Well, Rachel Maddow had a nice summary graphic yesterday, showing the top 10 groups who contributed to the 2010 congressional campaigns. There WERE Unions in there! 3 whole groups, who ranked 5th, 6th, and 9th in order of who contributed the most. Who was number 1? Chamber of Commerce, of course, followed by a gaggle of artificial "grass roots" organizations, each of whom are sponsored by Republican millionaires and billionaires, and who claim to be supporting good ole hard workin Umerikuns like you and me. Grrrrrr.
Yes, Unions can make it more expensive for corporations to operate, and are sometimes less flexible than non-union environments. I've been grieved against many times in the unionized factories in which I've worked, always for petty reasons... BUT... I like the fact that there's an OSHA, and a minimum wage, and a limited work week, and other safety rules that make it less hazardous to go to work and earn a wage to feed my family. I used to HATE unions when I was in my 20s and early 30s, but I've matured, and got over my antipathy. Many members of my extended family are in unions, and most of their unions have worked to help their members.
It's not the unions that are "killing jobs" and "hurting America" - in fact, the unions are working hard to do just the opposite. But like any evil marketing campaign, Karl Rove and Grover Norquist have spun this brilliantly, to take the Republicans greatest weakness (in bed with lobbyists and wealthy corporations) and occlude it with a false argument of "teachers are all rich fat cats". Really? Teachers, not Investment Bankers or Oil men, or Wall Street... are the cause of the nation's financial problems?
I've noticed that if you criticize the [actually] wealthy, Republicans will cry foul, attempt to take the moral high ground, and chide & chastise for trying to stir up "class warfare".
ReplyDeleteThey are truly Masterful at pulling a "Great Oz" tactic of "don't look behind the curtain" ... the curtain of obfuscation and BS.
ReplyDeleteThere's ALREADY been a VERY SUCCESSFUL class warfare campaign waged, by the richest Republicans, who have accumulated more than 1/2 the US's wealth in the hands of the top 1%. They've devastated the middle and lower classes, reducing actual earned income and spending power as effectively as the Plague wiped out vast swaths of world population centuries ago.
As my Evangelical brother and his wife are visiting this week, AND they are BOTH teachers in Mitch Daniel's Hoosier state, I am looking forward to discussions at dinner tonight, over pork tenderloin (yes, in violation of Leviticus 11, vs 3-27) about how they feel towards their Governor who removed the Indiana Unions' bargaining rights... il faut voir. =)
Let us know how that turns out. Major cognitive dissonance on that side of the table?
ReplyDelete...and they visited the 5 BILLION year old Grand Canyon today... contrary to Genesis 6 (the flood attributed to Noah's time) and all the "begats" (Genesis 5:18 etc), it's MUCH Older than 6000 years.
ReplyDelete...but I am getting ahead of myself. =)
Don't get me started on radar, GPS, lasers, fiberoptics, medical x-rays, and microwaves... if you think the speed of light is changing, ALL of those should be verboten too! =P
Bible thumpers have some views on the speed of light?? What and why?
ReplyDeleteDDF's previous church in South Carolina distributed a hard bound book on it. Full of malarkey, but ardently embraced by quick creationists.
ReplyDeleteYou see my friend, that we can see the light from far far away stars, because the speed of light has been changing, since "God" created the universe 6000 years ago. We know how far away the other galaxies are, and their light all left there much faster than the current speed of light, to get here in 6000 years.
Also, the Quick Creationists are convinced that the 2nd law of Thermodynamics is a myth, since God likes order and hates entropy, the world would not be going towards more entropy.
I took a copy of Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" to a "lecture" at DDF's church, and began to Lay Into the book's author who was pontificating in front of an audience of sheep who were soaking up the baloney. ...but I will be more kind and gentler at dinner tonight. I'm on home turf. =)
And after my pro-sanity, pro-evolution, pro-old-Earth creation rebuttal, DDF was not asked to teach Sunday School anymore at her previous church... so maybe I am a bad bad bad man? =P
We avoided religion, and bonded over politics. Mitch Daniels is HATED by public school teachers in Indiana, for gutting their collective bargaining, and reducing salaries. Mitch is in the pocket of Charter School lobbyists. Hoosier Public school teachers HOPE that Daniels runs for President (and loses) so that they can get a NEW governor, and get rid of the crappy one (and his even crappier Superintendent of Education) they have now.
ReplyDeleteIn Ohio there were apparently some Republicans who didn't agree with destroying the unions. Two of them were on the original committee so in a true show of democracy, they were booted off so that the bill could go forward. Love how our new governor worked for Lehman Bros in Columbus, was in charge of the Ohio pension fund which he decimated , and now is finishing off the public workers.
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