So You Want Right to Work Huh?

Tags

Humor, Michigan, Right-to-work state, satire, unions

The mantra of the GOP.

Remember when the good guy was about to die and he grabbed the bad guy at the last second, and the both fell into the bottomless chasm?

You don’t?

Well my point is that while that’s a good thing in that case, it’s usually the design of the petulant self-observed shit who decides that life is not worth living because of X, so he’s gonna take out as many others as possible when he goes.

I fervently request that he just go alone. You know the type. Suicidal nut kills family and then self. Just kill self please. Seriously if you must end life, just end your own.

Well the GOP seems engaged in that kind of thing these days. In the waning days of lame duckers everywhere, there seems a concerted effort on the part of departing or reduced number GOP’ers to pass all types of shitty legislation in some last gasp of “so F**K you!”

Everyone is no doubt aware that the Governor of Michigan rushed through “right to work” legislation and signed it immediately because frankly they didn’t think they could get away with it in the new-elected yet not seated legislature. I think they also added some appropriation to it which apparently makes it not subject to a referendum. Ya see, Republicans know they act against the wishes of the majority, so they try to insulate their nefarious acts so they are not easily undone.

Similarly Ricky, “I suck as a candidate” Perry just pushed through some Fetal Pain legislation as another of the ongoing ways of trying to trump Roe v. Wade, and make abortions unavailable to women. I should say he has it on his agenda for the last gasp meeting of the state legislature in January.

And plenty of the Congressional GOP caucus is still stubbornly digging in their heels that they will not vote for ANY tax increase, no no not ever.

You see, we are long past representing “the people” in this country. We are now into representing “some portion of the people, especially if they are paying me to do it” in this country.

Now call me jaded by of course who was most prominent in the Michigan right-to-work legislation? Oh Freedom Works? Yes, them. And who is them? Why the Koch brothers who write legislation that is favorable to their massive holdings and of course flood the bank accounts of those people who are willing to push their agenda in their various states. Having taking a drubbing in the national elections, the Koch’s are busy getting’ ‘er done in plenty of states.

Explain to me why anybody would want to work in a right-to-work state? Why would employers push it? Think! Because they don’t want to pay wages that are fair and they don’t want to pay for benefits and they don’t care about shop safety unless it seriously impinges on their ability to make a buck.

The GOP claims that Michigan has lost jobs because companies won’t come to Michigan because it’s unionized. They take their business to RTW states. Duh. Why? Because they can and it’s CHEAPER and it allows them to make more MONEY for THEMSELVES.

Now some say, well a job is a job. Well yes that’s like saying a cardboard box is a house because people live in them.

Shall we succumb to the lowest common denominator?

Now the uniformed say, well heck it’s not fair to MAKE me pay union dues if I don’t agree with union political policies. True enough, but my friend, you still want to take advantage of the contract that they negotiate on behalf of both union members and YOU. You take the benefit package too. Now if you want to forego that, perhaps we can talk.

Because of you take the benefits without paying for them, then you are a FREELOADER, a MOOCHER, a GIFTED ONE,  a TAKER, you know, all the things you say are so awful in our country. You would be one of THEM, and nothing is worse to you than being one of THEM is there?

Before there were unions, there were slave wages, company towns where every dime you made went right back to the company in rent and food. Before unions there were unsafe working conditions, long hours, child labor. Before unions there was no such thing as benefits. You paid your own insurance for health care and dental care, and guess what? You couldn’t afford them so you didn’t have them. Before unions you lived a mere subsistence life and there was little or no likelihood that your kids would do any better.

Do unions have problems? Sure they do, just like any organization. There are abuses and fraud and there is theft. There was probably a time when unions had too much power and companies just caved on demands and passed the costs on to the consumer. But that is not the case today.

There are benevolent employers. The stories of how they run their companies and how they treat their employees is legendary. They don’t just do all that is required. When the going gets awful, they go without themselves trying to hold the line and not lay off anyone. They provide day care by choice. They provide health clubs inside the company, walking trails and meditation rooms. They invest in how to provide the best environment for their workers and they get the best out of them. The loyalty and productivity are also legendary.

But they are the exception. A goodly number of CEO’s are sociopathic individuals. They don’t care about your needs or concerns because they can’t feel anything much at all. They cannot empathize. They are little Mitt Romneys. Business is mostly a game and games have winners and losers and they want to be winners and that is defined by MONEY. So they acquire, and they post profits, at any cost. Any cost THEY THING THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH.

They have always done this. They will continue to do this until we have bred into our business teaching a model that reflects the benevolent employer.

