Politicians - Before and After

Massachusetts’ Top Google Search is ‘Canadian Men,’ And That’s Only Kind of Weird By Comparison

Minimum wage competitive says receiver of $9.5M pay package

McDonald's offers “real careers” and “competitive wages”, CEO Don Thompson told shareholders on Thursday, as hundreds of protesters chanted for better pay outside the fast-food giant’s annual meeting.

As demonstrators staged a second day of protests against the company’s wage scale outside the company’s suburban Chicago headquarters, Thompson told shareholders: "We believe we pay fair and competitive wages.”

“I know we have people outside,” said Thompson. “I think that McDonald’s provides more opportunity than any other company … We continue to believe that we pay fair and competitive wages,” he said.

Thompson said the company offered opportunities to young people, and the training for them to build careers. “McDonald’s has done that throughout time, and will continue to do that,” he said.

Outside the meeting, from which journalists were barred, protesters called on the company to raise its wages to a minimum of $15 an hour. On Wednesday, 139 people, including 101 fast-food employees, were arrested after staging a protest outside the company’s headquarters.

snip

Thompson comfortably survived a vote questioning his $9.5m pay package for 2013. The “say on pay” protest vote was organised by Change to Win Investment Group (Ctw), which recently won a similar vote at Chipotle, which is now reviewing executive compensation.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/may/22/mcdonalds-ceo-protesters-headquarters-agm-chicago

Restaurant Review Says Waitresses Should “Show More Skin.” You’ll Be Glad The Owner Agrees…

Restaurant Review Says Waitresses Should “Show More Skin.” You’ll Be Glad The Owner Agrees…
May 21, 2014

When a customer of Atomic Grill in Morgantown, West Virginia left a review online suggesting that the female servers “show more skin,” owner Daniel McCawley completely agreed.



You’d think in this day and age such a suggestion would be ignored, but that’s not how they roll at Atomic Grill, apparently. This weekend, show up at the Morgantown eatery for all the skin you can handle.
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Potato skins, that is…

Potato-Skins-from-Atomic-Grill

Over Memorial Day weekend, if you order their loaded potato skins, you will be making a donation to help women. The restaurant is donating 100% of the sales from that appetizer to the West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services.




Says McCawley…

I’m a husband and a father of a 12 year old girl. I have five sisters and it was just offensive. If you have a minute, have some potato skins, try some fresh, local barbecue and give to a good cause. It’s important to us, it should be important to the community.
http://boredboard.com/restaurant-review-show-more-skin/

McCawley - you are awesome!! If you are near the Atomic Grill considering grabbing some skins this weekend!

McDonald's closes corporate HQ in Chicago as 2,000 protesters gather

Snip............

McDonald’s closed part of its corporate headquarters in Chicago on Wednesday in response to a mass protestplanned by workers and activists calling for a hike in the minimum wage and the right to form a union without retaliation.

The protest, by 2,000 people, is believed to be the largest McDonald’s has ever faced, and is expected to include 500 fast-food workers from three dozen cities as well as local church groups, union activists and community groups. It comes a day before the fast food company’s annual meeting when dissident shareholders intend to vote against CEO Donald Thomson’s $9.5m pay package. Protesters also plan to picket that meeting.

Activists said the company feared a "public relations minefield" and had sent workers home in order to derail the protest. Protesters planned to move their demonstration to another nearby McDonald’s corporate facility.

A McDonald's spokeswoman said the company had taken the decision to close the a building on its campus that holds 2,000 staff after consultation with police. The building was close to a busy intersection and the company was concerned about the disruption the protesters could cause to traffic. She said staff continued to work from home.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/may/21/mcdonalds-closes-corporate-hq-chicago-protest

Ants kill ...................

Cool Newspaper Question - Ask Amy

This Mother Sold Her Stillborn Baby’s Crib At A Garage Sale. What Happened Next Was Astonishing.

A couple give a beautiful gift to a still grieving Mom.

The Perfect Lobby: How One Industry Captured Washington, DC

Many of America’s for-profit colleges have proven themselves a bad deal for the students lured by their enticing promises—as well as for US taxpayers, who subsidize these institutions with ten of billions annually in federal student aid.

More than half of the students who enroll in for-profit colleges—many of them veterans, single mothers and other low- and middle-income people aiming for jobs like medical technician, diesel mechanic or software coder—drop out within about four months. Many of these colleges have been caught using deceptive advertising and misleading prospective students about program costs and job placement rates. Although the for-profits promise that their programs are affordable, the real cost can be nearly double that of Harvard or Stanford. But the quality of the programs are often weak, so even students who manage to graduate often struggle to find jobs beyond the Office Depot shifts they previously held. The US Department of Education recently reported that 72 percent of the for-profit college programs it analyzed produced graduates who, on average, earned less than high school dropouts.

Today, 13 percent of all college students attend for-profit colleges, on campuses and online—but these institutions account for 47 percent of student loan defaults.........................

Good read and more at - http://www.thenation.com/article/179161/perfect-lobby-how-one-industry-captured-washington-dc
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But, folks those poor for profit colleges are being discriminated against............
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Wicker: ‘Gainful Employment’ Rule Discriminates Vocational Schools, Community Colleges

Snip - “For example, I think the ‘gainful employment’ rule discriminates against for-profit colleges and universities that provide a gateway to the middle class for minorities, veterans, and underserved demographics.
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If a program’s graduates, on average, are above this ratio, then the program is no longer eligible to receive Pell grants or student loans from their students, limiting students’ access and choice.
[what he really means is that the schools wouldn't have access to the government money.]

“I would trust consumers to sort this out over time and choose the best colleges for them – ones that receive quality placement, graduate study, and licensure exam pass rates.”
[LOL, because "free market capitalists" don't lie do they - double snark]
http://www.wicker.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=4674a438-b83c-4602-b202-7090de632e1
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The GOP are disgusting - they don't care about education only profit and exploitation.

What should we do with people who rely on government handouts, but are too lazy to work?