Daily Archives: June 30, 2013

Worth reading, 07/01/13

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Paid via Card, Workers Feel Sting of Fees (New York Times)

A growing number of American workers are confronting a frustrating predicament on payday: to get their wages, they must first pay a fee.

For these largely hourly workers, paper paychecks and even direct deposit have been replaced by prepaid cards issued by their employers. Employees can use these cards, which work like debit cards, at an A.T.M. to withdraw their pay.

But in the overwhelming majority of cases, using the card involves a fee. And those fees can quickly add up: one provider, for example, charges $1.75 to make a withdrawal from most A.T.M.’s, $2.95 for a paper statement and $6 to replace a card. Some users even have to pay $7 inactivity fees for not using their cards.

These fees can take such a big bite out of paychecks that some employees end up making less than the minimum wage once the charges are taken into account, according to interviews with consumer lawyers, employees, and state and federal regulators.

And the poor get poorer. But hey . . . it’s all so convenient and income-generating for the issuers.

This is disgraceful.

Ridiculous story du jour

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Atheists unveil monument by Ten Commandments (Associated Press, via Fox News)

STARKE, Fla. –  A group of atheists unveiled a monument to their nonbelief in God on Saturday to sit alongside a granite slab that lists the Ten Commandments in front of the Bradford County courthouse.

As a small group of protesters blasted Christian country music and waved ‘‘Honk for Jesus’’ signs, the atheists celebrated what they believe is the first atheist monument allowed on government property in the United States….

[It serves as] a counter to the religious monument that the New Jersey-based group [American Atheists] wanted removed. It’s a case of if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

About 200 people attended the unveiling. Most were supportive, though there were protesters, including a group from Florida League of the South that had signs that said ‘‘Yankees Go Home.’’

‘‘We reject outsiders coming to Florida — especially from outside what we refer to as the Bible Belt — and trying to remake us in their own image,’’ said Michael Tubbs, state chairman of the Florida League of the South. ‘‘We do feel like it’s a stick in the eye to the Christian people of Florida to have these outsiders come down here with their money and their leadership and promote their outside values here.’’

Now let’s see if I’ve got this straight….

Because the hard-headed Christians of Starke, Fla., insist on keeping a Ten Commandments monument in front of their courthouse, on public land, despite its obvious violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution, a group of atheists based in New Jersey has decided to put up an “atheist” monument on the site as a counterweight.

How exactly is thumbing people in the eye a way to make the world a better place?

You know what this sort of behavior leads to?

Toilet-seat tossing, that’s what.

Memo to everyone involved:

The Ten Commandments monument should be removed. And now, so should the atheist monument, which has no more right to occupy space in the public sphere than the monument it was designed to counter.

Let’s take them both down on the Fourth of July. What a great way to celebrate Independence Day.