@jeff4justice shops for some Duck Dynasty merchandise. 

Some of the regulations most responsible for job-killing are the ones that are placed on adult education. Currently, most of the nation’s colleges do not providing the kind of training that small to mid-size businesses are in need of, and businesses that hire untrained individuals must dedicate a large amount of money, time and resources to provide such training. There is a need for skilled individuals, but they are prevented by state regulations.

Here is the problem: each state regulates vocational training, so that any group or business wishing to provide this training must follow a largely time-consuming and expensive process, that has no guarantee of success. The licensing requirements are so extreme that no school or program has been licensed to teach the skills needed to assist the owner and/or operator of a small to mid-size business. There are decent-paying jobs waiting for trained people in areas such as: customer service, purchasing, shipping/receiving, communications, marketing, management, etc.

A small-business owner is a lot more likely to hire an employee who can assist in day-to-day operation and add value to the company. Traditional colleges and universities are not set up to train to the full spectrum of skills that are needed in businesses operation. Most business owners would love to hire on a person and delegate tasks such as: creating mailing lists, filing financial records maintaining websites and social media accounts, updating spreadsheets, etc. They would hire, if they could find capable, trained employees. The easing of the regulations on post-secondary vocational training would encourage private enterprise to create small schools and training programs that actually prepare students for the demands of the small to mid-size business. 

Cities and towns everywhere could implement such programs that would provide unemployed and underemployed residents with the skills in need to obtain these in-demand jobs. The business owner could base the assistant’s rate of pay to the amount of time this new employee now saves the operation of the company. For example, if an owner estimates that the assistant saves him or her 10 hours a week, at a business that makes $100 per hour, the assistant would then earn $1,000 a week, and that business owner could use the newly generated free time to engage in sales, promotion, or anything else that would generate new business and  increase earnings. This new business could significantly exceed that cost of taking on an employee, and provide for what that assistant earns.

Tony Jones
www.tonyjones.org 

Regulate Rhode Island is an entirely grassroots movement, and your help talking up marijuana regulation

Take Action: 

Call Speaker of the House Gordon Fox and ask him to make marijuana regulation a legislative priority for the House in 2014! Call him now at (401) 222-2447 or email him at rep-fox@rilin.state.ri.us 

You can also look up and contact your state representative and senator by clicking here and visiting the RI Voter Information Center. 

Here's a suggestion of what to say when you contact a legislator: 

"My name is [your name], and I live at [your address]. I am contacting you to express serious concern about Rhode Island's failed policy of marijuana prohibition.Treating marijuana as a crime wastes government resources, enforces racial discrimination, and undermines public health and safety. Law enforcement efforts should be focused on serious crime, not marijuana.Instead of continuing the counterproductive policy of marijuana prohibition, Rhode Island should regulate marijuana like alcohol with a system of licenses, taxes, and age restrictions. By regulating marijuana we can take control away from illegal dealers, allow police officers to focus on serious crimes, and create jobs to boost Rhode Island's economy. I urge you to make marijuana regulation a top legislative priority. Thank you."

By: Tony Jones
www.tonyjones.org   


"The greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its culture."

-Thomas Jefferson.

It's ironic that the country founded on the principals of and liberty and freedom still prohibits its citizens from growing a plant. I'm talking, of course, about industrial hemp. A plant that has more than 30,000 uses and is considered to be a “superfood.” This absurdity continues by the fact that hemp allowed to be imported from other countries but is forbidden to be grown in America.

Did you know that the US Constitution was written on hemp paper? The first American flag was made out of hemp. In the past army uniforms were made of hemp. In 1937 Popular Science Magazine called hemp “The New Billion Dollar Crop.”

 And then it was banned...

Federal laws against hemp are a prime example of how our government stifles our freedom. Under the Controlled Substance Act of 1970, hemp and marijuana are classified exactly the same. To the untrained eye, I can see how the plants might seem similar. However, industrial hemp contains less than 1 percent of THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana. Therefore, it would take a “joint” the size of a telephone pole to get any type of effect from hemp.

Farmers across our state and the country should be outraged. The farming of hemp requires little or no pesticides. Hemp also requires less water than other crops, and has deep roots that leave the soil in an improved condition after harvesting. This makes hemp one of the best possible crops for a farm to put in rotation.

Consumers should also be outraged. The retail sales of hemp in the United States are estimated to be over $420 million annually, that's $420 million from a product we are forced to import. America is in need of jobs, yet we continue to dismiss this possible market. With the decriminalization of industrial hemp thousands of employment opportunities could be created in agriculture, marketing, distribution, sales, manufacturing, etc.

The fact that we have to be granted permission to grow a plant is an insult to our freedom.

The criminalization of industrial hemp must come to an end.