Symbolically, I think it's fitting that the birthplace of the Republican Party will hence be known as the graveyard of the labor movement. As a former Teamster with family in the transportation business, I know firsthand the good, the bad, and the ugly of the modern union.
There was a time a place and a need for organized labor, but their time has passed. They have become nothing more than the militant wing of the Democratic Party, whose forced dues go to finance democratic candidates. We are not talking Upton Sinclair's The Jungle here, this is not Norma Rae.
This is about freeloaders that want the private taxpayer to pay for their benefits and retirement. This is about the Democratic Party wanting to keep the fat union checks coming. This is about a president continually interfering in local affairs, where the federal gov't has no business.
This is about liberals behaving like children.
Like children that take their ball and go home when they are losing in kickball. Like children that hide under their beds after being caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Like children that pretend to be sick when they didnt study for a big exam. Like children.
And like spoiled rotten little children, their act is wearing thin and the American people are waking up to their shenanigans. Waking up to public employees that throw temper tantrums when asked to make the same sacrifices and contributions that the rest of us in the private sector do.
I mean who but the feckless dems can turn public opinion against teachers? Because they have, and the teachers deserve it. Fuck them. If you get summers off, you lost your right to bitch about having to pay 1% into your benefits and pension plan. Those perks should be reserved for the public servants that risk their lives for their country, not those who teach finger painting or drive a bus. (Rhino insists that I include garbage men into the category of firefighters, police, and soldiers, and I will make that exception)
Like many states this past election, conservative swept the Wisconsin election. To put it in Obama's words, "the people of Wisconsin have spoken. Their voices have been heard and Wisconsin will never be the same".
Oh, Im sorry, that was Egypt.
24 comments:
Well I'm not putting garbage men in the same category as firemen and policemen i'm just saying I personally won't bitch about whatever deal they're getting. They don't get summers off and I'm pretty sure they don't get to retire after 20yrs or make 150k without the threat of ever losing their jobs so if I have to pay for their pensions when they're done, after picking up my garbage every day then I'm ok with it.
either way good post.
i prefer the term "sanitation worker" over "garbage men." it's gender neutral and it is not offensive toward the people who perform a pretty important service in our society.
i too agree the unions have gotten too powerful and particularly with the teachers there is very little accountability within the system. in the real world, you get a raise or promotion when you've proven that you've done a good job. in the teachers world, you get a raise or promotion when you get a couple extra college credits. i'm not against teachers getting pensions, i'm all for pensions. i wish i had one. but it's starting to piss me off when i see people my age (who never worked half as hard as i have over the years) heading into lovely retirements ...
i don't like the idea of breaking the unions. i think the unions have to become accountable to the people they serve. and that INCLUDES the police. sorry fella's but there are a lot of police sitting in their police cars on the cell phones getting overtime in years 18 to 20 to pump up their retirements. it's a fact. that has got to stop.
the fact is, though, as i understand it, the unions were absolutely ready to meet and make concessions. but the governor had to be a true hard-ass and refuse.
that's the republicans acting like children. the goal seems to be to inflame people, not work with them. that's the republicans acting like incompetent managers, inept consensus builders and just plain not worthy or capable of the positions they hold. if i was a wisconsin voter, even if i voted for this guy, i'd want him fired for deliberately (or not) creating this situation. poor management ability governor, very poor.
Anita the guy campaigned on being a hard ass and was elected by the people of Wisconsin as was the republican majority.
Like I said in an earlier comment, you live in a NYC echo chamber but MOST of the country disagrees with you. Most of the country and obviously the voters in Wisconsin aren't interested in concessions that will just end up not changing anything.
These unions are much too powerful and if you're tired of seeing teachers get deals like that or even cops get deals like that then concessions won't do.
You think I'm extreme, you think the governor of wisconsin is extreme, you think the tea party is extreme, but what you don't realize is that we're the mainstream. That's why we had HISTORICAL BLOWOUT midterm elections and they will continue in 2012.
you obviously didn't read all of what i wrote (surprise surprise - yeah right). i think you live in your own private little echo chamber. everything in your world is either black or white. there is no gray, there is no nuance. people are either good or bad, stupid or smart.
once the average american finds out what your fringe movement has done, and plans to do, to this country, there will be an historical blowout in the opposite direction. that's just the way politics works. don't be naive.
I did read what you wrote.
I'm trying to explain to you anita that the tea party IS THE AVERAGE AMERICAN!
I understand that The Aurorans are the only tea partiers you (kind of) know, but that's because you live in NYC.
i do not live in nyc. i actually live in an area where there are plenty of tea partiers and there were many tea party rallies.
in fact, my new congresswoman (nan hayworth, NY CD 19) espouses all of the tea party rhetoric. there is a growing sense "buyers remorse" on both the left (of course) and the right about her. and my bet is that when re-election time comes around, she will be gone.
One of the signs in Wisconsin yesterday from the Tea Party sums it up nicely.
"Sorry we're late, we have jobs"
and what does that sum up, exactly?
Yes anita I know who won which election and I believe I know why but we have gone back and forth on that for a long time now and I think it's best if we just agree to disagree.
One thing I can't understand of course is how anyone who claims to believe in democracy can support these politicians who skipped town.
Elections have consequences. You tell me there's a filibuster or something in the state laws that they're taking advantage of and I have no argument. You tell me they're joining the protest after they vote and I don't care. I don't even care if they call the governor bad names (it's hyprocrital but they're politicians) but running away is not democracy.
Democracy doesn't guarantee the outcome you want or the negotiations you want or whatever. You win the next election and you can always put your ass on the line and reverse all of the changes that this governor and this legislature is making, if you don't win then I guess it's truly what the people wanted.
