The Brian Lehrer Show

I enjoy the Brian Lehrer Show!

High Schools DO NOT grant DEGREES; they grant DIPLOMAS! Please correct this frequent error!

Although this problem is complicated both by the existing system as well as by the individuals supported by it (Welfare/Workfair), as per the difficulties inherent in any bureaucracy's dealing with "human" problems -- I have just seen Kirosawa's brilliant film 'Ikiru" and recommend it to anyone who would enjoy an artful depiction of why often , in bureaucratic "engines of change",

the buck stops nowhere.

When a Kid Graduates HS and gets a job, he or she WILL start out at Minumum wage. They work their way up. That's the way it is.

To almost Argue that a woman who decided NOT to finish HS & to exacerbate her circumstances by having children alone is ENTITLED to a higher paying job because "She has a Family to Support" insults the rest of us who WORK and climbed the wage ladder on our own.

We already socially support them with Medicaid, Welfare and food stamps. It is NOT required of us to guarantee these women a Middle Class Lifestyle.

If she feels her entry level job to be inadequate and wants something better-- I would be okay with a grant for her to attend Community College or a vocational school. My main proviso-- She must study on her OWN TIME, at night and on the weekends-- AFTER WORK.

This regimen would work well with office jobs AS WELL as Construction and Trade jobs. But they Still have to go to school or a program and get training. So let them work at McDonalds during the day-- and take classes at night. Earn their certification and Step UP on their OWN merits.

So many of us MEN and quite a few WOMEN do just that ALL THE TIME. It is hard-- but the rewards were worth it.

But for most of the women with children who are still left behind-- their problem is that they still want to have a "Good Job" GIVEN to them with no extra work on their part. Trade jobs tend to have Odd hours. You can get a job with ConED-- but you WILL be working the Night Shift FIRST. Or your days will cover the weekends. Seniority perks has to be earned. The fact that a single mom has a family is NOT the Supervisor's concern. That's the Mom's problem alone. She created it-- she must learn to deal with it. Or she will go no further up the Job Ladder. Being a Single Mom entitles her to NOTHING as a Worker vis-a-vis the other workers. Why should it?

Single mom's whine about how hard it is to be a Mother and how that's already a job by itself.

Again-- Men and Women with jobs deal with those same issues ALL THE TIME.

Wow, Lonnie. Nice display of sex: "so many of us men, and quite a few women..."

No wonder you did not include a last name. I would be embarassed to have such an opinion attached to me, too!

Liz Krueger maybe interested in this... perhaps they can put a playpen in the rig?

More women take the wheel in U.S. trucking industry

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070803/lf_nm/women_truckers_usa_dc

Yes individuals must take responsability and the social contract calls for us to help all.In the immediate problem, I hope that these women and any men can rise but I don't know the solution. We must not be ideological.Can we find compromise?

Thank you, Liz, for fighting on this issue! I'm tired of people pointing to the decreasing welfare roles for the success of the Welfare-to-work programs. Success is not moving people into poverty-wage jobs and asking them to leave their children in the hands of further under-paid care providers. Until we come up with better, more creative ideas, we will fail another generation of children.

this is what she is talking about but doesn't explicitly mention it.

http://www.new-nyc.org/

NEW offers a variety of programs designed to meet the needs of both labor and industry and to provide unions and employers with highly

motivated and job-ready women. Unions recognize that our graduates have an exemplary record of completing their apprenticeships, and

employers look to NEW for capable workers for a wide variety of skilled blue-collar jobs. Our longstanding relationships with local

apprenticeship programs and employers provide a seamless network of training and job placement for our students.