Onward Wisconson

I have not been posting in a while, because I am close to burnout.
But.
I have to link to Kay at balloon-juice and I am also going to post the entire wonderful thing here. I own a business, a very small business without employees. In the past I have owned another business with employees and I have managed many others in jobs. I am sure that I was not always able to treat my employees or those I managed with the same concept espoused here but I tried to. Employees are what make a business work. Or not work. They are the engine, not the spare tire.
Kay writes a brilliant piece here but I think it really is or should be about all employees, not just unions.

Ironworkers Local 8

by Kay

I was reading about the protests in Wisconsin, and I saw this photo. The gentleman on the left is a member of Iron Workers Local 8. That number made me stop and think. That number has meaning to me, because I know the history of labor unions in this country. It means nothing to conservative pundits or the vapid giggling morons who comprise the brain trust on Morning Joe, and it means nothing to the Governor of Wisconsin, but it resonates with me.

Eight is a low number. It’s a low number because that local was chartered a long time ago.

How long? This long:

Our official celebration was based on the charter issued by the International Association of Bridge and Structural Ironworkers of America on February 1, 1901 to the Housesmiths and Bridgemen’s Local Union No. 8 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Although the words “Housesmith’s and Bridgemen’s” were dropped long ago, that charter still hangs proudly in the board room of Local 8’s office in Milwaukee.

If you go to that local’s site, you’ll read this:

“Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor and could not have existed had not labor first existed. Labor is the superior of capital and deserves much the higher consideration.”
-Abraham Lincoln

This is the dictionary definition of collective bargaining:

Method whereby representatives of employees (unions) and employers negotiate the conditions of employment, normally resulting in a written contract setting forth the wages, hours, and other conditions to be observed for a stipulated period (e.g., 3 years). The term also applies to union-management dealings during the term of the agreement.

The phrase collective bargaining has a much larger meaning than “benefits”, and to watch Scott Walker with his vacant ideologue’s stare reciting bullet points over and over is to realize he has no idea what it means.

It means workers have a seat at the table. It’s a simple idea but it’s incredibly powerful. That’s what they’re defending.

Tens of thousands of people don’t get off their couch and camp out in a capitol building because of a dispute over paying 15% towards health insurance or paying 20%. Conservatives and their media allies would like to convince us they do, they’d like to convince us that this is about budget numbers or contract terms or benefits, but it isn’t.

Scott Walker is threatening to take away something very valuable. He’s telling them two things: your long labor history doesn’t matter, and you haven’t earned a seat at the table. They know better than that.

President Obama used the word “assault” because it’s accurate, within the history and context of labor unions. If you’re a person who is willfully or lazily pig-ignorant of that history, or a person who believes this country began with the election of Ronald Reagan, you’ll miss that, and you’ll start reciting deficit numbers and health insurance co-pays of union members as compared to non-union employees. But if you do that, you’ll be missing the point.

Negotiation is to unions what diplomacy is to nations. It’s what they work like hell at before they fail, and go to war. Union members aren’t proud of their ability to stop working and strike. Any idiot can start a war. A strike means negotiations failed. They’re proud of their ability to negotiate. They’re proud of that fact that they’re sitting in a hard-won seat at the table, and dealing as equals with the other representatives sitting at that table.

Scott Walker wouldn’t sit down with them. He denied them their history and the hard-won agency and dignity that comes with a seat at the table and in doing so threatened something much more valuable than wages or benefits. He refused to use diplomacy; refused to grant them the respect that dealing with them as equals confers, and went right to war. They know that. It’s why they turned out. President Obama chooses words very carefully. He knows it too.

We have come home

John Cole does a what were you thinking post and does it ever get hot and heavy.

One of the comments,from tomvox1@48 writes we have become a nation of whiners. What has happened is that the Ugly American has decided to stay home. We are now inflicting the Ugly American syndrome on each other as well as the rest of the world.

Now you know why they like us so much. Not only do we strut, preen, shout and start wars everywhere else, we do it at home now.

