Toward the beginning of this ridiculously condescending (even the parts I agree with) piece by The Seattle Times about Obama coming to town, we get this paragraph:
Never mind that Obama’s National Labor Relations Board went after Boeing a few years ago for moving part of its operation to South Carolina, looking stridently anti-business. It all worked out and last fall’s landmark labor agreement was win, win, win for workers, the company and the Northwest.
Of course we should mind it. It was one of the best things to happen because we elected him. The Seattle Times needs to get over this great thing that happened for the region!
The NLRB complaint against Boeing was a shot across the bow at Boeing and other companies that seek to cancel collective bargaining agreements by re-locating elsewhere. Combined with the realization that it was the Union workers in the Puget Sound region who were fixing all the mistakes that their out-sourced labor policies created, Boeing realized it had to quit fighting the unions and find a way to work with them. They found, surprisingly, a work force that was proud of their work and the product they developed, and wanted to keep Boeing strong not only for themselves, but so that their children could have a long career at Boeing as well.
The President is facing the same situation which Union workers faced. Across the table were the Republicans in the House, an adversary who should have been working with him to assist in the economic recovery of American. Instead he found an adversary who was willing to see America’s credit rating destroyed, her people desperately unemployed, as long as it aided their chances in the next election. Now, if only the Republicans in the House could come to the realization that they need to cooperate to solve America’s problems, then this country will be better for everyone.
If only The Stranger had a Sports and Business section…
…the assholes at “Fairview Fanny” (pun absolutely intended) would be rendered COMPLETELY irrelevant.
Frank Blethen can’t get past his virulent dislike of unions, period. His union phobia infects everything he publishes.
Re: Boeing & the Puget Sound, thousands of white collar workers supporting their union coworkers banked 3 weeks pay for their 2011 performance bonus today.
Good news for local car dealers!
And FU*K the a$$holes at the Seattle Times. They should take their lame was Puget Sound ignoring BS to South Carolina where worthless irrelevant BS is paid for.
Global Warming Deniers Target School Kids
“Leaked documents from a prominent conservative think tank show how it sought to teach schoolchildren skepticism about global warming and planned other behind-the-scenes tactics using millions of dollars of donations from big corporate names.
“More than $14 million of the money used by Chicago-based Heartland Institute would come from one anonymous man, according to leaked documents prepared for a meeting of the group’s board.
“Heartland is one of the loudest voices denying man-made global warming, hosting one of the largest international scientific conferences of skeptics on global climate change. Several of its documents were leaked this week to the news media, showing the planning and money behind its efforts. …
“Heartland’s plans … included paying an Energy Department consultant $100,000 to design a curriculum to teach school children that mainstream global warming science is in dispute …. It also pays prominent global warming skeptics more than $300,000 a year ….
“Five government and university scientists contacted [by Associated Press] said they were disturbed by … propaganda rooted in politics ….
“Businesses and other interests often offer free materials to cash-strapped schools, hoping that teachers will use them and help disseminate their views or promote their products. …
“The leaked document also discusses a new million-dollar Heartland initiative to promote the ability of patients to use experimental drugs that have not yet received federal safety approval, and efforts to support embattled Wisconsin Republican leaders ….”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....82824.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: This is a free country, so Dr. Mengele can conduct his medical experiments and support his buddy Scott Walker; but I think we should keep him away from our kids. He looks like a child molester.
P.S., What global warming science hater can you think of (whose name starts with “K”) who can throw $14 million at an outfit like this?
I think I read that his grandfather was putting out newspapers traveling with the “Hell on Wheels” camps moving across the country with the building of the railroad. He got along well with the workers (they were his customer) until he wrote something that really pissed them off, and they came after him with pick-axes and 20 lb sledges. They burnt his shack and destroyed his printing equipment. I never heard what it was he wrote, but hating workers in general, and union workers in particular, has been a family theme for years.
I think I got that right, I hope I’m not confusing his grandfather with the grandfather of Kemper Friedman. I do know that Kemper Friedman’s father was one of the guys who stirred up the mob mentality that resulted in the deportation of Americans of Japanese descent to the inland camps, he then made a fortune buying up the former strawberry farms of those Japanese-Americans and laying out the city of Bellevue, retaining the most desirable lots in the center of the city.
Republicans are determined to destroy all the unions and reduce wages to third-world levels, so no one can buy their goods and services. I just can’t figure out what their motivation is.
