1 million in compensatory damages and another $1 million in punitive damages. A judge later revoked the $1 million award for punitive damages, finding there was an insufficient basis for the jury's decision.
(Lavoie, D., 2009, October 5, par.5)
But the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court reinstated the punitive damages and upheld the total $2 million award, ruling that the jury had enough evidence to find that Wal-Mart's stated motive for Haddad's firing was a pretext and that Wal-Mart acted with [discriminatory ill will].
(Lavoie, D., 2009, October 5, par.6)
"There was evidence that Wal-Mart paid the plaintiff substantially less than less-experienced male pharmacists, refused to pay the plaintiff the pharmacy manager salary differential that it paid to male pharmacists, and terminated the plaintiff purportedly for a single policy violation but did not terminate male pharmacists for that or for more serious infractions involving violations of State and Federal law," Justice Judith Cowin wrote for the court in the unanimous, 7-0 ruling.
(Lavoie, D., 2009, October 5, par.7)
[more details at the link...]
[IMAGE: progressivegrocer.com]A former pharmacist at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. who claimed she was fired after asking to... more
A study done by the New York Times shows that gay couples face more expenses than their straight counterparts.
"Much of the debate over legalizing gay marriage has focused on God and Scripture, the Constitution and equal protection.
But we see the world through the prism of money. And for years, we’ve heard from gay couples about all the extra health, legal and other costs they bear. So we set out to determine what they were and to come up with a round number — a couple’s lifetime cost of being gay."
More at link......A study done by the New York Times shows that gay couples face more expenses than... more
Critics of plus-sized models have adjusted their eyes to see size zero as standard. StilettoREVOLT celebrates the women who have a career in fashion, and still get to eat lunch too! http://www.stilettorevolt.com/2009/10/yep-theyre-real-top-models-with-real-bodies/Critics of plus-sized models have adjusted their eyes to see size zero as standard.... more
On October 3rd, 2009, the award-winning documentary, U PEOPLE (Logo Reel Movement Series) will stand as the first LGBT-themed film to be shown where civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr., lost his life. At this event, conversations concerning LGBT issues in the southern United States will be brought into the spotlight.
After the film screening, there will be a live online broadcast of the scheduled panel discussion. Viewers like you, will be able to send their questions and comments to the panelists in real-time.
What do YOU want to say about LGBT rights in the South? Click on the link to learn how you can be a part of this pivotal moment.
Divorce in any society is never easy. But in Yemen as in the rest of the Arab world, it's a real stigma and a divorced woman is considered to be damaged goods.
Sumayya Rajaa, a divorced mother of two, was the first woman to run for presidential election in Yemen despite the huge obstacle of her marital status.
The film debates the issue of divorce in Yemen - what the law states, what people can actually do - and examines how being divorced affects women in positions of power.
* VIDEO *
I will post the YouTube videos Part 1 & 2 in the 'Comments' section belowDivorce in any society is never easy. But in Yemen as in the rest of the Arab world,... more
From the section of the 52-page plan titled “Restorative School Culture and Climate,” subhead, “Discipline”:
…The board is calling for a two-tiered form of student discipline. One for Black and Hispanic students; one for everyone else.From the section of the 52-page plan titled “Restorative School Culture and... more
A cop who got cornrows was ordered off the street and kept on desk duty for two days until he cut his braids off, sources said.
While dozens of black officers across the city wear cornrows, Officer Thomas Strain is white.
So when the five-year veteran showed up for work Sept. 3 with the traditionally black hairstyle, it didn't take long for his colleagues - or his bosses - to notice...A cop who got cornrows was ordered off the street and kept on desk duty for two days... more
