1. MikeN says:

    Anthony Lewis, Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Loretta Sanchez, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama,
    and throw in all the Congressmen who signed the Dear Commandante letter.

  2. MikeN says:

    Don’t worry, you have something else to complain about in Wisconsin. The Senate leader is not letting the guys who walked off the job, er I mean heroically kept Republicans from eviscerating the rights of the people, well the Senate leader is not even going to let them vote anymore!

  3. Dallas says:

    I haven’t seen this many backpedaling comments in a long time!

  4. jpfitz says:

    Back in the early eighties I worked in a large machine shop and you had to join the union to work there.

    I was only an operator when I started there making 5.50/hr. We worked 55 hours a week and anything over 50 hours was double time because of the union.

    After 10 months I was programming and setting up the machines and making 10.50/hr. My 5 dollar raise infuriated the union shop steward. All workers can only get the unions agreed upon raise and no more. I really feel some people benefit from unions more than others, ya see I was liked by management and despised by the union. I’m no union lover but what is going on now is wrong.

    The Tea party people I know are or were union members (mostly Teamsters) so I am confused as to their love of Palin, Walker and the lot.

  5. aslightlycrankygeek says:

    I must admit I am not so educated on the history of recent history of unions due to my age and the fact that I attended public schools.

    In general it seems any time you are forced to join a union or if it is a public union, it is a bad idea and should not be legal. It is one thing for a union to hold a company hostage, but holding society hostage should never be allowed. Why would we not want to pay people based on their performance instead of treating them like drones that all have the same performance? Why are some public employees such as police, firefighters, and air traffic controllers not allowed to strike, and others not?? When it became obvious it was a bad idea to allow these professions to strike, why is it OK for the other public employees to leave their jobs at will while taxpayers pay for it. Are our childrens’ education not important enough to be protected from these shenanigans?

    Anyway, even if you completely disagree with what the government of Wisconsin is doing, I found Scott Walker’s column in the WSJ to be a very good explanation of why he believes they need to change the union laws.
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704132204576190260787805984.html

  6. Hmeyers says:

    @21 Rabble Rouser

    “Hmyers, sorry to say, but you are SO incorrect when you said that unions only support Democratic candidates.”

    Only is a strong word. So what, they support a handful of Republicans? Well, that’s great — because if were not for the fact that unions overwhelmingly fund only Democrats (throw in a few token Republicans — big deal) — they could have bought out both parties.

    And we’d be screwed.

    Fortunately, the unions are biased, shortsighted and .. ultimately … frankly … STUPID.

    “Public sector unions make sure that elected officials keep their word,”

    Guess what? 88.2 of the private sector works under bosses without a union.

    This may seem like news to you.

    And telling me that public sector employees are more special than private sector employees is a load of freaking horseshit.

    Private sector employees and their bosses have to live under economic pressures.

    Public sector employees often act like they have some sort of special status and do not have to share in the economic pain like the rest of us do.

    Well … to any public sector with that “more special than the rest of us attitude” … I wish you a sincere “Forget you.”

  7. SIMPS says:

    #4,6,11,13,15,16 &26

    RR made his speech at a time when ALL jobs in Poland were public sector jobs. How can you say that he was referring to private sector jobs only.

  8. foobar says:

    Ah Uncle Ronnie. Amiable old ex B-Movie actor and former union president. Too bad Fred McMurray isn’t around to continue the run.

  9. Buzz Mega says:

    The whole Wisconsin thing has to do with ripping out financial support of Democratic campaign donations from unions. Kill the union: kill the check writer.

    Nothing less.

  10. JimD says:

    Did “Saint Ronnie” make that speech before or after he FIRED THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ?

  11. B. Dog says:

    Hey, anybody ever see the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit? It was based loosely on a true story. So, after the oil companies, tire companies, and automakers destroyed the private transit systems, the local governments had to run the transit systems themselves. The Feds decided that it was only right that the people who worked for the transit systems did as well once the local governments employed them. It seems fair, right? That provision, known as 13.c still exists today. Any city that runs a bus company must engage in collective bargaining with the workers, or they get no federal money for the system. So, when the State of Wisconsin got rid of collective bargaining to save money, it lost a shitload of money.

  12. MikeN says:

    >RR made his speech at a time when ALL jobs in Poland were public sector jobs.

    No they were all jobs for the Communist regime. Quite a different thing. Communism doesn’t serve the public, it is the other way around.

  13. Mextli says:

    # 45 “when the State of Wisconsin got rid of collective bargaining to save money, it lost a shitload of money.”

    Not yet. Take a look at “Ambiguities and a Possible Fix”.

    http://tinyurl.com/4mds45w

    This statute does nothing, however, to suggest ways to reconcile statutory, and grant-based, labor protections (i.e., “13(c) rights”) with a state ban on collective bargaining with public employees or their union.

  14. MikeN says:

    The big loss is when the Democrats disappeared, and the state was unable to refinance its debt, costing $165 million. Hopefully they will be able to recover some of that.

  15. MikeN says:

    >ever see the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

    Yea I saw it. Could you explain the true story on which you claim it is based?

    I remember a murder in Toontown, and tractors that flatten the main characters.

  16. B. Dog says:

    Mike N,

    The story revolves around the streetcars. The villain was out to replace them with freeways. In real life, back in the 1950’s, the auto industry, tire industry, and gasoline companies bought up transit systems all around the country and ran them into the ground — wrecked them. The companies that conspired to do this were tried, convicted, and fined $5,000.

  17. chris says:

    #40 Oh snap!

    Good one.

  18. Mr. Fusion says:

    Lyin’ Mike,

    I see you still have to keep lying. it must really suck to have to claim Michelle Obama, Pelosi, Waters, et al are communist.

    It must really suck to deny all Polish citizens worked for the state.

    It must really suck to think Wisconsin is going to legally punish any Democrat Senator that left the State. Or that many will still be there this time next year.

    And it must suck just to be you.

  19. HUGSaLOT says:

    This was back in 1980 when he was *running* for president. He wasn’t elected yet. He was sworn in, in 1981.

    #41, same can be said for George W. Bush.

  20. langpm says:

    RR was not talking here about public sector “collective bargaining”. There is no such thing. By definition collective bargaining is adversarial. It can only take place between two independent entities. In the public space the public employees elect or take part in the election of those on the other side of the table. This is not an adversarial bargain and in most cases today when you have democrats in power they are on the same side as the union which elected them. Thats not bargaining that is conspiring.

    So – call it what it is – “Collective conspiring”

  21. MikeN says:

    In Communism, they have one party. Democrats do the same thing, only they get their one party not legally but by trying to dilute the Republican vote. They put up fake tea party candidates to draw out the vote, while complaining about Republican money bankrolling Alvin Greene.

  22. PolishKnight says:

    For the leftists drooling over this quote, keep in mind that “collective bargaining” goes both ways: RR fired the air traffic controllers as he was FREE to do so.

    Since the unions had their contracts under state law, the legislators could simply amend the law and there goes the contracts (view it as similar to a “living constitution” tee hee) Kick out all the teachers and public unions and then rehire them at a fraction of the price under a new union. Oh, and that new union will donate all that money to Republicans from now on.

    Leftism: The notion held by self-proclaimed smart and caring people that big government is great because it will rob from others to pay for their agenda while griping that the evil government is robbing from them to pay for someone else’s agenda…


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