New Jersey Passes Gay Marriage
“The New Jersey Assembly on Thursday passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriages, setting the stage for an expected veto by Gov. Chris Christie.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46.....news-life/
BREAKING NEWS — Shooting At Calif. Federal Building
News media report an immigration officer was wounded and a gunman was killed in a shootout at the Long Beach, California, federal building tonight. The incident occurred about 45 minutes ago.
Never mind that it’s illegal to retaliate against workers for exercising collective bargaining rights, and Boeing’s violation of the law was so egregious (Boeing execs actually bragging about doing exactly that) that the NLRB had no choice but to act.
The Times editorial board: staunch advocates of law and order, unless, of course, they don’t like the laws.
Seattle is about market #15 in the US. Charleston is #79. That’s about right for the Bothell Times.
Update On Long Beach Shooting
Two immigration agents were killed and one wounded in the shooting at Long Beach Federal Building. The shooter apparently was one of the agents, so this may have been a workplace dispute.
State Budget Shortfall Shrinks
“A combination of growing tax collections and falling demand for state services will shrink the state’s budget deficit by about $435 million, according to a new economic forecast issued today.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46.....verett_wa/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I wonder if the trolls will give Gregoire credit for this? After all, they blamed every dime of budget shortfall (not deficit; the state has never had a deficit) on her. So, it seems to me, she should get the credit when things go the other way.
Now that the state is $435 million richer than anyone thought it was, will the Seattle Times run an editorial supporting higher teacher pay and boosted funding for schools?
The Cheap Labor Conservatives are at it again.
“Imagine an industry that came through the Great Recession relatively unscathed financially … fighting proposed legislation that would afford its workers the same … minimum wage and overtime pay the rest of us enjoy. …
“Workers who care for homebound Grandma and Grandpa only earn about $21,000 a year on average …. But the industry that provides some 1.8 million home health care aides to the country’s disabled and chronically ill population is fighting new legislation that would guarantee those workers the same federal labor rights afforded to all other workers ….
“The Obama administration proposed legislation in December that would guarantee minimum wage and overtime coverage to home health care aides in the United States. … [N]early 40 percent of them rely on … Medicaid and food stamps, and many lack health insurance coverage. … [M]any are not guaranteed overtime pay when they work for more than 40 hours a week, and they’re … not paid for travel time between client visits. …
“[T]he home health care industry is fighting the proposal tooth and nail …. Home Instead Senior Care, one of the largest providers of home health care aides, spent $362,000 fighting the White House proposal last year, according to USA Today.”
http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.co.....e-proposal
Roger Rabbit Commentary: These employers are paid with taxpayer dollars, so I think taxpayers have the right to tell them what to pay their workers. If they don’t like it, then I would say to them, get off the dole and make your money in the private sector — if you can. Oh, and btw, even private sector workers are entitled to minimum wage and overtime. The quasi-federal nature of this employment has given cheap-labor employers cover long enough. It’s time these workers stopped being denied fair working conditions simply because they, in effect, work for the government.
Home Instead Senior Care said it isn’t opposed to paying minimum wage for home health care workers.
Hey, if any of you trolls wants one of those cushy and overpaid taxpayer-supported jobs you’re always complaining about,
I have a suggestion for you …
Has puddy been banned? Good riddance.
AutoNation’s CEO Blasts Romney As ‘Dishonest’
This is an actual letter to the Detroit News:
“Dear Editor:
“As far as Mitt piece in yesterday’s Detroit News it was truly reckless, detached from reality, and dishonest. I also think it’s very bad politics, especially in Michigan.
“It was Bush that stepped in with the ‘Bailout’ of GM & Chrysler in the fall of ’08, not Obama. So that is just dishonest and W just said it at NADA; ‘he would do it again.’ That circumstance trumped philosophy and he prevented a depression and 20% unemployment.
“Secondly, Mitt’s assertion that private financing ‘DIP’ was available in fall of ’08 into ’09 is fantasy. Everyone knows we were in the midst of the greatest financial meltdown since the 1930’s.
“Finally, Obama’s Auto Taskforce did do a good job killing all the sacred cows. There was dramatic pain for all.
“What more can I say, it is very disappointing.
“Mike Jackson
Chairman & CEO
AutoNation”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46416340
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Mittster is growing increasingly shrill. Why? Because he wants to be president so bad he can taste it, and he feels it slipping away.
@5 The Heartland Institute’s list of major donors includes the Koch brothers (no great surprise) and Microsoft (sort of a WTF). Maybe it’s OK by Redmond to teach kids bullshit, as long as it’s done using their software.