Until they do, unions are the only thing that stands between the worker and the Goliath corporation which will suck her dry and cast her aside when she is no longer physically able to do the job at the same efficiency level. Then, as they say, “she’s your mother, you take care of her. It’s not the government’s business to become her caretaker.” Except you have nothing much yourself. Oops, I guess you forgot. You’re a worker too.

And retire? No, they will carry you out and throw you in a box. And your family will figure out some way.

Don’t think that will happen?

Read your history.

It did.

And you want to return us to the same state of affairs where that happened.

Think!

Wake up dude. You are being taken for a ride by those who have no interest in your success, only in your compliance with their agenda.

You aren’t going to take me with you. I promise you that.

 

!What the BeJesus is Going on in. . . .MICHIGAN?

Tags

Humor, Michigan

An election you dummy! Doncha watch the news?

The Willard and The Ragin’ Rickster are pitted in the col0sseum, trident versus sword and net, circling, muscles rippling, abs rock hard, sizing up, crowds hushed then roaring, calling for blood, craning necks to see the death-blow.

Okay, actually it’s two buffoons seeing which one can feed more red meat to the TeaMob®.

So, let’s look at the fair state of MICHIGAN, my place of birth, and one of two states shaped as a body part. Hint: Never trust a state shaped as a body part. The mitten will slap ya silly and the penis will leave you deeply unsatisfied.

Okay. Michigan is very Frenchie, which drives the Neo-Cons wild cuz they love to bash the French. Michigan is actually Mishigamaa the Ojibwa word for the land and it means, . . .”large water.” Which has nothing to do with peeing, I assure you.

It has over 64,000 lakes which makes it way more lakey than that land of 10,oo0 puny lakes. In fact, a Michigander (Goose land?) is never more than six nautical miles from dipping his toe into some body of water. Rubber boots are big as you might guess.

It is fairly weird in that it has two pieces to it, and they don’t touch, unless you count an artificial bridge,The Mackinac,  that connects them. The Upper, Yooper land, is really only Michigan’s by default. Wisconsin drew a line in the sand, and told everyone on the north side to stay on their own side, and Michigan, being a generous and compassionate state, took the waif Upper, and let it share the name. It’s true. I read it on a Burma Shave ad somewhere in El Paso.

The Mackinac is not Mack en Ac as you might suspect, but is actually Mack en awe. And you will be in awe crossing that bugger, which I have more times than I would like to remember. It’s freakin’ long, and scary and, yes one or two poor souls a year drive their vehicles clean off it and take an unexpected dive into lake Superior, which is a lake with attitude, as you can tell by the name.

Now before the French came, there were a whole lot of tribes who lived peaceably in the area, which they called the Confederation of Three Fires. Course, the French being the French, they changed all the names of everybody. For instance they changed the Wyandot to the Huron, you know, cause Y N DOT sounds a lot like Hurrrr ON. Anyway, the French got on good with the locals, and the Catholic missionaries were busy convertin’ away.

Finally they, the French that is, started organizing things in the South, which mainly consisted of puttin’ French names to everything, which remain to this day. Which is a whole ‘nother story about how good old “Mericans” can utterly rape the hell out of a language once they get ahold of it. Examples are Livernois which would be “Leveer-nuaw” but is called today Liver-noise”, and “Beau-bi-ah” which is today called “Bo-be-an”.

Well, if you recall there used to be a lot of wars back then, and the French lost one, and Michigan became English. So Michigan, land of forests and Native Americans (who hadn’t yet been told they were Native Americans), went from being French snooty to English snooty. After the Revolutionary War, Michigan, no doubt because of all that snootiness up their noses, couldn’t see where the boundary lines were, and considered themselves part of Canada. This was not all sorted out until 1847, which tells you that, well the folks there are a bit directionally impaired.

Not a lot of people lived there until the Erie Canal opened up and people flocked in to take the great water slide run all the way down the St. Lawrence.

The state is insufferably connected to the Republican party, and would be a big fat Red were it not for the auto industry and unions. Unions = Democrats in case you don’t know. All Michigan school children learn this from the first grade onward. Dick and Jane’s parents were members of the UAW. Spot was an Independent.

While there are lots of universities and colleges, there are only two U of M and the real great one MSU. I went to one of them, but I’m very neutral on which one is best.

Course Michigan is known for cars. Lots of cars. All kinds of cars. Fords, Buicks, Oldsmobiles, Chryslers. Henry Ford developed the “moving assembly line” and created the new mental illness “bored to death” along with it. Ford paid his workers more money than any workers before them, but not because he was kind, he just wanted them to buy his cars.

