noname says:

# 2 rucknrun
# 6 1873 Colt
# 24 pedro
# 32 Lou Minatti

Republican seek power by scapegoating classes of people (immigrants, unions, consumer protectors, whistle blowers, environmentalist, climate scientist, war nay-sayers, unions, …). Republican choose consciously or unconsciously to defend ill gotten class privileges (Wall Street, Lobbyist, Oil Barrens, Cool Barrens, Corrupt Politicians (Palin), CEOs, Enron, Military Industrial Complex, Banks, China Outsourcing, …) and support their domination and their particular authoritarian personality structure.

Republican create prejudice, scapegoating and participation in right wing-nut movements (F0X news nut Glenn Beck), and willingness to commit unnecessary military and economic brutality on the average Joe.

Jim says:

#34 That is the stupidest shit I have ever read in my life.

deowll says:

I guess when you get right down to it I’m pro union because I’ve been in a union for almost 40 years. I don’t favor union busting but I’m still a fan of right to work because nobody should have to join _any_ organization they don’t want to join.

I will say this. I have a better deal than almost any worker in the private sector. I also don’t expect these people to pay higher taxes so I can live better than they do. If revenue is down then my salary needs to match what is coming it. I guess that makes me weird but being an egalitarian isn’t all that common.

B. Dog says:

Yup, one World Government — Elites and Slaves throughout the world, with no middle class — that’s the message that I get from this.

Sea Lawyer says:

Even through I am often critical of union tactics like bullying and intimidation to keep members in line (and in many state workers don’t have a choice to be members), I’m fine with there being private worker unions, but I am absolutely opposed to public employee unions.

Private workers have profit seeking owners/managers as opposing interests in the pay, benefits, and conditions for which they work. Public employees have no opposing interest… well, I suppose you could call the taxpayers it, but that is the problem. Public employee unions simply lobby elected politicians who are more than happy to provide for their demands in exchange for political support and votes. The cost of all these gained benefits go to the taxpayers, and these costs are so broadly dispersed among them, that even if the majority were opposed, the cost to any individual taxpayer is smaller than the cost he would incur to oppose the benefits. Unions are organized, taxpayers are not, this is why lobbying works.

It should be not secret why the majority of unionized workers in the country (in many countries) are public employees.

Uncle Patso says:

I’m amazed at what people will believe. A nephew of mine is in a union and he doesn’t get free health care, 100% pension or free retirement plan or any of the insane lies people here unwittingly pass on. He does HARD work for long hours, mostly outside work in all weather, often 50 miles or more away from his home. He lives in the tiny house he grew up in, owned by his father. He drives a 7-year-old pickup truck, which he needs for his work.

So I know from personal experience that 90% of the B.S. people here spout about unions is LIES. Lies spread by people like the Koch brothers, the Hunt brothers, etc. and fallen for by the poor dupes who believe it’s right, moral and just to SCREW THE WORKERS.

It’s just sad, not to mention grotesque that this propaganda has actually gotten business owners to envy the workers, who always get the short end of the stick. They actually believe their employees live better than they do!

Poor dupes.

TooManyPuppies says:

Uncle Patso, pull your head out of your ass.

The former police union I was mandated to be in to have my former job had us on 100% pension, provided we complete our 25 years, and full paid healthcare. There are still many unions that have this in CA on the state and local level. Vallejo was one. They had it so sweet that new police and fire hires were making $200K+ per year, until the city went bankrupt last year. While there are some unions out there are live in reality and accept that they must also bend over and take it up the rear like everybody else, there are still some out there (many here in CA) that will refuse to accept any and all cuts no matter what. The state could be insolvent and being sold to China, these unions would still be out there demanding everything.

noname says:

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are ‘almost’ always bad men.”

This applies to unions, republicans, rich elites,….

In 2010, union membership rate–percent of wage and salary workers–was 11.9 percent, down from 12.3 previous year.

Union membership rate for public sector workers (36.2 percent) is substantially higher than the rate for private sector workers (6.9 percent).

Republicans are making a power play. Let’s be clear: Whatever fiscal problems Wisconsin is — or is not — facing at the moment, they’re not caused by labor unions.

It’s still to be seen if Republicans really do have the power (Democrats have absconded to Illinois to thwart Republican majority vote, which is perfectly legal).

Republican claim they have a mandate given their election; however, the Democrats too have a mandate of their election, which they too are exercising.

