Friday, February 25, 2011

Harry Reid: Social Security Is 'Off The Table'


Of course there is a Social Security Trust Fund and of course there is no "money" in it because of course the "money" has been spent, why else would the government borrow from the trust funds, the federal government has over a hundred of them, if they weren't using the money to cover federal deficits. There is no need to demand that the government repay the money. The government is obligated by current law to redeem the trust fund bonds when necessary to pay benefits.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Wisconsin Protests Draw Thousands Of Workers Fighting For Key Union Rights


Walker has done the Democratic Party a huge favor, one month into his administra­tion he has taught the people of Wisconsin and the United States just where the Republican­s stand. They want tax cuts for the rich and want to smash the middle class and make them work as peons. Since Ronald Reagan, the guy who convinced me that I was a Democrat, I have often wondered why anyone would vote for the party of the rich and powerful, the Greedy Old Party. If you hate the working class, if you hate and want to control reproducti­ve rights for women, if you want to fight in one war after another, and if you want to give tax cuts to Daddy Warbucks, then you would most certainly vote Republ-CON­.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Friday, February 18, 2011

The power of sit-down strikes

Sit down strikes can be powerful tools.  In the 1980s, Polish workers rose up to protest against their repressive government, the government imposed martial law.  A total of 10,000 people were arrested.  The government dissolved all trade unions.  "Military commissioners were assigned to control crucial factories. Refusal to carry out their orders equaled desertion and was punishable by martial law courts up to the death penalty. Educational institutions at all levels closed down for a period of time. People couldn’t travel without a state officials’ permission."   Governor Walker of Wisconsin is trying to run that state like an old soviet style dictator.  If he brings in the National Guard to quell the protestors, how is he different from a communist czar?  The brave people of Poland stood up against their repressive government and eventually won out, and we had better hope that workers in Wisconsin succeed in their protest or we could see similar attempts at repression made in the rest of the country.  See the following website: http://www.polishhistoricalsociety.org.au/pr-waytofreedom.htm
Several years ago, workers at grocery warehouse in Kansas City went on strike.  Warehouse owners hired an armed guard service to break the strikers.  In 1995 The Detroit Free Press presented its union with a contract that they knew would lead to a strike.  Its union workers were replaced with 580 scabs.  The company hired 480 armed guards to protect the scabs.  Union workers picketed the distribution center.  Armed guards wearing black uniforms and helmets, and using shields and clubs, attacked and beat the strikers.  In an article in the Reader’s Digest, that magazine reported that the strikers attacked police officers.  Photos published in the UAW Solidarity Magazine clearly showed that strikers were the victims of beatings by the paid armed thugs hired by the newspaper.

http://dbacon.igc.org/Unions/02ubust3.htm
A big anti-union push came with the election of Ronald Reagan who fired air traffic controllers and replaced them with scabs.  The people put on the job at the nation’s airports were not able to provide the level safety that air travelers need, expect, and deserve.   The Republican Party has always wanted to destroy unions and the actions by Governors Walker and Kasich Ohio are only the first to launch a massive attempt to destroy the last elements of a once powerful labor movement in this country, one that protected its own members and pushed for many important pieces legislation such as the Fair Labor Standards law of 1938, which brought about the forty hour work week and time and a half for overtime.  Labor unions also pushed for other important pieces of legislation such as child labor laws and the minimum wage law.  While only about 15% of Americans are protected directly by union membership,  many millions of other workers benefit by the very existence of labor unions.   

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Walker and his Republican tryants



This kind of thing can happen in Missouri or any state in the Union.  It is time for a nationwide strike against any company or government that tries to cripple unions and to deny them their rights.  Unions are the straw men; they are not the cause of government budget problems.  Right here in Missouri, we have seen Republicans cut taxes and give privileges to businesses to attract them here, and we have seen tight budgets since they have taken control.  Walker and his kind should be tarred and feathered and not set loose until they are at the Mexican border.  Three cheers for the strikers and for the Egyptians who have overthrown their tyrannical government.  The union members and their families in Wisconsin should set an example of what needs to happen to tyrants like Walker, and unions from all over the United States should lend them support, they should sit down and not go back to work until Walker resigns.   Unions have always had to fight for their rights to organize and to bargain collectively, now Walker and his ilk are trying to overturn rights that were earned through years of striking and bargaining.  Republicans have had a taste of power, and now they want to overturn everything good that came out of Roosevelt's new deal.  This is much deeper than just what is going on in Wisconsin and unions all over the United States had better man up and fight back or risk losing everything.   Teamsters should stop their trucks wherever they are in Wisconsin and not move them one inch until this is settled. Walker will be coming for them next if he gets his way on this bill.  Three cheers for the Democrats who left the state to deny that idiot a quorum in the legislature and thus block that union busting bill.

Brothers and sisters, Solidarity for ever!!

Gene W. DeVaux
Running Beigher

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Faces Backlash For Threatening Public Workers With National Guard


The term sit-in has been around for a very long time. In 1927, GM workers sat down on the job and refused to leave their plants. Vietnam war protestors held sit ins. African Americans did the same. It is time for the public employees in Wisconsin to just sit down and not do their jobs until the Governor and the state legislatur­e decide to leave them alone. In 1927, GM workers were able to get union representa­tion and things improved for auto workers. State employees all over the United States will be under the gun. In Missouri, state workers are among the worst paid workers in the United States, yet the Republican­s in the state legislatur­e are trying to overturn unions in this state as well. The simple lesson is, do not vote for Republican­s. They want to overturn everything good that came out of the New Deal.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Keith Olbermann On Current TV? Reports Swirl Around Tuesday's Announcement


If Keith goes to current, he will certainly increase viewership for that station. I looked at the current line up on Current today. It seems that there is a lot of empty spaces that they will with re-runs from shows shown earlier in the day. I hope he gets the same time slot that he had on MSNBC but it really doesn't matter because I will put him on my DVR.



Lawrence O'Donnell does a great job, but he is no Keith Olberman. Ed Schultz has a great show and shows a lot of "true grit" but he is not Keith Olberman. MSNBC had the best line up on TV, and still does with O'Donnell, Schultz, and Rachell Maddow, but Kieth made the station.wh­at it is. It certainly beats "FoxNews" by a few million miles.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost