Manns Medium

If you listen to those on the right, this country is fine in the hands of a Democrat but the Republican-controlled House and Senate is to blame for government ineffectiveness.  If you listen to the left the Republican-controlled House and Senate is valiantly fighting that tyrant in the White House who is a Democrat and he is the reason this country is so messed up.  Both seem to strongly believe their rhetoric and some will even defend it to the death but the real reason this country is where it is lies with the voters who keep sending rich people to office to stand up for the poor people and lawyers to office when history proves that this group haven’t even come close to fixing our justice system.  The problem is not the government as it pertains to one person or one group.  The problem is the voters who truly are the government but keep failing to find or hold accountable those they hire to task.  Blame government all you wish but if you are the one pointing ...

Nikole Hannah-Jones wrote an article for ProPublica titled “Housing Enforcement Group Sues M&T Bank for Discrimination” and reports within it that “The unusual lawsuit draws on secret videotapes and recordings to argue that the bank’s loan officers discriminated against blacks, Latinos and Asians who applied for mortgages.  One of the nation's largest banks discriminates against black, Latino and Asian homebuyers by offering lesser qualified white borrowers higher loan amounts and using hidden racial criteria in one of its loan programs, according to a lawsuit filed this week in federal court in Manhattan. The suit also accuses the bank of steering homebuyers to certain neighborhoods based on their race or ethnicity.  The lawsuit claims that M&T Bank violated the landmark Fair Housing Act, a 1968 law that sought to end discriminatory lending practices and limit the historic segregation of many of the country's cities. The suit was filed by the Fair Housing Justice Cen...

There is an article titled “How the Cycle of Chronic Homelessness Begins—and Ends” written by Christina Davidson that clearly spells out how such a man-made problem like homelessness could be solved.  The article clearly gives us a road map to fix not only this problem but addiction and violent mentally ill citizens left to disappear on our streets.  It is short, sweet and simple but maybe that adds to the problem of why it is not something in our past and so much still a part of our present.  Many talk about it but do we really want to fix it.  Many make millions saying that they are helping to end it but those same words have been echoing the=rough this country for decades now.  When are we going to put up or shut up, when are going to put our money where our mouth is? The article chronicles a gentleman named Charles and his 18 years on the streets of Washington D.C.  It reports that “This story is part of a CityLab series on the state of homelessnes...

It’s funny how so many people have so different reasoning why certain things are happening or have not happened.  I am such a person but instead of using words or ideas expressed to me by others, I use my own personal experience and whether it is not the exact same thing that happens to others, it does give me reason to conjecture and surmise what may later prove to be factual.  Listen to politicians and you will hear that the reason the housing market has not recovered as it should have by now would be because of President Obama, this I now know is a lie.  You will hear Wall Street express to those they carry around in their pockets to convince the public it is because of the Dodd-Frank legislation, this I also know now to be a lie.  The reason that housing has not recovered as it should have is simply the very same reason the economy collapsed in the past, greed, avoidance and selfishness.  Look at AIG, the biggest cause of the economic collapse now pushing r...

For some time now, I have been a very vocal critic of the Veteran’s Administration, not because what they refused to do but for the things that they have not done.  With the news today, I may have to re-think my stiff opposition to their procedures and step back enough to see that in many places where I feel they have failed, there are those that they appear to have either taken the lead. Where they appear to have taken the lead is found in this article from the VA Office of Economic Opportunity in which they report that “the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry (UA), who launched the Veterans in Piping (VIP) accelerated welding training program in 2008.  This program, which began in Washington State, trains and certifies Veterans to meet union standards for welding.  The VIP program is truly a grassroots effort comprised of local educational institutions, equipment suppliers, partner contractors, and support from ...

You know I used to think that the reason why many of my fellow veterans commit suicide was due to their inability to find jobs, feed their families and keep a roof over their heads.  I used to think that it had quite a bit to do with not finding the same type of cohesiveness that they found in the military and it was because they just can’t seem to catch a break and all these so-called programs established to help them are nothing more than a smoke screen and some wealthy person looking for a tax write off of some organization making a name for themselves at the expense of those who suffer.  I used to think that this was the entire case but events of today have led me to believe there is one other thing. Today I was trying to speak to landlords about property that they advertised as empty and what I discovered paled in comparison to any of those reasons listed above.  I ran into people who appeared to be far too busy to speak even after leaving their number on the ad...

If you have ever tried to rent a home or apartment, you know that the most important and often repeated phrase by any landlord is “have to check your credit”.  While this may provide landlords a moment of control and sanity, it violates the rights of potential tenants and lends them to be pre-judged based upon a piece of paper which may or may not be correct.  Lord knows how often you find mistakes on your credit report and the gamut of games you have to play to get it cleared.  This always happens after the fact, however, and the opportunity to relocate, secure and settle your family is lost.  Now the character of that potential renter is damaged, the degree of depression it casts upon that renter is palatable and an inquiry is added which will decrease that all important number which all things are based upon called a score.  But the most damaging thing out of all those is that this act of insanity continues because landlords, far and wide, have been allo...

And hits just keep coming for Mitt Romney and the Romney Team who seems to have bet on the economy getting so bad that the American voters have no choice but to vote Barack Obama out and him in.   Personally I can’t say that I am sorry that the economy is making a slow but steady comeback despite the major lending institutions sitting on trillions of dollars instead of putting country first.   Despite those in Washington so determined to undermine this administration at all cost even if it means sinking the entire nation to do so.   Despite those who just can’t stand seeing a Black man in the White House unless his title is janitor.   Despite those whose hatred of this man has clouded their better judgment and made them so determined to chase him away from Pennsylvania Avenue that they are willing to accept any kind of lie to make them feel better.   For those of us who truly pay attention, we know that the lagging indicator of any policy and this economy i...