[Nfbmo] Fw: [Missouri-l] Fw: [leadership] Good Intentions GoneBad
DanFlasar at aol.com
DanFlasar at aol.com
Thu Sep 2 07:07:03 UTC 2010
There were a few typos in your post so I'm not sure what you meant
exactly, but I agree that it's a good
thing to know what legislation really can and can't do. Stossel's 'report'
is nothing more than an attempt to bolster his
reputation among those who think of themselves as right-wing but
essentially clueless.
I never thought I'd say it but I really miss William F. Buckley.
Dan
In a message dated 9/1/2010 11:46:58 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
dewey.bradley at att.net writes:
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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