MikeN says:

noname, They can end the collective bargaining rights without the Democrats. They only need them for q quorum on budget matters.

erroneous says:

what seems to be missing in the discussion? The children. Education. It seems as though we have lost sight of one fundamental fact: we pay teachers to educate our students. I will spare you of the rant explaining that these government teachers are only doing what is required of them … teaching students to know and love government. But the fact is that when you get unions involved, the job at hand becomes secondary to being a member of a union. As a member of that union, you will work to get more for less. And in the case of government workers, you will work to get more taxpayer money while sacrificing nothing. Students have become secondary. Is it any wonder why our education system can’t keep up with other nations?

Just how secondary are the students? Let me remind you of the words of the late Albert Shanker. Shanker was the president of the American Federation of Teachers from 1964 to 1984. A reporter approached Shanker at a union convention to ask about the nature of the resolutions being presented for consideration by the teachers. The reporter wanted to know why the bulk of the deliberations at the convention were about fighting school choice and more benefits and pay for teachers, while very little was being said about the actual students. Shanker’s response? “I will worry about the children when they can vote in union elections.” That pretty much says it all, doesn’t it?

Take this quick example of how collective bargaining has affected the DC school system. Remember Michelle Rhee? She did wonders to improve education levels in the DC school system while she was the commissioner there. That included firing ineffective teachers. The teacher’s unions didn’t like her .. and they didn’t like the Mayor who hired her … so they campaigned against him and defeated him at the polls. Now, thanks to collective bargaining agreements, DC is having to hire back many of those teachers because of what the union claims is a failure to comply with proper union dismissal procedures. These were ineffective teachers who were fired because of tardiness, unprofessional behavior, “rude and aggressive” demeanor, and so forth. But now they are being forced to be hired back, and D.C. taxpayers will also be required to pay two years in back wages, costing the city approximately $7.5 million. As Michelle Rhee points out, a recent study “concluded the United States would rise to the top among nations in student achievement if the lowest performing 5 percent to 8 percent of teachers were replaced with those who are average.” But instead, we are forced to keep lousy teachers in the system, all thanks to unions and their collective bargaining agreements with the government.

(Michelle Rhee is now working for Florida’s new Governor Rick Scott! And the voters of Washington DC have shown why we are all better off if they can’t elect representatives to Congress.)

The idea that Governor Scott Walker actions in stripping union employees of certain collective bargaining rights violates a basic human right is absurd. They had the opportunity to vote in the last election – the opportunity to elect their union-friendly candidates, and they failed. First, let’s remember that in the case of Wisconsin the unions would still have collective bargaining rights over wages … we are only talking about stripping collective bargaining rights for benefits. Second, it is not as if this country was founded on the notion of collective bargaining as an inalienable right. Collective bargaining with the government did not occur until the 1960s, when both entities realized that they could use each other to their own advantage. Think about it … both government and unions have the same goals in mind: to grow in size and in power. Meanwhile, they have somebody else’s money with which to negotiate: taxpayer dollars. So there is literally nobody to stop them in their perpetual cycle, which enables each other to grow in power and size. Until now. Now we have to put a stop to it, otherwise we are all going to crumble. Our states cannot sustain the level of spending without imploding, leaving us with nothing. So somebody had to be the first one to put a stop to it. In this case, it was the government – a Republican governor. And the unions cannot understand, for the life of them, why someone in government would want to put an end to this cycle.

hpbear says:

toomanypuppies, not sure we need to do that. how about just make all campaign contributions above say 250 or 500 bucks per year (corporate or personal citizens, soft money or hard, but a decent amount for most working people’s budgets within a year) illegal? and anyone who wants to funnel more funds illegally through their campaigns would be prosecuted for bribery, and the prosecutors would not be allowed to opt against prosecuting. that way no company or person could have more say than the guy next door.

MikeN says:

#63, well let’s see them prosecute Howard Dean first. The legal limit is $6000 in Wisconsin, and he just raised for them $100000.

erroneous says:

hey Metis i’m not a tea bagger…if you like though I can show you what the inside of a bag looks like as it’s being dropped into a lake if you want though. 🙂

Metis says:

#68 erroneous

Thank you for confirming my earlier conclusion.

Only a Tea Bagger would be stupid enough to think a physical threat, written on a blog, was an effective argument. 🙁