Earthlink down. Then American Spectator was down (and now up). It must be Frriiiiiiday. Nothing too much in the news which caught my "royal" attention. So, dollars to donuts, more exciting "news" will be happening this afternoon and tonight.
Lessee... CA AG Bill Lockyer is again making a fool of himself. He and his lady (wife?) just had a baby last year... I wonder how he'd feel about her daycare workers wantonly taking HIS baby to a voodan doctor in accordance with their own beliefs, and telling him it's none of his business.
George Neumayer writes, rightly, about the Netherlands "euthanasia" policies concerning the live born.
Richmond, VA experienced a mild earthquake of 2.2. way early this morning.
Hmmm....! U.S. Can Use Evidence Gained by Torture. It's about time as "Statements produced under torture have been inadmissible in U.S. courts for about 70 years. " Egads..
President George Bush has tapped "Colorful, tough-talking former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik today ... as his new homeland-security secretary — with New Yorkers cheering all the way. " This would have gone at the top of my listing; but it is yesterday's news.
I gotta get something off my chest: Walmart. I like Walmart.
Never used one before moving here. And I see CLEARLY and fully why people go to WALMART! And I see clearly why blue staters hate Walmart (and some conservatives do too because of the "made in China" labels).
Oh hells bells. I've done the interviewing here. Democrats rail that Walmart pays its employee's tuppance wages. Sure, and I bring up the price of "stuff" in CA that is so overpriced but only because of freakin' AFL-CIO UNIONS. Furthermore, NC is not a rich state. Wages are what they are. It's opened my eyes to see how out of control liberal-Dems are. Sure, CA has so-called "affordable" health care. The price of health care in NC is HUGE. Especially in comparison to wages. Why is healthcare so outrageous? Lawyers, Malpractice -- basically because of "unions by another name".
Nah. I'll fight the introduction of "unions" with my last breath here in the Old South. I've seen the disastrous results of "unions" in CA.
And of course, there was a report recently that illegal immigration had grown 4 times in the past x years in NC. WHO is aiding and abetting this illegal immigration move and for what purpose? OH! That's right! It's a undercurrent. It's an undercurrent to "posit" the need for UNIONS. It isn't just vote-fraud.
Glanced at news coming out of CA, last night. Gotta say it: I'm so glad I'm no longer in that insane asylum. From here? CA looks insane. Apparently, "leaders" in ultra-posh Palo Alto area are going to impose an extra financial burden on large home homeowners -- to pay for "energy". The plunk-and-teriat are no doubts revelling in their rat-holes -- "Yeah! The rich are getting Hit!".. and of course, we'll never see the special tax loop holes which mellow out that "extra tax", and the plunk-and-teriat will never wonder.
No. With all that is going on here.. I've not even begun my Christmas shopping. Usually, I'm done by Thanksgiving. Am I worried? No. I'm still rejoicing over being here!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Heh heh... so you like the Walmarts, eh Alia? They are certainly easy on the pocket book... except that the products are more than second rate all too often. Stay away from faucets and cheap plumbing. Trust me, I speak from experience!
Yet I confess, having a pal that works for the company gives much insight to their treatment of employees. Nothing to write home about.
In fact, I try to point out that when they work her overtime for no pay, or work her thru breaks - there are federal laws that prohibit this... fergit the unions.
However, without unions to help intercede, the employees are left without the confidence, know-how, or peer backup to fight against the conditions, Alia. They are threated with being fired if they do not accept the conditions. And all too many need the jobs.
So when it gets down to it, I'm very mixed about unions. I was a union member myself with the film union. Truly a place where they would work you to death for peanuts without union intervention.
So on the subject of working and safety conditions, the unions are a godsend - especially to those in the past working steel mills (as my father did).
To illustrate the above statement, by comparison witness the latest tragic Chinese coal mine accident just last week. Did you know that because the equipment and methods there do not have national regulations, that over 7000 Chinese coal workers die annually? We here in the US wouldn't stand for such danger to our citizens.
On the flip side, no one is more aware... and disgruntled about.... unions increasing a company's bottom line so as to make them non-competative for imported goods produced overseas sans any safety and wage regulations or unions.
