Home > Thinking Right > Archives > 2008 > August > 13 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USFor some, right to secret ballot could be lost
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wal-Mart, the company that liberals love to hate, their George W. Bush and Big Oil of corporate America, has summoned department heads and store managers to meetings with human-resources managers to warn against a bill now before Congress that would make it easy for unions to get their foot in the door.
The percentage of private-sector workers who belong to unions is in a tailspin, down from more than 16 percent in 1985 to 7.5 percent last year. To counter that, organized labor had its Democrats introduce legislation called the Employee Free Choice Act. It’s been around since 2003, but has new life now that Barack Obama has a real shot at taking the White House. Organized Labor is mounting a major push to get him elected.
Wal-Mart is the nation’s largest private employer. It has aggressively resisted efforts to unionize its stores. When the United Food and Commercial Workers succeeded in organizing meat cutters at a store in Texas eight years ago, the company opted to phase them out in favor of prepackaged meats.
The conversations Wal-Mart officials had with its store managers and department heads warning against the legislation were legit. But they nonetheless sent unionists into a tizzy. Richard Ray, president of the Georgia AFL-CIO, called it “unfair corporate bullying” and proceeded to argue that it’s a really bad company in need of the Employee Free Choice Act.
That propose act gives back to organized labor all that it has lost and more. It allows unions to gain representation simply by gathering up and submitting signed authorization cards from a majority of the work force. There’d be no secret vote where workers declare their preferences, as they do in local, state and national elections.
The union could simply intimidate enough workers to force them to sign union cards and that’d be it. So much for free choice. So much for privacy in voting.
The Employee Free Choice Act is an awful bill. It stacks the deck. It takes from workers the right to make a free choice in the privacy of the voting booth. It’s one more reason the November election matters.
Comments
By saywhat?
August 13, 2008 8:34 AM | Link to this
How could the union bully the employees? Threaten to fire them? or to fire other family members working for Walmart? Refuse to promote them? Oh, wait, thats what Walmart does to keep unions out.
By Mrs. Godzilla
August 13, 2008 8:50 AM | Link to this
Always make sense to learn more about the subject don’t ya’ think?
The nation’s biggest private employer is also its most notorious union-hater. The Wall Street Journal reported that Wal-Mart has been swaying workers from voting Democrat this November, fearing that the Democrats’ proposed Employee Free Choice Act would make unionizing possible in Wal-Mart stores. In an act that reeks of desperation, the mega retailer has been holding “mandatory” meetings for thousands of store managers and department heads, scaring their employees by stressing the “downsides” of unionization.
AND
more than half of all U.S. workers - nearly 60 million - say they would join a union right now if they could. Their best opportunity to get ahead is by uniting with co-workers to bargain with employers for better wages and benefits. Working people want that opportunity. Plus, the allegations of abuses of union organizers pale in comparison to the abuses of anti-union employers taking advantage of what is now a broken system. Corporations routinely intimidate, harass, coerce and illegally fire people who try to organize unions. Workers are fired in a quarter of private sector union organizing campaigns;…..The federal government is blocking the freedom of working people to make their own decisions about joining a union. The current “election” system for union recognition is decidedly undemocratic. One side - the corporation - has all the power, controls the information workers receive, and routinely poisons the process by intimidating, harassing, coercing, and even firing people who try to organize unions.
By BFKaJ
August 13, 2008 8:51 AM | Link to this
Good morning all. One of our favorite demons, George McGovern, brought this issue to my attention in a WSJ opinion piece last week, and persuasively argued the position Jim embraces today. The colorful expression “union goon” had nearly disappeared from the lexicon until the democrats introduced the Employee “Free Choice” Act. Funny how that “Free Choice” part has such an Orwellian double-speak quality, that the “Free Choice” may be affected by 6’8 275 lb fellow with a broken nose. The real question is the “free choice” versus the secret ballot. So long as there is a secret ballot, we enjoy freedom. Somehow one expects modern democrats to support Cuban-style elections. I am grateful for George McGovern’s reminder that the left was once not so enamored of the virtues of duress.