Another Voice, Different Vantage

My last post may be reflective of my mood which has been going downhill for a while, getting darker and darker.
If I actually look around I see that we have actually made a fair amount of progress in the last 2 years, but we have a long way to go and I am running out of time, not that quickly but it is going at a notable pace. I'd like to see some repudiation of the last 30 60 years of the political warfare that makes up this country. And looking back I do see some, but it has been a war and I am tired of warfare. There has been declared warfare, The War on Poverty(which we are losing/lost), The War on Drugs(also losing), and undeclared warfare, civil liberties, presidential power, media war on truth(being won with bullshit, so losing), financial controls, more commonly known as money rape(all but the most wealthy are losing). I'm sure I left out something but isn't that enough war?
And now I read a post from someone I've never read or heard of and maybe, just maybe this will allow me to believe that the end is a little lot farther away than I envisioned. That is the resilience of the oppressed, to stay in the fight and to, if not win, at least continue to make progress. After all that's why we are called progressives, we want to continue to move forward, even at a snails pace. A rear view mirror never shows the whole picture, only what we can focus on. So if backing up to a better time is your thing, remember you are never going to see the whole picture going in reverse and that better time really was not so much.

You can't stop progress, you can beat on it, you can slow it down, but contrary to what looks like your views you can't stop it. Because time runs only one way.
Forward.


H/T ABL at Balloon-Juice, Earthbound Misfit

Woe, oh woe is me

I truly believe we are seeing the beginning of the end of our country. I suspect that we can get through the tough times ahead and that I am once again full of shit, but I wouldn't want to bet money on this country being anything like most of us hope it could be any time soon. We are seeing the government taking liberties with what's left of our liberties, we are seeing a country that is on the verge of bankruptcy of the ideals the made it a good place to immigrate to, legal or not. Those ideals that everyone has an opportunity to have a decent life, that we will protect those that are not there yet or never get there. We are seeing unprecedented greed from people that if their fortunes were cut 90% they would still have so much more than most of us. We are seeing politics (always a dirty underhanded sport) used as if a game at which there are few real life consequences for the pure power of it. Many of our neighbors seem to be so ignorant they can not see or accept facts or reality. The country is becoming more and more divided along the have and have not lines, with a lot of the have nots believing that the need to protect the haves or what little comes their way will be gone.
I give it 50 years. I hope I'm wrong. I most likely won't be here to see the disaster if it goes the way and takes the time I think it will because I will have passed my worm food date by then.
But maybe someone will come along and be a powerful enough force to make this work as a actual democracy.

It Really is Simple

Vote.

Vote Democratic.

Practice War, What is it good for?

There have been many posts flying around about the nazi war reenactors, brought on by the idiot running in Ohio.
This is my take, which I posted as a comment at Balloon-Juice.

Study history. I can absolutely see that, there’s quite a bit to learn, if one tries. But reenact war? War is brutal, war is inhuman(not that we’ve let that stop us), war is not just death, it is also maiming and life altering for a very large percentage of the participants and spectators. War should be studied to see how not to have to do it, not to see how glorious it never, ever is. I do not understand how one learns this from reenacting battles without the bleeding. So what does one learn from reenacting?

How much fun wars are?
Wars are grave inhuman atrocities that sometimes have to be fought to keep them from being bigger and worse than they end up. Nothing more.

These times they are a changin..... and not for the best

The bankers, lawyers, wall st casino and even retired judges are getting their cut, with no downside for them, so all is well.
There is almost no one who gives a damn about anyone without upper middle class or more money. The few that do are overworked, especially now. This economic system is rigged. It always has been and always will be. Every time a protection is enacted, a right established or re-enforced the conservatives/money grubbers rail against it. They say the world is going to hell. Hell in a capitalistic system can be many things but for most people it would be the lack of any ability to get ahead, even at a snails pace or at least stand still. The doubt and worry about everything on a day to day basis. I think we may have arrived in hell for that large segment of our population.

The Writing is Better, The Level of Disgust Probably the Same

Digby, Digby, Digby

The arrogance, the privilege, the balls the size of Texas, it's a wonder they can get their whiny asses through the door.

