– I can’t fathom how a middle class white guy thinks it’s OK to write this piece.
– While we cannot officially speak for every worker who shares our occupation, we can use this opportunity to reveal what it’s like to walk a day in our shoes for the 110,000 of us in America whose job it is to be a port truck driver. It may be tempting for media to ask questions about whether we support a shutdown, but there are no easy answers. Instead, we ask you, are you willing to listen and learn why a one-word response is impossible? (h/t)
– I’m no fan of Michell Bachmann, but the Washington Post is a disgrace.
– That Made in America label
– Newt Gingrich is no Reagan, and he’s also no Howard Dean.
– That’s probably the best Rick Perry 3 things joke.
– Newt is a scary, scary guy.
That’s a good article on the situation involving the port truck drivers. I’ve got a couple of family members in the trucking business, as well as a good friend who works for a union shop, and it pretty well tracks what they’ve been saying for quite some time.
The union driver’s company was acquired by another company about four years ago. It original company was financially sound, but not a market-leader. The new owners liked the old company’s assets and raided it within days. Then they insisted that the employees bear the cost of the acquisition through layoffs (one person doing three people’s work), withholding of pension plan payments, and a unilateral 50% wage cut by drivers, all claimed to be “necessary” if the company were to survive. When the union threatened to strike, the new company owners simply said it would file Chapter 11 and discharge their obligations under the union contracts, including the pension plans. Truckers like my friend, who is eight years away from qualifying for a pension after spending his entire working lifetime as a union trucker (and contributing into the system), could find that he never gets a pension at all.
As the article points out, the non-union drivers have it much worse. Trucks aren’t maintained, but they are the ones who get a ticket if the truck fails and inspection. Owner/operaters are getting paid rates which don’t even pay for the cost of diesel, much less maintenance and wear and tear on the trucks. Any complaints are met with disdain, one privildged ivy-leage a-hole told my cousin he was a spoiled, overpaid leach on society and if he didn’t like the rates, he should just quit – after turning over his truck as “damages” for early breach of the contract. This, after a forty-hour straight drive to deliver freight across eleven states for which he earned less than $20.00 after the cost of diesel was deducted.
On another occassion they booked him to truck an overweight load from Orlando to Seattle, promising the customer he could get it there in five days. The trailer had thread-bare tires, the company told him to buy and install new tires and they would reimburse him, but afterwards they refused to do so. Of course, an oversize load can’t be shipped cross-country in five days due to the numerous road restrictions in different states (in some states oversize loads can only travel in daytime, in others only at night), and there were a significant number of bridges he couldn’t use requiring long detours. It took him seven days, and then the company refused to pay him anything at all because he was “late”.
Welcome to the Republican world of “competative wages”, at least as it applies to the 99%.
Re: Newt Gingrich: On a Civil War discussion board, there were lots of comments about how “it doesn’t matter what Gingrich (or any other Republican politician) said or did – anybody would be better than Obama”.
These guys are 100% into Fox News, dismissing all other news sources as “pinko, commie, terrorist loving” mainstream media.
It’s really hard to believe that there are a significant numbers in this country, albeit a minority, who have such a knee-jerk reaction that they would turn over government to the most incompetent blowhards rather than engage in a civil discussion about manufacturing base, tax policies, heath care, etc.
But I guess those are the folks who got us George W. Bush and eight years of incompetent leadership which got us into this mess. They would rather see the country go down in flames than give up a portion of their economic and political power. Them, and their lackeys who don’t understand that they also are the victims of Republican policies.
I also found it depressing that a white middle-age guy would presume to write that urban minorities can “pull themselves up by their own bootstraps” if only they tried.
Are there a few that manage to succeed? Sure. Are there a few rich white kids that manage to get strung out, homeless, and in jail? Sure.
The issue is not the top 10%, who may succeed regardless of their difficulties, or the bottom 10%, who may fail regardless of the assistance or advantages offered to them. This issue is, and always has been, the 80% in between.
The telling statement was his casual reference to “teachers he knows” who assure him that the urban poor minorities can easily get cheap computers and internet access. Anyone who purports to be a journalist should know to investigate such stories, rather than use them as the foundation for a broad pronouncement of his understanding of social and economic issues.
Any investigation would show that a family struggling to make rent and put food on the table, much less keep the kids in clothes, will usually find that purchasing a computer and ISP access at home – with the software required by the school and enough speed to access the school network for their homework assignments – can easily be an insurmountable burden. For those families, $350, or even $150, may be as daunting a challenge as several thousands of dollars for the rest of us. While public schools try to adjust by providing access to computers at school, their hours of availability are limited, and in the poorer areas there simply may not be enough computers to meet the demand. A student who is rationed to one hour of computer use at the school library a week can hardly get a research paper written, much less compete for academic scholarships against their more priviledged competition.