By BFKaJ
August 13, 2008 8:54 AM | Link to this
Dear Saywhat @ 8:34, you are almost there. Omit the words “to fire” everywhere you write and you nail it exactly.
By "The Corporal"
August 13, 2008 9:12 AM | Link to this
Reminds me of an old union song:
“Everyone stand up and holler for the Union, Let’s give the brotherhood a cheer; Everyone stand up and holler for the Union, we ain’t hit a lick all year”!
I was a member of the “Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen” once. I would NOT want to be again.
I’m for workers having the right to organize a union but voting needs to be by SECRET BALLOT - END OF DISCUSSION !
By BFKaJ
August 13, 2008 9:13 AM | Link to this
Dear Mrs. Godzilla @ 8:50, I think you ask the right question, but you found the wrong answer. Hypothetically, how would feel about a system that allows Walmart to use a “goon” to gather signed “no” votes from prospective union members, to ensure the election falls the way it wishes? “Always make sense to learn more about the subject don’t ya’ think?” You mention that Walmart “sways” workers, but you fail to acknowledge that the “swaying” is still subject to a secret ballot. The leftists now propose to abolish the secret ballot, and to allow union goons to gather similar “yes” votes, with no secret election. Cuban-style elections.
By Ga Values
August 13, 2008 9:14 AM | Link to this
Jim, How about some good news on the CONSERVATIVE front.. Jonm McCain opposed both the FARM BILL & Ethanol Subsidies. He has won me over. Obama & our Conservative Senator Saxby both want bigger farm & ethanol subsidies. As you know this drives up the price of gas & food.
McCain opposes farm policies popular in Midwest
MIKE GLOVER Associated Press Writer
DES MOINES, Iowa — Republican presidential candidate John McCain opposes the $300 billion farm bill and subsidies for ethanol, positions that both supporters and opponents say might cost him votes he needs in the upper Midwest this November.
His Democratic rival, Barack Obama, is making a more traditional regional pitch: He favors the farm bill approved by Congress this year and subsidies for the Midwest-based ethanol industry. McCain instead has promised to open new markets abroad for farmers to export their commodities.
In his position papers, McCain opposes farm subsidies only for those with incomes of more than $250,000 and a net worth above $2 million. But he’s gone further on the stump.
“I don’t support agricultural subsidies no matter where they are,” McCain said at a recent appearance in Wisconsin. “The farm bill, $300 billion, is something America simply can’t afford.”
McCain later described the measure, which is very popular throughout the Midwest, as “a $300 billion, bloated, pork-barrel-laden bill” because of subsidies for industries like ethanol.
It’s not a stand that pleases Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa.
“I would not advise him to take that position,” Grassley said. “For sure, he can’t lose Missouri and that’s in the upper Midwest. Could he lose Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin and still be elected president? Yes, but I wouldn’t advise him to have that strategy.”
Grassley, a conservative Republican, and his Senate colleague from Iowa, liberal Democrat Tom Harkin, have achieved enduring success in this state largely by mastering the politics of farm issues. Harkin chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, which wrote the new farm legislation.
“I don’t see any scenario in which McCain can get to the White House without carrying some upper Midwestern states,” said Harkin, an Obama backer. “I’ve never really understood in all my years why Sen. McCain has gone out of his way to speak against and vote against policies that are important to the upper Midwest.”
There’s a history of close elections in the region. President Bush carried Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota in 2004, earning 35 electoral votes. But his Democratic opponent, John Kerry, prevailed in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, giving him 41 electoral votes.
Veteran GOP strategist Gentry Collins said McCain can defend his record on farm issues, including opposing “corporate welfare” for big operations, but he said there’s more at work.
