The Panda Bear on Hillary Clinton and The Panda Bear's New Work Schedule

After the terrible snows of  the Boston area, the Panda Bear is having one her first "normal" evenings at home.   The Panda Bear's husband(Mr. Panda)  has gone to the YMCA.    It is the first time the Panda Bear has been at home in her apartment at night in several months due the snow and Mr. Panda's month off at the end of the year.  It is in these times of quiet solitude that the Panda Bear can write her blog.

The Panda Bear Blog is the blog of a humble office worker who wants to change the world.   She wants to restore the position of the average worker to that of respect for being the mainstay of the economy.

In November of 2014, the Panda Bear started a new job.   Her hours have changed; instead of working from 7:00-3:30(a schedule that she has worked for many years), she now works 8:00-4:30.   The reader may laugh and say that is not a big change in hours.   However, the Panda Bear has found these small changes make a difference particularly in modern times when there is pressure to do ev many things in short time frames.   One advantage the Panda Bear has found with working slightly later is that when she comes home it is dinner time.   On the earlier schedule, the Panda Bear wanted to have a snack after work than eat dinner.    The later schedule eliminates the need of a before dinner snack.

Today, in the Panda Bear's new humble office job, the Panda Bear heard on a television in office lounge Hillary Clinton's lame excuses for using personal e-mail for government business.   Now the Panda Bear supported Hillary Clinton in 2008 and thinks its cool that she has not driven a car for many years(the Panda Bear does not drive).   However, the Panda Bear thinks Hillary Clinton is in the process of self destruction; she did put herself in this bind not the evil right wing.

Hillary Clinton sounded like a teenager in her need to use personal e-mail.   She sounded like a dumb blond(which she is not) in the problems using two devices one for personal and one for the job.

However, national defense is a serious issue.   Even in the Panda Bear's humble job, she knows that work e-mail is more secure than personal e-mail and that work and personal e-mails should be separate.

Hillary Clinton had her own server in her house for her e-mails.  It appears that she never used her work e-mail.   The Panda Bear thinks it was very well thought out decision on Mrs. Clinton's part not to use the government e-mail in order to hide information.   Her releasing her e-mails is like Nixon releasing the Nixon tapes(and Hillary Clinton worked on the Watergate hearings).   Someone objective needs to go through the materials.

The Panda Bear is tired of "leaders" of all political stripes and organization types who think they are above the rules the rest of the world needs to follow.   Many of these rules came about for a reason.   The theory behind constitutional government is that a country is more effectively run when the rulers follow the laws.

Please Hillary don't run-let's get someone new.

The Panda Bear on Snow, Political Corruption and Hillary Clinton

Readers of the Panda Bear know that the Panda Bear lives in the Boston area which has been hit by enormous amounts of snow.   Life for the Panda Bear for the past six weeks has just been a struggle to get to work and back.   The snow banks are very high and the walking is difficult.   Cars are having time driving through the snow.    While the Panda Bear does not drive, she finds the walking difficult and frightening.   For the first time in her full-time working life of nearly thirty years all what she does is go to work and back home(rather than doing additional activities after work).

Normally, this time of year the Panda Bear would be feeling something like cabin fever.   However, this bad winter has made the Panda Bear not hurt but numb.   All of her energy has been going into getting to work and back.   She feels the large banks of snow will never go away.   The Panda Bear feels that people have been snowbound here for so long that it is effecting people’s physical and emotional health. The return to "normal" life will be like a person returning to "normal" life after an illness; it will be an adjustment.

However, the snow has also made the Panda Bear and others more critical of the corruption of government.    People feel the government could be doing a better job of removing the snow.   The mayor of Boston has proposed putting large fines for people who don't clean their sidewalks within a few hours of the snow stopping.  While the Panda Bear does see some sidewalks where the people have not cleared their sidewalks and probably should be fined, she still thinks the Mayor of Boston proposed fines smack of those in power making one set of rules for themselves and another set for those below them.  She thinks the city of Boston has not made snow removal a top priority and that the Mayor of Boston diverted some resources from snow cleaning to the Patriots victory parade this winter.

Of course, the major politician who has been in the news for breaking the rules is Hillary Clinton for using personal e-mail for high level government work.   The Panda Bear thinks she should not run for president; she has too much baggage.  The Panda Bear also thinks the Clinton e-mail scandal reflects negatively on President Obama who must have known about this arrangement.   Did he not promise to have an open and transparent administration?

In many ways the Panda Bear considers herself to be a "Liberal" but she thinks many "Liberal" leaders are corrupt and elitist.    Political corruption and elitism need to be confronted regardless of political party.