As school budgets get cut, it just gets worse and worse. Students are expected to pay fees for joining athletic teams, clubs, attend science fairs and field trips, etc. Those that find themselves unable to bear the expense of those multiple fees for each child will find their college applications lacking in essential extracurricular activities, etc. which admissions counselors seek.
Re WaPo piece on Bachmann: Hard to believe a newspaper can be this bad, unless you’re detained in Gitmo and forced to read the Seattle Times editorial page to make you talk.
@1 Typical of the thievery uninformed people called “business.” Have you seen the driver-recruiting ads painted on trucks? Almost every truck has one. Now you know why they can’t get drivers. Oh yeah, there’s plenty of jobs, the righties will say — sure, if you’re willing to work for free or pay employers for the “privilege” of working. The War On Workers won’t end until the economy collapses.
# 5: The “driver recruiting” ads are there even if there are no positions available. That’s to warn drivers not to get “uppity” or they will be replaced.
Well, that didn’t take long.
Craig Bergman was part of a focus group conducted last Wednesday by TheIowaRepublican.com, in conjunction with McClatchy newspapers. He identified himself as an “undecided voter”, but in his comments he referenced favorably the views of a controversial pastor who called Mormonism a “cult”. The next day the Gingrich campaign announced that he was their new political director in Iowa. But yesterday his comments appeared in newspapers, and today he’s no longer with the Gingrich campaign.
I suspect Bergman’s “sin” wasn’t his beliefs or his comments. What got him disavowed by the campaign was getting caught.
RR @4:
Would that variety of torture be defined as editorialboarding?
Mittens has the nomination in the bag, now that Christine O’Donnell has endorsed him.
Am I the only one who covers his ears and chants “TMI, TMI” when Newt’s private life comes up?
Senate Democrats cave.
Senate Democrats Moving Away From Insistence on Millionaire Tax
9: “That’s one of the things that I like about him — because he’s been consistent since he changed his mind,” O’Donnell said.
I can’t quite get my brain around that one. The quote, though, does provide valuable insight into how wingnuts “think.”
@12
The whole thing doesn’t make any sense. I wonder if Romney went into the bathroom and puked after talking up the good O’Donnell’s done for the party.
Considering the Republican boasts in 2010 all I can this my how the mighty have fallen.
@5 Actually, it’s long been a common practice for employers–even companies otherwise regarded as having impeccable ethics–to place ads describing specific job openings in the want ads (back in the day) or on Monster or Dice or even Craigslist (now)…that are completely phony. The objective is not to hire someone, but to accumulate a file of resumes and salary histories to determine if they’re paying just enough, but not too much, to retain people with the skills they need to run the business.
In todays episode of: Today In Gun Violence, we go to NYC where an investigation found that private gun sellers were perfectly happy to break the law and sell guns to people they knew to be ineligible to own a gun.
And to Dallas where a road rage chase and crash has two people dead, one from a gun shot wound.
13
It is curious that Romney would want O’Donnell’s endorsement. That he does is testament to how crazy the GOP has become.
@15
Also here:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireS.....uktsBz5MxQ
@16
I wonder if he got it without seeking it.
But, but, but, I thought the Mittster is a conservative, what’s this talk of “moderate” and “progressive”?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded
Are you going to follow up with a Today in Drunk Driver News?
if you dont like guns, then dont own one.
@19
I own a few guns. Matter of fact, I was shooting a pellet pistol in back yard about 30 minutes ago. This isn’t about guns, it’s about their misuse. People who misuse guns, like the people that I link too, are a far greater threat to our right to own firearms than “the liberals”, many of whom own guns, or Obama.
@19
people misuse guns all the time…so what….guess I dont get your point.
poeple misuse cars all the time too, and kill a hell of a lot more people than guns do…and get a slap on the wrist as punishment….
@21
Funny that you used drunk driving in your previous comment as the rate of drunk driving and drunk driving deaths have gone down quite a bit over the last thirty years. Firearms deaths have held steady.
Why not do something like what we did to bring down firearms deaths like we did with drunk driving? Wouldn’t it be a good thing if fewer people got killed? If criminals had less access to firearms? Most criminals get their guns through straw purchases, which is a practice that we could cut way down on with a few simple changes and more cash for enforcement of gun laws.