“The upper Midwest is crucial in this election, and Midwestern voters value authenticity. They value experience,” Collins said. “I don’t think agricultural issues are the only issues Midwestern voters care about. There are some bigger-picture issues, broader issues where he’s strong.”
But on another important issue to Midwesterners, McCain opposed a tax break for developing wind power. Obama supported the tax break.
“We’re employing close to 2,000 people right now in Iowa in the wind energy industry,” Harkin said.
McCain has been most outspoken on ethanol subsidies, and that has Republicans worried in Iowa, the nation’s biggest producer of the fuel. Other top ethanol producers include Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and Missouri.
“It does challenge him in states like Iowa, the No. 1 ethanol state,” said Bill Northey, Iowa’s Republican agriculture secretary. “It does make it tougher to make the case.”
Drake University political science professor Dennis Goldford said McCain’s problem on farm issues reflects a deeper issue he faces as he’s courted conservative GOP activists, many of whom are deeply suspicious of him.
“He’s essentially reverting to standard Republican supply-side economics,” said Goldford. “That’s where he’s got a problem. He’s got to find his own voice and so far he hasn’t had a voice.”
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat who has campaigned for Obama, said he’s puzzled by McCain’s position. He points to other Republicans who have a different view.
“President Bush and I just had a good conversation about how critically important ethanol is, and how Iowa is positioned so well to lead the nation,” said Culver. “I have no idea why John McCain doesn’t support it. It hurts him in Indiana, and Missouri and Ohio, and it’s not the message right now that any of us want to hear.”
Obama has a modest lead in national polls, but electoral votes will decide the election. Obama is poised to do well on both coasts, while McCain is favored in the South and some parts of the West. That leaves the upper Midwest as a swing battleground.
“The Midwest is crucial in this campaign,” said Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, a Democrat and an early backer of Obama. “Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and perhaps Indiana are very important states. McCain is behind, and he’s in danger of falling further behind.”
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By Ray
August 13, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this
Why is it that the corporation is always the bad guy? The “poor employee” already has free choice in where he/she works. If they want a union shop, go to work for someone who has one. If not, stay at Wall Mart. But I think that it is unfair to accuse Wall Mart, or any other company with share holders and a business to run, of being intimidating, harassing and “poisoning” the union process. They have every right to reject the union process and they are not bad guys for doing this.
By Poste Haste
August 13, 2008 9:27 AM | Link to this
Workers had no voice in the dismantling of the unions, so why should you care if they have no voice in the rebirth of the unions?
At least make it believable, Mr. Woo
By Mrs. Godzilla
August 13, 2008 9:32 AM | Link to this
In his exchange with union members, Coleman repeated the incorrect canard that:This act takes away the right to a secret ballot…..
AND
[Fiction: The “legislation would end the rights of employees to secret ballot elections.” – Center for Union Facts
FACT: The Employee Free Choice Act does not abolish elections or “secret ballots.” Under the proposed legislation, workers get to choose the union formation process—elections or majority sign-up. Under current law, the choice to recognize a union rests only with employers. What the Employee Free Choice Act does prevent is an employer manipulating the flawed system to influence the election outcome. When faced with organizing campaigns: 25 percent of employers illegally fire pro-union workers; 51 percent of employers illegally threaten to close down worksites if the union prevails; and, 34 percent of employers coerce workers into opposing the union with bribes and favoritism.](http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/employee-free-choice-act/resource-library/lies—distortion-on-the-secret-ballot-20080730-596-84-84.html)
By Devastator
August 13, 2008 9:37 AM | Link to this
Atlanta - This week Senator Barack Obama unveiled his “New Energy For America” policy. It is detailed plan that is designed to provide short-term relief to American families facing pain at the pump and eliminate the need to import oil from the Middle East and Venezuela within 10 years. Barack’s bold initiative also helps create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next 10 years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future. As well as boosting our economy this plan will help our global environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050 and make the United States the leader on climate control worldwide.