But in all truth, some regulations that give unions a bad name were not what they lobbied for in the halls of Congress. The enviro-wackos have raked OSHA over the coals, placing often undue burdens that have affected the companies in addition to the union demands.
Perhaps the businesses could have survived the union demands, but not EPA and additional OSHA regs as well. Unions must be aware that pushing the companies too far would result in their demise as well as the company's.
Somewhere in the middle is my personal belief. I think the Targets and Walmarts do need some reining in for their abuse of workers. If it's not done by a union, who will do it?
And certainly Congress needs to think twice before enacting "feel good" legislation to appease the enviro set. Striking a balance between business growth and protection of the planet - which even we radical conservatives who live in the country want - is in order. Don't you think?
Mata -- I know what you are saying, but still, I disagree that "unions" are the way to go. Hollywood moguls OWN hollywood; ergo the lockbox mentality. Dittos, areas of the country where there isn't much competition. All this does is invite in the "union" mentality. Criminey! We are not living in a post-industrialism age. No one is working in a sweatshop; but yes, I've definitely done "time" in a modern-day mean and brutal work environment. Part of the reason it was so brutal was because OF the unions. Furthermore, as you suggested in re the Oregonian woman needing to do research before purchasing land (in re zoning) -- wouldn't the same counsel apply here? YES, folks need jobs. But shouldn't they try to ascertain whether or not they would be submitting to a brutal employer? Just as the Oregonian woman could have purchased land elsewhere (had she researched); no doubts individuals can do research and find employment elsewhere. One posits that if "walmart" is the only employer in town, for example, that it somehow holds the town hostage. That's true, to a point. But when voters willingly vote in NIMBY laws.. they are encouraging a corporate "ownership" of their own town, are they not?
So, no. I do not like Unions. Unions are the not way to correct the problem. Unions were good, had their place in time. But they keep on pretending we are living in a turn-of-the-century 1900s time. We aren't. Unions are not the path to freedom/nor the free market. To me? Unions represent a preferential quota by another chimera.
I respect that your personal beliefs in re Unions are somewhere in the middle. I think, however, that free-market is the path. If Target and Walmart do abuse employees -- the trick is not to "form an employee" union. The trick is to locate the huckster within those firms abusing the bottom line -- its people. Not all Walmarts abuse their employees. That's my point. But if the unions get one freakin' toe hold into one walmart -- egads.. I'm old enough to have seen the cycle of "union" bs tooooo many times! Then, the good walmarts are punished. CROCKY, I SAY!
You and I are TOTALLY on the same page with regard abuses by OSHA and EPA, and other "regulatory" bureacracies making it nearly impossible for American businesses to operate within "America".
Take Hollywood, for example: Unions and the "ownership" of Hollywood and all that goes on? Can't produce squat, anymore. The fact that there is little to no diversity being produced on the screen is killing Hollywood markets. So much for their "union" mentality. To be a union member, you have to "think" just like everyone else. So what do you get? More of the same ole unsellable scripts. More non-blockbusters. Unions, I posit, are NOT the way of the future in America.
All good points, Alia. And you're right. I am right down the middle on unions. Truly a love-hate relationship.
Walmart and Targets are miles above sweatshops, that's for sure. But removing the dolts doing the less-than-dire "abuse" has proven to be next to impossible in the first hand experience I've seen.
Perhaps much of it comes down to people just have poor work ethics nowadays. No pride in their work. Or, as they like to say, good help is hard to find - and good management is even harder.
I was a part of the old Hollywood, ruled by unions for everyone. The costs of films were driven up to astronomic levels - first and foremost by stars demanding outrageous salaries way above any union scale. And then by union wages and demands for the lesser peons. In response, the filmmakers started doing much of their work in Canada and Mexico as of the middle 90s.
But I wholeheartedly disagree that the unions had any responsiblity for killing the creativity of movies and TV. They only made producing the product thru the major distributors (Columbia, Warner, Paramount, etc) very expensive.
Instead, the lackluster products available to us now are the result of unimaginative screenplay writers and executive producers, writing formula crap based on what the public buys at the box office or the Nielsen ratings for television. Thus it is othe culture of our nation's TV and movie viewers who dictate Hollywood's direction - not the unions. They set standards for wages and conditions, but stop far short of overseeing content.
Post a Comment