Why Can’t We Drug Test Welfare Recipients? I Got Tested For My Job

image of a specimen cup with urine

Friends of mine who are somewhat liberal ask me, Why can’t we drug test welfare recipients? I got tested for my job. It’s true, many people are tested for drug use before being employed. Even the government tests their employees. That still doesn’t make testing welfare recipients constitutional. If the Fourth Amendment means anything it means the government has to have probable cause to test you for drugs. Having a bias toward poor people, thinking they must all be dirty and on drugs isn’t probable cause and it also doesn’t match with the actual evidence of drug use by people on public assistance.

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Can You Be Anti-War When Chemical Weapons Are Being Used?

photo of Bashar al-Assad, dictator of Syria
Bashar al-Assad, dictator of Syria

I hate war. My father was killed in Vietnam. But I’m not totally anti-war all the time. Sometimes military action is called for. I supported military action in Kosovo back in the 1990’s to try and stop the religious genocide going on there at the time. I also supported the invasion of Afghanistan because they gave shelter to the people who planned and paid for the terrorist attacks on 9/11. The coming military strike on Syria is really a tough decision. Do we really want to stand by and watch the Syrian government use chemical weapons on their own people?

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ESPN: Just Another Corporate Shill

created image using NFL and ESPN logos

Last week it was reported that sports network ESPN had pulled out of a co-production with PBS’ ‘Frontline’ documentary show about the serious issue of concussions in the National Football League (NFL). The report was that the NFL pressured ESPN to pull out which shouldn’t be a surprise since the network pays a billion dollars for the rights to NFL games and league access. It is further proof that our mainstream media won’t challenge their corporate owners.

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Privatizing Public Schools Isn’t How To Solve Education Problem

screencap from Reimagine Columbus Education TV ad

Here in Columbus, there is a major push to pass a new school levy. That isn’t unusual especially in Ohio where the Republicans have taken million of dollars away from education, over the past few years, in order to give tax breaks to their rich friends. What is different this time is the effort is really to privatize the Columbus School District so the corporate interests can get millions of dollars the schools still get. Privatizing public schools doesn’t make it better. Instead we give up control and our tax dollars for the equivalent of a WalMart for education.

There is a TV ad running with Columbus Mayor Coleman touting the levy. Here are the bullet points given in the ad:

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