Substantively, the plan calls for a $1000 tax emergency energy rebate paid for by a windfall tax on excessive profits gained by oil companies. Coupled with initiatives to invest in domestic auto production of new plug-in Hybrid vehicles and a $7000 tax credit to Americans who purchase an advanced vehicle, this plan also calls for the deployment of the cleanest, fastest, energy efficient sources. Responsibly developing clean coal technolgy and prioritizing the construction of the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline, the “New Energy For America” policy will create millions of new jobs as America proves again its ingenuity and hard work that has made it the global leader it is today.
To cap off the “Energy Week” at the Campaign for Change here in Georgia, volunteers and supporters hit the pumps to take Barack’s plan directly to people. With support of the policy booklet and local State Senator David Adelman, Congressman Hank Johnson and Sheriff Tom Brown, volunteers and staff talked to people as they pumped gas and listened to their concerns about rising costs. Conversing directly with the public on big ideas that are of utmost concern to Americans is exemplary of the grassroots efforts the Campaigned has employed in their 50 state strategy. Working from the bottom up, it is moments like these that clearly support the campaign’s goal of empowering Americans in their neighborhoods so they can reclaim their country for themselves.
By Redneck Convert
August 13, 2008 9:38 AM | Link to this
Well, I’m dead set against this Free Choice bill. We don’t need no union goons telling people how to vote. What we need is what we have now. Just let the bosses fire anybody they suspect wants a union. That’s Free Choice the way it ought to be. Free Choice of who to employ by the employer.
We might of knowed. Just when you get to the point of wiping unions off of the U.S. map, along comes this librul bill that would give workers the right to sign a card to bring in a union. If that thing passes, unions will be springing up all over the place. Workers will begin to think they have rights or something. Instead of getting fired or layed off willy-nilly.
Have a good day everybody.
By Mrs. Godzilla
August 13, 2008 9:39 AM | Link to this
GOP Gives Employee Free Choice Act Fear-and-Smear Treatment…”The Employee Free Choice Act does not abolish the secret election process,” said Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in rebutting the GOP’s silly claim on Friday. “That would still be available. The bill simply enables workers to form a union through majority signup, if they prefer that method.”…. Brown is referring to the fact that S.1041 would give workers the ability to bypass a special election — a process which affords employers a lot of time to themselves come in and intimidate workers into voting against their own self interest — and agree to unionize based simply on the majority of them signing cards declaring their desire to form a union.
By Get Real
August 13, 2008 9:41 AM | Link to this
Wootie is always pro-business until those businesses fail. Then he’s for corporate welfare to bail them out. His feelings are different however for the average worker, hence the article. Screw em just like Bush and McCain.
Didn’t McCain vote AGAINST a bill that would make it law for women’s earnings to be the same as a man’s? Won’t hear that from Wootie though.
By Dusty
August 13, 2008 9:49 AM | Link to this
I believe Unions are fast becoming relics of time gone by. They were great in the removal of child labor, unfair wages, horrible working conditions and discriminations of all sorts. The USA and its unions removed conditions similar to those in CHina today.
But that day is gone for the USA. There are many laws subject to such conditions. There is justice for the worker, not just the company.
I would say that we should be thankful for what Unions have brought us, but the day of their duty is about done. The worker can move on his own without the union protector.
It is hard to dispose of something that was once so helpful. But it happens and times evolve. The Unions fight as they sink but the end is in sight. Thus we see them sinking as WalMart rightfully runs its business according to the law.
I say farewell, but please exit gracefully.
By BFKaJ
August 13, 2008 9:50 AM | Link to this
Dear Mrs. Godzilla @ 9:32, “Under the proposed legislation, workers get to choose the union formation process—elections or majority sign-up.” I assume the leftist position is that “majority sign-up is the preferred method, no matter how many beatings they have to administer to get that method? Cuban-styhle election.