There is nothing left to say about the financial mess, unless it's how to fix it.

dengre hits another one out of the park

Confederate History Month: Stolen Labor
It's always good to get to the bottom of an issue

H/T Balloon Juice, always worth reading.

War, What Is It Good For?

War is always an abomination. Yet war is sometimes necessary, the last resort of a people. It should never be the first.
People die in war. Usually lots of people. Almost always lots of innocent people.
A good leader works at never going to war, fights very hard to avoid war. A great leader works very hard to avoid having any of his or her citizens killed without absolute necessity.

But there are always people who advocate for war. They lead the shouting for war. And never intend to fight. Or heaven forbid take any actual risk of dying. They advocate that others should do the fighting and dying, just because. They shout for other people to be the victims because they don't have the courage of their convictions.

These people are cowards.

For a better take on this, Digby has the first and last word.
H/T Glen Greenwald via Atrois

Glen is Correct, Absolutly Correct

Glen gets it right again.
Going to war in Iraq is the worst mistake this country has done in my lifetime. It was done for the wrong reasons, it was undertaken with false information and it was illegal. We can not just put it behind us, we must, as a country face this. We continue to be failures when we do not look inward and figure out that this stemmed from the same thought process that involved us in Vietnam. This political thought process has not been discredited, for there are way too many people who don't see or understand this as a mistake. We need to publicly fix responsibility for going to war with Iraq otherwise the idea that we can create war whenever and for any reason will not go away.

Actual Health Care??

Over at Caltics soyinkafan has posted a valuable story on SB810, the single payer state senate bill for California.
Please read and act upon this story. It will not hurt the national health care situation at all and may actually help get national attention that a lot of people want and need proper health care not only in California but in this entire country.

HCR What We Need Now

Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly has a great memo for anyone who as anything to do about health care reform. Please read it and pass it on.
And call your rep and senators. Today. And Tomorrow. And the next day...

Just What The Doctor Ordered

Congress, Get You Some Balls


H/T to somebody, but I don't remember who or where.

Do The Right Thing

 Ladies and Gentlemen, Paul Krugman The straight shooter gets it once again.

And the tag line gets right to the point

"Ladies and gentlemen, the nation is waiting. Stop whining, and do what needs to be done."

TSA Training Academy Video

Bad Tux found another good one. The TSA has conspired with Transport Canada to make a new training video.

Today Hope=Nope

What is the plan to deal with healthcare now, considering that the senate is broken? It seems to me the house is broken as well what with 220 votes, only 3 more than necessary. We have clear majorities in both houses of congress, we have a democrat as president, and our elected reps can not get this done. I am ashamed of our country, I am ashamed that I am a citizen of this country, I am ashamed that I served in the armed forces. For the first time in my life I can see that it would absolutely be better for me to emigrate to another country, rather than stay here. I finally have a bit of an idea of what it must be like to decide to walk hundreds or thousands of miles, illegally cross international borders, and live a criminal life just for it to be a little better.

More Haiti

Molly Hightower. I never met her, I had never even heard of her before the Haitian earthquake. But I have read her story and it is both devastatingly heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. At 22 she volunteered to work with orphans in Haiti and was living there. Teaching and helping those that need it most.
She was one of thousands killed in the devastation, when the school she worked and lived in collapsed. And her family has asked that any donations go to the organization she worked for.
That is Friends of the Orphans
This seems like so much more than just a worthwhile thing to do. So please if you can, help support not only the memory of such a fine person but those who need it most and have less than can be imagined.

Haiti

I can not imagine what Haiti is like right now. I doubt that very many people could either. This poor country has been hit by so many natural disasters, political upheavals, and just plain crappy luck. They are getting over major hurricanes 5 and 2 years ago. And now a 7.0 earthquake.

I urge you to give what you can. All the agencies are asking for money instead of stuff so here is a number of places

American Friends Service Committee

Red Cross

Oxfam

Dr. Without Borders

What Ezra Said. Twice at Least

Ezra has been a voice of reason in the HCR process. Many if not most of us want more. But we don't always get what we want. The last few decades it seems like we don't get anything, even that which we need. But this country got an xmas present yesterday, let's just hope that it's the gift that keeps on giving.