Mostly, I’m pointing out how insane our current system is and that it needs changes. Changes that would have little or no effect on me could have large effects on how many people get injured and killed by guns every year.
As far as auto related deaths, everything I talk about in regards to getting people to live in walkable neighborhoods in cities and promoting cycling helps bring auto related deaths down.
MSNBC reports a drunk who harassed a lesbian couple outside a Bellingham bar got his butt kicked.
“‘One of the women threw him to the ground and pinned him,’ said [a police spokesman]. Lane was booked into Whatcom County Jail on four counts including malicious harassment — a hate crime and felony — on $2000 bail. The women were not identified ….”
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_n.....m-arrested
Roger Rabbit Commentary: That’ll teach ‘im!
Meanwhile, a North Carolina man sentenced to death for murdering his wife won a new trial because police botched the investigation. New forensic analyses indicate she was killed by an owl.
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_n.....urder-case
if you dont like guns, then dont own one.
Can you promise me that I don’t get a gun, some fool won’t shoot me by accident or design with theirs?
Or how about
if you don’t like nukes, then don’t own one.
or
if you don’t like Tuberculosis, then don’t breathe it.
@19 One of the features of this blog is that the liberal posters here think the daily gun violence plaguing our society is relevant to things like, oh, say, for example, Wisconsin’s Republican legislators trying to pass a bill that would allow anyone in that state to get a gun without a background check and carry concealed guns anywhere without a permit. Gun ownership is one thing, but wide-open wild-west gun laws is quite another thing. We just want voters to know what they’re voting for.
“if you dont like guns, then dont own one”
The problem isn’t guns I own, the problem is guns other people own. I haven’t shot anyone. (But that could change if rightwing nuts who go around saying liberals should be killed actually try it.)
Which brings us to the stupidity of #19. The obvious reason why we regulate gun possession is because it affects other people. There’s any old saying that your right to shoot your gun stops where my bunny ears start.
@27
You could say the same about cars too…..
@22
Who gives a flying fuck about rate? Irrelevant
@29
The rates that people get killed by things is irrelevant? You’re probably one of only a handful of people that believe that.
We don’t have a pro-drunk driving group in this country. But, we do have several pro-status quo on guns groups. Which is just belligerently stupid. You don’t have a right to the status quo.
@28 Or the defective condom that inflicted you on us …
We also have a political right that alludes to the use of political violence (see “fire the first shot” Bretbart and Ann Coulter). Pointing out the rate and reality of gun violence helps the left counter those voices on the right, like Bretbart and Coulter.
Could? We do! We legislate and engineer ways to make cars safer all the time. Cars have been getting progressively safer since the early 1970’s.
Looks like President Cave-In and the Jellyfish Democrats (TM) are gonna give in to GOP bullying on the millionaire tax, even though millionaires are saying, “Tax us more!” Typical.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45676676
Here’s the latest on that shooting in Texas. Weird deal.
@35
Yeah, I knew something like that was coming. The sell outs in the senate are on board too.
Hey Dutch,
Where are you?
Still waiting for you to put your money where you mouth is, little fellah.
@38
He seems to have hightailed it out of town.
People in Texas sure do like to shoot people.
See, people with domestic violence crap on their records aren’t supposed to get guns or the bullets to put in them, but under our current system for regulating firearms it’s very easy for them to do so. Why not change it so that it’s more difficult for them to get their hands on a gun?
And there’s this one.
It’s time for the nightly vocabulary quiz! The “leaderboard” starts over with a clean slate at 9 pm every night. I’ve already posted my score for tonight. (I’m “RR”.)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/quiz/index.htm
Obama is a Scary Scary Guy!
Did you know we ended a war last Thursday? There was nothing about that in the main stream news? A lot about Gingrich and the Kardassians though.
This is very interesting.
I googled “Lowe’s corporate office” to find where to send my nastygram about their caving to the racist knuckledraggers, and found the site above. Note the ratings on the comments – all the negative comments are down rated, all those applauding Lowe’s endorsement of racism are 5-stars.
Do you think this reflects the readers of ‘ecorporateoffices.com’ or are Lowe’s employees rigging the rating?
@44
Oops – my bad – the ratings are given by the posters – need more coffee.
Still notable are all the people applauding Lowe’s for standing in the way of the implementation of Sharia!!! in ‘merka.
Here’s the address for Lowe’s corporate office, and the letter I sent them about their decision to pull out of advertising during “All-American Muslim” on TLC.
Drop them a nastygram…
@42 Eeek! A right winger found commies hiding under his bed again! Oooh! Aaaah! If Obama is so scary, why are we still here?