By BFKaJ
August 13, 2008 9:53 AM | Link to this
Dear Devastator @ 9:37, corporate welfare? “Barack’s bold initiative also helps create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next 10 years.” Same old democrats – change we can take to the bank, if we are politically connected..
By BFKaJ
August 13, 2008 9:57 AM | Link to this
Dear Mrs. Godzilla @ various times, I think you have given me a great idea. We corporatists will hire thousands of union-type thugs to “persuade” a majority of voters to cast absentee ballots for the correct person for President. That would be consistent with your proposed change in union elections, would it not?
By Tim
August 13, 2008 9:57 AM | Link to this
I see here that there are those who would fight toothy and nail to protect the big corps, But what about the American people? America started out for the people and by the people, But now i guess now the right feels it should be for the company and by the company. I guess the C.R.E.A.M. rules apply to Big Business as well.
By Devastator
August 13, 2008 10:01 AM | Link to this
BFKaJ,
Its better than the alternative dude.
By BFKaJ
August 13, 2008 10:01 AM | Link to this
Dear Get Real @ 9:41, I respectfully suggest you lie. “Wootie is always pro-business until those businesses fail. Then he’s for corporate welfare to bail them out.” Jim Wooten has never advocated corporate welfare in any instance I can remember, not even for the farm products so dear to his personal history. I would gratefully receive evidence to the contrary. Corporate Welfare is a tool of leftists, including for the sake of intellectual honesty here, Saxbe Chambliss.
By Beau L. Chevik
August 13, 2008 10:04 AM | Link to this
I can’t wait until Obama is elected and unions will become unnecessary. All unions except one, that is – The Union of Americal Socialist States. Hopefully I’ll get to work on a sugar cane collective farm in Hawaii, or maybe Cuba.
By Dusty
August 13, 2008 10:05 AM | Link to this
Devastator @ 9:37
Why don’t you declare that Obama is going to ADOPT every USA citizen and GIVE them food, clothing, jobs. medical care and a nice little home in which to live.
That would save all these annoucements about what HE IS GOING TO GIVE US. Needless to say, Obama won’t mention how he is going to pay for all of us having the GOOD LIFE at the cost of someone else. No indeed. That would make mention of HIGHER TAXES on the few people still working.
When will DEMOCRATS ever learn that there is a cost for everything “free” in this life??
By BFKaJ
August 13, 2008 10:06 AM | Link to this
Dear Tim @ 9:57, “I see here that there are those who would fight toothy and nail to protect the big corps, But what about the American people?” Have you noticed that the American people, given a choice between shopping at Walmart or at a union store, always chooses Walmart? I understand your desire to rein in such freedom, I just disagree with it.
By BFKaJ
August 13, 2008 10:10 AM | Link to this
Dear Devastator @ 10:01, “the alternative” to corporate welfare is merely to unleash the free market, to allow drilling and market forces. Corporate welfare and “strategic investment” – isn’t that a funny term, these leftists who have no technical or other energy expertise at all are going to pick winners from among ideas that the market discarded – are always inferior to the free market.
By fearless fosdik
August 13, 2008 10:13 AM | Link to this
I can only speak for myself..but, UNIONS ROCK!
As a 20 year exempt employee of a fortune 100 company I was terminated due to a re-organization.
Little did I know that the union representing the non-exempts had negotiated a contract that also included the exempts on severance and retirements benefits.
As I sit here 3 years after my termination..still collecting that NICE monthly stipend…Still able (due to insurance) to vist my doctor, dentist, and pharmacy without breaking the bank!
What me worry…I had a union covering my back!
By Devastator
August 13, 2008 10:14 AM | Link to this
Dusty,
Obama has been clear on who its going to cost: The Rich!!!
No-Bid Contracts: Obama has introduced and helped pass bipartisan legislation to limit the abuse of no-bid federal contracts. Against Raising the Federal Debt Limit: In 2006, Obama voted against misguided Republican efforts to raise the statutory debt limit at the same time the Republicans were pushing through massive debt-financed tax cuts for the wealthy.