Tons of people flocked into Michigan to become bored to death in the factories, tightening a bolt all day. This caused some African-Americans to start singing the blues, which became a place called Motown. You can still see the house up on Grand Avenue, which is NOT Grand at all by most standards. You can go in and see the microphone used by Smokey Robinson and The Supremes if you want.

Grand Rapids has long claimed to be the furniture manufacturing hub of the world. No one has ever been bored enough to drive that far to find out if it’s true.

Mildew is the leading cause of death, as you might expect.

In 1846, Michigan became the first state in the Union to abolish the death penalty. I wrote a hundred page paper on that for law school which has never been published, but I will give a private reading if requested.

A whole lot of other things could be said, but hey, they aren’t very interesting to me. It’s too cold in winter, too muggy in the summer, too buggy, and too cloudy.

Oh, and by the way. They never pick the candidate who wins anything nationally. So don’t worry your head whether The Willard or The Ragin’ Rickter wins in Michigan. They chose George Wallace and Jesse Jackson in primaries too.  

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• More Clues on Michigan Coming Soon (talkingpointsmemo.com)
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Bad News is Everywhere

Tags

corporate elites, energy, environment, GOP, Japan, Libya, Manning, Michigan, Military, nuclear energy, Qaddafi, wikileaks

Word out of Japan is not good. Meltdown remains a real possibility. I understand radiation levels are increasing even in Tokyo, though they are no way alarming at this time.

Still, this scenario must be horrifying to those living and present on the island. Historic memories are recalled, and this must heighten the fear.

I am nearly numb from the pictures and the numbers. Severe quakes still continue to come ever few hours. People are washing up on shore in numbers that sear the mind. One can but wonder how relief workers can carry on. I have no words, just prayers and agonized thoughts.

♦

Meanwhile, things continue to be bleak for rebels forces in Libya. Qaddafi’s mercenaries are gaining ground at every turn it seems. Promises of amnesty are seen for what they are, mere lies. No one doubts that Qaddafi intends to destroy everyone connected with the rebel uprising. While everyone seems on board with a no-fly zone, none is so far implemented.

If Qaddafi gets away with this slaughter, they other tyrants will become emboldened that they too can simply murder opposition without concern for anything more than words from the International Community. This is simply immoral.

I have no doubt that there are no easy solutions, but we cannot merely sit back and watch this horror. The countries of the world must address this issue of rogue states and decide on a strategy and then implement it. Otherwise, these things will continue as they have so far decade after decade.

♦

Pfc. Bradley Manning is incarcerated at Quantico, Va, for allegedly turning over WikiLeaks material. I have no opinion on that frankly, although I’m predisposed to think that the more we the public knows the better. The whole idea of “secret” smacks to me of convenience whereby leadership in any country can do all manner of things intolerable to average folks in the name of “national security.”

In any event, what is happening to Mr.Manning is unconscionable and immoral. He is being kept in solitary confinement, being allowed to “walk around a room in shackles for one hour per day.” His clothes are taken from him and night, and not returned until he is “inspected” the next day. I don’t know if he is allowed any media material, books, TV or the like.

What I can tell you is this. When I was a law student, I did an in-depth study of the death penalty in Michigan, my home state. I learned that the death penalty was deliberately avoided in favor of solitary confinement, for the precise reason that it was considered more cruel.

After using it for some years, the head of the penal system begged the legislature to allow some time in general population for those prisoners. Solitary confinement tended to produce death or insanity within about three years.

Efforts to see Manning by many, the latest I believe being Dennis Kucinich, have been rebuffed.

If we are a compassionate people, a moral people, we should be contacting our representatives in Congress.

♦

It gets more and more painful to report how Republican legislators and their Rethug Governors are putting in place a world that is safe for corporate greed to have the day, and at the same time tax the poor.

In Michigan, the GOP passed legislation allowing the Governor to declare “economic states of emergency” in any town and move in, cancelling contracts (labor), seizing assets and selling them, and firing elected officials.

Further cuts are made against the poor and working class by cancelling a $500 child tax credit, credits for seniors and other such things, all the while cutting corporate taxes by 86%. Yes, you read that right. When added all up, the taxes fall most harshly on the poorest, while the richest people in the state suffer only 0.1% increase.

This is what you get from Republicans. They do the bidding of their corporate masters.  

♦

And just because the news is so god-awful terrible today, this:

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• More on Manning (feministphilosophers.wordpress.com)
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Is It Child Abuse?

Tags

creationism, education, evolution, fundamentalism, homeschooling, Iowa, Michigan, religion

Not being a parent, I feel uniquely qualified to give opinion on the practice of homeschooling. At least I am good company, since in a significant number of states, there is zero regulation of the practice, and anyone can declare themselves “teacher.” So, like I said, I’m uniquely qualified.

