[Nfbmo] Fw: [Missouri-l] Fw: [leadership] Good Intentions GoneBad
Dewey Bradley
dewey.bradley at att.net
Thu Sep 2 04:45:19 UTC 2010
He does have one point though.
Americans are sou happy, but this law is needed, I just wish people would
read it before they try and think they are following it
----- Original Message -----
From: <DanFlasar at aol.com>
To: <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 11:27 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] Fw: [Missouri-l] Fw: [leadership] Good Intentions
GoneBad
> John Stossel is, always has been, and always will be, an idiot.
>
>
>
> In a message dated 9/1/2010 10:30:51 A.M. Central Daylight Time,
> goodfolks at charter.net writes:
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Chip Hailey" <chip at gatewayfortheblind.com>
> To: "MCB Listserve" <missouri-l at moblind.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 9:02 AM
> Subject: [Missouri-l] Fw: [leadership] Good Intentions Gone Bad
>
>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "peter altschul" <paltschul at centurytel.net>
>> To: "Acblead" <leadership at acb.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 8:31 AM
>> Subject: [leadership] Good Intentions Gone Bad
>>
>>
>>> Good Intentions Gone Bad
>>> John Stossel
>>> You own a business, maybe a restaurant. You've got a lot to worry
>>> about. You have to make sure the food is safe and tastes good, that
> the
>>> place is clean and appealing, that workers are friendly and paid
>>> according to a hundred Labor Department and IRS rules.
>>> On top of that, there are rules you might have no idea about. The
>>> bathroom sinks must be a specified height. So must the doorknobs and
>>> mirrors. You must have rails. And if these things aren't right --
> say,
>>> if your mirror is just one inch too high --
>>> you could be sued for thousands of dollars. And be careful. If you
> fail
>>> to let a customer bring a large snake, which he calls his "service
>>> animal," into your restaurant, you could be in trouble. All of this is
>>> because of the well-intentioned Americans With Disabilities Act, which
>>> President George H.W. Bush signed 20 years ago.
>>> The ADA was popular with Republicans and Democrats. It passed both
>>> houses of Congress with overwhelming majorities, 377 to 28 in the House
>>> and 91 to 6 in the Senate.
>>> What does it do? The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with
>>> disabilities, requiring businesses to provide the disabled "equal
> access"
>>> and to make "reasonable accommodation" for employees. Tax credits and
>>> deductions are available for special equipment (talking computers, for
>>> instance) and modifying buildings to comply with the accessibility
>>> mandate.
>>> The ADA was supposed to help more disabled people find jobs. But did
>>> it? Strangely, no. An MIT study found that employment of disabled men
>>> ages 21 to 58 declined after the ADA went into effect. Same for women
>>> ages 21 to 39.
>>> How could employment among the disabled have declined? Because the law
>>> turns "protected" people into potential lawsuits. Most ADA litigation
>>> occurs when an employee is fired, so the safest way to avoid those
> costs
>>> is not to hire the disabled in the first place.
>>> Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and author of the
>>> Overlawyeredddcom blog, says that the law was unnecessary. Many "hire
>>> the handicapped" programs existed before the ADA passed. Sadly, now
> most
>>> have been quietly discontinued, probably because of the threat of legal
>>> consequences if an employee doesn't work out.
>>> Under the ADA, Olson notes, fairness does not mean treating disabled
>>> people the same as non-disabled people. Rather it means accommodating
>>> them. In other words, the law requires that people be treated
> unequally.
>>> The law has also unleashed a landslide of lawsuits by "professional
>>> litigants" who file a hundred suits at a time. Disabled people visit
>>> businesses to look for violations, but instead of simply asking that a
>>> violation be corrected, they partner with lawyers who (legally) extort
>>> settlement money from the businesses.
>>> Some disabled people have benefited from changes effected by the ADA,
>>> but the costs are rarely accounted for. If a small business has to lay
>>> off an employee to afford the added expense of accommodating the
>>> disabled, is that a good thing -- especially if, say, customers in
>>> wheelchairs are rare? Extra-wide bathroom stalls that reduce the
> overall
>>> number of toilets are only some of the unaccounted-for costs of the
> ADA.
>>> And since ADA modification requirements are triggered by renovation,
> the
>>> law could actually discourage businesses from making needed renovations
>>> as a way of avoiding the expense.
>>> A few disabled people speak up against the law. Greg Perry, author of
>>> "Disabling America: The Unintended Consequences of the Government's
>>> Protection of the Handicapped," says that because the disabled now
>>> represent an added expense to businesses, many resent them.
>>> Finally, the ADA has led to some truly bizarre results. Exxon gave
> ship
>>> captain Joseph Hazelwood a job after he completed alcohol rehab.
>>> Hazelwood then drank too much and let the Exxon Valdez run aground in
>>> Alaska. Exxon was sued for allowing it to happen. So Exxon prohibited
>>> employees who have had a drug or drinking problem from holding
>>> safety-sensitive jobs. The result? You guessed it -- employees with a
>>> history of alcohol abuse sued under the ADA, demanding their "right" to
>>> those jobs. The federal government (Equal Employment Opportunity
>>> Commission) supported the employees. Courts are still trying to sort
> it
>>> out.
>>> More money for the parasites.
>>> John Stossel is an award-winning news correspondent and author of
> Myths,
>>> Lies, and Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel--Why Everything You
>>> Know is Wrong.
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> leadership mailing list
>>> leadership at acb.org
>>> http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/leadership
>>
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