The recent full frontal attack on labor has turned me from a so-so supporter of unions to a vigorous defender, ready to put my money where my mouth is. I am certain I am not alone. (h/t Bartcop for the cartoon)
LOOKING FOR LIFE BEYOND CABLE NEWS AND FINDING THAT RESISTANCE IS FUTILE
You can have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, or democracy. But you cannot have both.
- Louis BrandeisTension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.
- Chinese ProverbRecent Comments
Whatever Works 
I saw this cartoon yesterday. The latest assault is on voters. Something like 27 Rethug controlled states are now passing legislation to require ID’s, usually from the DMV to vote. The target is to keep students at universities from voting. If you can’t convince people by your policies, then destroy the opposition by any means so that you are the only one left. That is the GOP in a nutshell. They have no shame.
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You’re right Sherry – they have no shame, but increasingly it’s looking like a coordinated agenda. This stuff is making me very nervous.
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HOWDY MOE!
Now that I’m a state employee, I can tell you that I work 2 jobs, and still only make 1/2 of what I did in the “private sector”.
Let’s ask the Tea Party type folks to do what I do for this pay!
I work caring for people who are not even able to function in the “private” sector”, many are dangerous.
Our society should be judged by how we treat MH/DD people, and others at the base of society’s pyramid, not how many tax cuts people get!
It’s SHAMEFUL that G.E. got back billions in tax breaks, while they want to cut my pay/benefits, and move my people into unsafe “private” homes.
JESUS WEPT…..
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Hey Kansas! Nice to see you – it really sucks that people like you are getting dumped by our ‘system’. It’s not working anymore. There are even moves (again!) against minimum wages for under-18 – basically the beginning of an assault on the child labor laws. I guess we just can’t get back to that early 20th century fast enough!
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Rich people are rich because they deserve to be rich. Poor people are poor because they deserve to be poor. Obviously, those worthy enough among the peasantry can pull themselves up by their bootstraps will do so. Those not worthy can wallow dregs of society as they have chosen. Society will be greatly improved wherever this philosophy is applied.
That is why so many rich Westerners are flocking to the laissez-faire capitalist countries in Subsaharan Africa and Central Asia.
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Maybe we should just call it by the old name – serfdom.
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Desert, to some degree your statement(s) may be true.
That being said, there is solid evidence that shows that many can just not overcome whatever (poor) environment they happened by chance to be born into.
As a decent christian thing, we should strive to help those who, by no fault of their own, happen to be less fortunate than others.
Do unto others…..
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I was attempting (apparently without success) satire. Where my parents were from, a young man’s only route out of the barrio was through Vietnam. I believe that the Tea Party types accept as fact the absurd claims I made.
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I got it first time! But of course I am a superior creature in all ways.
Of course ‘blaming the poor’ or ‘blaming hte victim’ is ancient human behavior – the last 500 years has supposedly been about improving on that. But there are foces out there who are reviving the sentiment because it suits their purposes.
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Captain Sullenburger who safely made a forced landing in the Hudson river and saved many lives in early 2009 is a self proclaimed union man.
I’m dubious of the benefits of unions mostly, but I don’t think people should be prohibited from forming them.
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Unions started being less relevant by the 80’s because they’d by and large overcome the worst abuses. But this move to strike down collective bargaining could put us right back in the bad old days and could end up strengthening a movement that was in fact losing steam.
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Hey Desert!………SORRRRY!
Man, I been gone from the blogosphere too long.
When I did political blogging, your satire would be a perfect response from some of the conservatives that loved to hate me.
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Soooo nice to have you back!
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Yes you evil taxpayers . Pay up and shut up . Your public sector union rulers have spoken . You thought the public employees worked for you . You poor little maroons . You are not the bosses, you are the subjects .
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Alan, I honestly don’t know where your head is . . . . the ‘right to work’ states of the old Confederacy are the poorest, the fattest, the least educated of Americans. What the hell are they doing that looks right to you?
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Ms. Holland ,
The Confederacy no longer exists . Why would you think that is a relevant point ? These Government Unions are not the coal miners and textile workers of yesteryear . But that IS how you choose to look at them . These Unions are basically political Guilds . Nothing more .
What does the fattest have to do with anything ? As far as least educated, I suppose having large amounts of uneducated Illegals has nothing at all to do with anything ? You will have to splain it to this dum Republican .
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Read my comment – the ‘old’ confederacy. The map is still the map.
The whole reason for supporting the gov’t unions (and before Walker’s action, I wasn’t a big supporter) is to avoid the very circumstances that created unions in the first place. Stop the slide!
Education, health, wealth – this is how civilizations measure their success. The South is not doinig well – they never have.
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Ms. Holland,
” The whole reason for supporting the gov’t unions (and before Walker’s action, I wasn’t a big supporter) is to avoid the very circumstances that created unions in the first place. Stop the slide! ”
You teach me something with every post. I mistakenly thought it was to stop the slide in union dues supported contributions to the Democratic Party .
” The South is not doinig well – they never have. ”
You have me wondering . Who ‘ is ‘ doing well ? Besides , up until recent history, did not ‘ your ‘ Party run the South ?
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The Dems ‘ran’ the South because the Republicans were hte anti slavery party. When the positions switched, the South became Republican. Says a lot.
Who’s doing well by those measures I mentioned? Pretty much the blue states and other nations (Canada, Europse, a lot of Suth America). I come originally from the Northeast (New England) and now live in FL. They feel like different countries – different values, different cultures. I like the weather here – I retain the values I grew up with which puts me at odds with many of my neighbors here.
Here, we have higher teen pregnancies, more divorce, lower wages, fatter people (and it does matter, it’s a measure of values and health and wealth), fewer college grads . . . .
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