The chart says a lot. In those states of white, there are NO regulations whatsoever. Thus it allows a mere high school graduate in a state like Michigan (and one’s competence varies of course as to the quality of even that status), to “teach” their children. In red states, the requirements are high, requiring at minimum licensed teachers, testing and evaluations done on a regular basis. Most of these are required in the orange states as well. Iowa for example, required a licensed teacher, and evaluations done periodically along with testing. It does however, exempt the Amish type communities from compliance.

My first experience with homeschooling came in something I read or saw regarding Alaska. Folks who lived deep in the wilderness had no access to schools; heck they receive their mail ofttimes by biplane. As I recall, the two kids, schooled by mom, placed at Harvard and tested well above their peers. Wow, I thought. How lucky. If I had only had well educated parents who could have led me on an independent study into all those places my regular school had no “time” for in the rush to meet the general “citizenship” requirements.

I often thought that homeschooling as an adult would be something I would deeply love–giving my child an extra boost toward college. I still agree, there are circumstances when homeschooling is better. The obvious is when there is no alternative such as living in remote areas of a state. Another situation is well known to many urban dwellers–inadequate and substandard schools in their area.

As the map suggests, homeschooling, as schooling in general tends to be, respects to an inordinate degree, the state and the parent. The differences between states seems wildly variant. This goes hand in hand with our general belief that the state should not exercise too much control over families. They are sacrosanct in some sense, and only a serious state interest should intrude upon the family. One can look at custody issues with in vitro and all the other methodologies of giving birth to realize how ill-equipped the courts feel in tampering with family issues.

So the idea that we should regulate and to what degree is important. I am forced to look aghast at any state that makes no regulation of such an important issue. Having a well educated electorate, and one that is poised to enter college or university on a level of equality with other students, is I would think essential. Our world becomes more and more complicated, and our youth must be armed with the clearest and best information available to compete and make wise decisions, both for their own lives and for the lives of humanity itself.

It seems that generally speaking religion plays a major part in homeschooling decisions. Something like 33% cited religion as their reason for homeschooling.  I ran into this first on a Catholic forum that is decidedly right wing. In fact, many of its posters are former born agains who have discovered the “true” church, but have brought their fundamentalist ways with them. They and other right wing evangelicals are near the largest segment of those who choose homeschooling.

And this seems irrationally wrong to me. These folks seem to object that our schools are too secular, and that they are, and by design. However, the answer it seems to me is not in homeschooling, since the science, math, and so forth are not impacted by religion. In fact the removal of religion from schools was imposed exactly so that information is offered as is, without editorial comment if you will.

The rightful place to indoctrinate kids (if you must) is at home. Kids should be learning biology unburdened by ideology. They can receive that at home, where no one can prevent it. One of my closest friends candidly explained to me how her children regurgitated the “answers” for tests as it related to evolutionary theory, but were at home told that such information was all a tissue of lies, since the good Lord set out all we need to know in one or both versions of creation in Genesis.

Why religious objections to secularized education is a reason for indoctrinating a kid in bad or no science, and splitting the brain into fragments, none of which can be reconciled, is beyond me. I simply object that it is wrong. It is child abuse. Said child is ill prepared for college for starters. Plenty of science professors in colleges and universities across the land gripe about the remedial education that must be given to these kids, and how some of them waste the class time arguing creationism. The vast majority of kids are there to learn evolution and thus prepare themselves for careers in science, not engage in a useless debate with a brainwashed kid.

We all know the consequences, either the child, too tied to parental control, keeps its head in the sand, and either flunks or engages in the repeat it but don’t believe it mode, or they crash and burn as now ex-believers, having had their worldview explode before their eyes in a torrent of actual facts. The former creates a non-thinking human robot, following blindly where no logic has gone before, and the latter becomes an atheist, unfortunate from a believer’s stand point at least.

I’m not against homeschooling, but I am against allowing minimally educated adults, who know not even as much as they are attempting to convey, all with an ideological bent which is demonstrably false,  to screw with the minds of our youth. It is bad enough that our educational system is now substandard to much of the world today, let’s not make it worse by continuing to drag it into the morass of myth and fairy story. A troubled world requires more.

***

Oh, and just for proof, look to Texas which has been screwing with textbooks and such, all designed to push a creationist agenda. The upshot is that graduation levels in Texas are lower than Mississippi, Louisiana, and Georgia. Now, no doubt some will quibble with correlations here, but I think that the more irrelevant we make education, the less we graduate. Kids seem to sense mediocrity I’d say.

