December 3, 2013

Why Not

I am a husband, father, son, brother, uncle and friend. I believe in sharing my talents and experiences by giving back to the community by giving my time to coaching, church and especially to the disability community. I truly believe that all men and women are created equally.

I had the opportunity to meet with Representative Gwen Moore in her office, along with her staff and some fellow self-advocates and advocates, sharing our thoughts on the proposed implementation of the Health and Human Services (HHS) rule on “integrated settings.”  As I have written before, this is not a new rule and we are not looking at closing “sheltered workshops”.  What we are looking at is a paradigm shift in how we are looking at employment options for individuals with disabilities. Individuals today want to work and be a part of their community.

Rep. Gwen Moore said Wednesday she hopes the highest court in the land upholds an Obama administration rule that requires larger firms to insure birth control, saying secular companies cannot impose their religious views on employees who consider contraception a key part of women’s care.

“I am very confident that the Supreme Court will rule on the side of women.  I mean, enough already,” Ms. Moore, Wisconsin Democrat, told MSNBC.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday took up a pair of cases that deal with the contraception mandate tied to Obamacare.

MILWAUKEE — Saturday became a day well worth the wait for small business owners, like Broadway Paper’s Kate Strzok.  Her Third Ward store was one of thousands participating in the  nationwide Small Business Saturday.

“We’re hoping for even more… Better sales, better foot traffic,” Strzok said.

Last year’s event was one of the biggest days of the year for Strzok, calling it  her own “Black Friday.”  Though millions of Americans spent billions at the  big box stores, she thinks the Thanksgiving night start actually helped her business.

“It kind of worked for us, in a strange way,” Strzok said.   “I will never open on Thanksgiving, but  happy that they did because the shoppers were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for us  on Friday.”