Gary, your argument that you and Anita are "for the poor" and Rhino and I are "for the rich" is not to be taken seriously and I will continue to delete them. Grow up.
by identifying yourselves with "The Tea Party" you are indicating that you are for the rich. And why is that? Because "The Tea Party" is the culmination of the wealthiest Americans (and non-Americans in fact) to convince the poor and middle class and to vote against their best interests. To essentially vote against democracy. To vote against equality for all.
"The Tea Party" did not come about as a groundswell of activism on the part of the average working class Joe. It was a well-planned and well-executed strategy on the part of the richest of the rich to manipulate the people with the least to believe the democrats were in some way "against americans" when in fact it's the people started the tea party are working hard to marginalize and take the rights away from the average Joe.
And you guys have fallen for it hook, line and sinker. You think because you have a little money in the bank, a nice car, or a house or an apartment in a nice neighborhood you are on a par with these people. yet you are so thoroughly misguided. it's the tea partiers who are the sheep, not the other way around.
Anita why are you so angry?
Anyway your misguided and ridiculous assertions aside, you really don't know anything about the Tea Party and you clearly don't know anything about me or the Donkey.
Unlike yourself no party speaks for me. Not even the Tea Party. I pick and choose where I will align myself according to what I feel is in my best interest and by extension the best interest of my country.
The tea party hasn't convinced me of anything, they showed up shouting my ideas and principles.
I will not try to argue with you about how they came about because I don't think you care and I don't care enough about your opinion to waste my time but suffice it to say I think you're wrong.
Is that really the new liberal mantra? That the tea party are the rich elitists? Now thats actually pretty funny in its sheer lunacy. Maybe you should actually compare the avg salaries of those in the private vs public sectors. But you keep drinking the kool-aid Anita.
What I find disturbing though is how you use the word "rich" like a dirty word. Its says alot about just how bitter and resentful a person you are.
Im sorry that you chose a profession where you couldnt succeed without government interference, Im sorry that the work you do actually get is not based on the merits of your skillset but based on your gender to fulfill quotos. Im sorry that you have failed in life so miserably you hold success against those that achieve it. Im just plain sorry for you. And yes Anita, I do know your business, I was actually going to have a client throw you a bone afew years back out of pity but thought better of it.
Good luck in the circus this thread in closed.
ha ha ... you know nothing about me or my business. you just know how to throw stones.
i started responding on this post pretty much agreeing with you on a number of issues. but since your cohort decided to begin attacking me before reading what i wrote, he poisoned the entire thread.
you wish you had the skills, experience and education that i have.
you never will though. because your minds are so totally closed.
and hey, i'm doing just fine without you or anybody else "throwing me a bone." my client base in both the public and private sectors is enviable, to say the least, the bulk of which no longer has anything to do with my "gender" but rather the quality and consistency of my work.
try being an entrepreneur one day, rhino and donkey. it's definitely a challenge. i highly recommend it.
How cute, the training wheels are off. Im proud of you.
Anita ur very sensitive
I never attacked you but you see it that way because you don't like me.
Which is fine because I don't care but you use it to distract from the fact that you're wrong as usual.
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/02/20/times-slanted-wisconsin-coverage-contrasts-with-their-treatment-of-tea-party/
OK, I got here a little late so I have some comments. First off, Rhino, we do not have a democracy here in the US. We have a republic. The reason the skipping town of the politicians in Wisconsin is so unbelievable is that they were elected in this republic to do the job they were elected to do. Anita, nice job on your Tea Party theory. How can you believe that the tea party is trying to take away from the average Joe? The tea party is really about the Constitution and I don't know any other document in the WORLD that protects the rights of the average Joe than it does. Anita, you also seem to think that we are a democracy, however we are a republic. The Constitution does not misguide. I applaud your entrepreneurship. I would love to know what your business is. And you mentioned gender in the post which I find interesting because that seemed a bit out of the blue. Also, I'd love to know what education you have since you mentioned it. I'm guessing a PhD?
And by the way, do you guys know what percentage of the NEA's meber dues go the democratic party????????
ONLY since you asked, Getlive, I have a BA in English with honors, an MBA in Finance, a certificate in Paralegal Studies and I will be starting law school part-time at Fordham Law School in the Fall (JD program, of course).
I have run my own business in the construction cost consulting industry for the past 13 years. I just recently began a second job, in a the NYS AG's Office in the Division of Consumer Frauds.
oh, the context in which I brought up gender had to do with Rhino's and Donkeyhue's use of the word "garbage man" ... I think that word has demeaning connotations and said I would prefer the use of "sanitation worker" because it was less demeaning and gender neutral.
Donkeyhue, Himself, brought up the gender issue as it relates to my business. Because the construction industry is overwhelming run and owned by white men (women and minority business owners in the construction industry have unfortunately maintained a statistically stable 2 - 3% rate of participation; therefore, there are certain, very small set-asides for women and minority owned business (2 to 5% of design fees for women, more for minorities).
My firm is a certified woman owned business. Unfortunately my main competition comes from the companies owned by men who make their wives or secretaries the "president" (on paper) while they continue with business as usual.
Donkeyhue likes to say (and probably even believes) that the ONLY reason i have a business is because i'm getting some kind of pork from the government. the affirmative action aspect, in the beginning, was definitely an incentive, i won't deny that. but the way the economy is now, it is absolutely impossible to count on it. what counts is can you do the job at the lowest cost and within timeframes that would blow your mind.
but he has to insult me.
thanks.
i'll leave this Aurorans to Echo amongst themselves.
this might be a good time to finally shut off the comments in this thread. just sayin' ...
Impressive.
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