***
Home Education Magazine has the state laws of Iowa and Michigan, as well as all other states at the bottom of each page of their website. See what the regulations are in your state.

No, It Really is About the Packers

Tags

Detroit Lions, Football, Green Bay Packers, life in the meadow, Michigan, Minnesota Vikings, Sports, Wisconsin

Sooner or later, every past or present Michigander, (Don’t ask me why our name sounds fowlish when we have a wolverine as a state mascot. Oh visions of X-Men get out of my head!) must face the shame of our State closet skeleton.

Yes indeed, we must admit the ugly truth. Michigan is a state in severe mental crisis, and always has been. We are a divided state (remember Lincoln’s remarks) and thus unique in the American scheme of things. Our two halves are connected only by a bridge, called the Mackinaw (otherwise known in the LP [lower peninsula] as the “bridge to nowhere”. Got there first Sarah!).

The LP is also known, as the “part that counts,” or PTC. The upper peninsula is known as “yooper” land, pronounced UUUUper. It is actually connected landwise to Wisconsin, a state that may be the most boring one in the nation. Mostly it moos and it makes cheese. Thus the appellation of “cheese-head” is common. It’s most populous city is named after a beer–which makes sense, since they are largely drunks up there. It’s other claim to fame is a one dimensional town called Green Bay (why would green water be attractive?), which houses the GB Packers, a football team named after the bloody and unattractive practice of meat packing.

Yoopers are usually Packer fans, which is another reason they are mostly ignored by the PTCs. We are Lions fans, albeit, that is stretching the word “fan” to new dimensions in both time and space. The last time the Lions won a championship was in 1957, so unlike the dude above, I’ve been waiting now 52 years for a repeat.

The nemeses of the Lions are others from their division, the Chicago Bears, hated mostly because its truly impossible to argue that Detroit is a better city unless one is blind, the Minnesota Vikings, I mean what grown man wears purple for goodness sake?, and the aforesaid Green Bay Packers. I mean other than Chicago, what has Illinois going for it? And Minnesota or as they sing song say it  in said state, MINa SOta like some Norwegian fjord name. I mean please. A political nightmare where Willy Wonka might be the next governor. So all these hatreds are firmly based in reality, really.

So, as I said, we understand why the Yoopers are GB fans, they are schizophrenic and not very sure of where they should lay claim to statehood. But one would think that such fuzzy and bizarre thinking would not penetrate below the state line right? Wrong.

Ten plus years ago, I was informed that my beloved and soon to be husband was a cheese-head. Yup, it still makes me shiver. Now, I had two choices, either maintain my identity as the hapless Lion fan, or go over to the enemy. I admit, that in the name of marital harmony, I caved without a single nail being pulled out by a set of pliers. I’d make a lousy spy. I would tell everything at once.

So, I figured okay, just watch the games, and be nice. But oh, I had no idea the affliction such Packer mania actually took. In these pro-less states, they become more fanatical than you would imagine. And over the years, I start to get anxious around the first of August. It’s coming you see. I wake up in the middle of the night with sweats, not menopausal one’s either.

Finally I hear the printer whirring and then he erupts, paper in hand, smile on his face, and announces the words that freeze my blood and start the ugly time, the seasonal chronic disease. He says,

“I’ve looked at the schedule, and I don’t see as there is any team that can beat them.”

Thus it begins. The suspension of all rights. The democracy that our marriage is allegedly based upon is usurped by the tyranny of a dictatorship, all revolving around da Packers. I flee in terror, but alas, I cannot evade the truth. Life as I know it is forever changed until the beginning of February.

I whimper in dismay and remain silent at the words. I then look up brightly and suggest: “But dear, we agreed, no football, until the first game starts!”

“The first game is Sunday, and it’s at NIGHT.”

I cringe. “But what of Mad Men?”

“TiVo’d.”

No amount of cajoling, threatening to withhold sexual favors, food, or anything will impact this decision. I am prisoner and I am expected to be an exuberant one at that.

I have been roundly criticized for being a “pessimist.” I see a game going into the crapper quickly and say so. Given 52 years of waiting, you can see why. Still, I’m told such negativity is not allowed. So I must prepare to be “upbeat,” optimistic and all that other silly stuff, no matter how much the team might stink up the field.

Bret Favre is gone of course. But to the true believer, people don’t matter, only team matters. The Contrarian takes delight that there are signs in Packer stadium saying “Number 4, we’ll never forget you Brent.” Yeah, funny. Worse the man has lost his entire mind (how big that might be is relative to being a football player in the first place of course), and become a MINNESOTA (make that MINNNNa SOta) Viking.

Tomorrow: The actual Game –be prepared. Women will see my point, men will see it all as quite normal.