The Panda Bear on Christmas in the Office and The Poor Economy

The Panda Bear since she has started a new and better job has less time to blog.   However, she will continue to blog in the future.   She will begin a series of posts attacking the privileges of academia elite.   Not that the Panda Bear is against education but she things that academics often regarding themselves as a priestly elite.    The Panda Bear Blog is the blog of a common office worker.

One thing that the Panda Bear is glad in her new job that not much is made of Christmas.   The Panda Bear was raised that it was wrong to celebrate Christmas.   Until about 2001 the Panda Bear did not have problem with the office Christmas. What went on even in the office was basically secular though this was called Christmas+.

However, after 2001, though the name was changed to “Holiday”, for one month, the Panda Bear get barraged about the “Christian” nature of the holiday.   These messages have included managers of secular organizations.   Through the Christians at work, the Panda Bear has learned about the “Christian” nature of some ornaments that the Panda Bear once thought of as simply pretty decorations.

Though Christians are the overwhelming majority of the Panda Bear’s workplace, they feel angry and persecuted.   They feel oppressed if they cannot express their religion at work even though the institution they work for is secular and is located in a large diverse urban environment which the includes many religions and nonbelievers.

The Panda Bear believes Christianity is not well served in offices on the holidays.   It does not come across as a religion of hope, faith, charity, love and goodwill.   Rather it comes across and self-centered, militant and materialistic (endless discussions of shopping for presents).

The Panda Bear on the Democratic Loss, Unemployment and New Job

The Panda Bear is not at all surprised that the Democrats lost control of Congress.   The Democrats were defending in the position of defending a poor economy.   The Panda Bear would consider herself to be a progressive but she thinks the American Right has been more accurate recently about the state of the economy.  There is high unemployment and the lower nine-five percent’s income has dropped drastically in recent years.    People who have jobs are stressed out and feel discouraged by the lack of opportunity.   Probably many employees feel like indentured servants rather than free labor.

The Panda Bear knows first-hand about the high unemployment rate.   On October 10, she lost her job.   She went to several unemployment agencies where the staff said the unemployment rate was high in Massachusetts and people were having a hard time getting jobs (despite the Democrats asserting things were getting better).   However, the Panda Bear has heard Massachusetts is not as bad as other parts of the country.

The Panda Bear's period of unemployment will be short lived.   On November 17, the Panda Bear will starting and new a better job.   The Panda Bear will learning some new skills and earning more money in her new position. (The Panda Bear thinks it is a major problem for both employed workers who are getting stale in the jobs and for the unemployed who can’t get jobs that employers no longer want to train workers.  She can understand that training workers is a major expense for companies but lack of company training is creating problems for Americans). 

Of course, the Panda Bear would not have gotten a job so quickly if she had not been involved in an intensive job hunt since July 2013, when her old office banned plants at work.   In took the Panda Bear several years for her to work on her resume and she paid for a professional resume consultation.   (In the modern economy with jobs being so unstable the Panda Bear thinks everyone should be able to quickly produce a good resume.   Once when the Panda Bear was laid off very suddenly and unexpectedly, it slowed to her hob hunting process a lot that it took several months for her to develop a good working resume.)

For the jobs the Panda Bear's field of work, the internet is the prime source of jobs.   How, the job hunting world has changed from when the Panda Bear started in the working world!!  She remembers buying the Sunday paper (for the help wanted ads) and sending in resume and cover letter via snail mail.  However, even, the best job hunting web sites change.   In 2013, the Panda Bear was told that Monster and CareerBuilder were no longer the top job hunting websites; the best website to look for jobs was Indeed(in fact, this web site was where the Panda Bear found her new job).   However, in 2014, the Panda Bear heard that companies no longer liked Indeed but were recruiting from LinkedIn.   In fact, several employment counselors told the Panda Bear that companies were telling the State of Massachusetts that they wanted all employees on LinkedIn.

The hiring process can take a long time nowadays.   The Panda Bear applied for her job in as soon as it was advertised in July and she was offered the job on November 4.   Therefore, the Panda Bear thinks a person can be easily on unemployment for a year and be actively job hunting.

Of course, the Panda Bear getting her dream job and going to job heaven means that she will no longer be blogging about her current job.   The Panda Bear blogged about her old job more than was prudent but jobs are a big part of one's life and if one is unhappy with one’s job one can be unhappy with life.

Instead, the Panda Bear Blog will more focus on the problems of the world.   The Panda Bear recently read the Autobiography of John Stuart Mill, the famous nineteenth century philosopher.   She was inspired by John Stuart Mill's statement that his being an office worker contributed to his understanding of the world and enabled him to come up with ideas for critiquing and reforming the major institutions of his time.   He was also for expanding the power base of his time for which the Panda Bear admires him.

In the spirit of John Stuart Mill, the Panda Bear will continue to blog; a blog of an office worker who wants to improve the world and advocate for the lower 95 percent.