End Tax Haven Abuse: Building on his bipartisan work in the Senate, Obama will give the Treasury Department the tools it needs to stop the abuse of tax shelters and offshore tax havens and help close the $350 billion tax gap between taxes owed and taxes paid. Close Special Interest Corporate Loopholes: Obama will level the playing field for all businesses by eliminating special-interest loopholes and deductions, such as those for the oil and gas industry.
By Devastator
August 13, 2008 10:16 AM | Link to this
BFKaJ,
When I said “alternative”, I meant Old man McCain.
By Devastator
August 13, 2008 10:19 AM | Link to this
Under President Bush, the federal debt has increased from $5.7 trillion to $8.8 trillion, an increase of more than 50 percent. President Bush’s policies of giving tax breaks for the wealthy will cost the nation over $2.3 trillion by the time they expire in 2009.
BARACK OBAMA’s Plan Restore Fiscal Discipline to Washington Reinstate PAYGO Rules: Obama believes that a critical step in restoring fiscal discipline is enforcing payas- you-go (PAYGO) budgeting rules which require new spending commitments or tax changes to be paid for by cuts to other programs or new revenue. Reverse Bush Tax Cuts for the Wealthy: Obama will protect tax cuts for poor and middle class families, but he will reverse most of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest taxpayers. Cut Pork Barrel Spending: Obama introduced and passed bipartisan legislation that would require more disclosure and transparency for special-interest earmarks. Obama believes that spending that cannot withstand public scrutiny cannot be justified. Obama will slash earmarks to no greater than what they were in 2001 and ensure all spending decisions are open to the public. Make Government Spending More Accountable and Efficient: Obama will ensure that federal contracts over $25,000 are competitively bid. Obama will also increase the efficiency of government programs through better use of technology, stronger management that demands accountability and by leveraging the government’s high-volume purchasing power to get lower prices. End Wasteful Government Spending: Obama will stop funding wasteful, obsolete federal government programs that make no financial sense. Obama has called for an end to subsidies for oil and gas companies that are enjoying record profits, as well as the elimination of subsidies to the private student loan industry which has repeatedly used unethical business practices. Obama will also tackle wasteful spending in the Medicare program.
By Beau L. Chevik
August 13, 2008 10:23 AM | Link to this
Maybe if Presidente Obama can buddy up with Raul and Hugo, we could even have the The PanAmerican Union of Socialist States. Cool. Boy, it’s great to be dreaming the Democratic dream.
By Devastator
August 13, 2008 10:29 AM | Link to this
I wish you repugnants can come up with new tactics. The “socialist or commie” label backfired on you in the 90s and you still haven’t come up with anything new.
Such has-beens! yuck.
By Mrs. Godzilla
August 13, 2008 10:31 AM | Link to this
PRAISE FOR OBAMA IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Barack and the Buck August 8, 2008; Page A14 The underreported economic news of the week is that Barack Obama favors a stronger dollar. Even better, he thinks a stronger greenback would help to reduce oil prices.
That at least is what the Democratic Presidential candidate told a town hall forum in Parma, Ohio, on Tuesday. “If we had a strengthening of the dollar, that would help” reduce fuel costs, he said, according to a Reuters dispatch ignored by most of the media.
This ought to be a bigger story. In linking the dollar to oil prices, Mr. Obama is pointedly at odds with the Bush Administration and Federal Reserve, both of which blame high commodity prices on supply and demand, despite falling demand due to slower global growth. Fed officials — in particular, Vice Chairman Donald Kohn — have expressly rejected any strong link between the dollar’s collapse and the oil price surge since last August.
This conveniently absolves the Fed and Bush Treasury of responsibility for the consequences of what has been their destructive and all but explicit dollar devaluation strategy. If the Illinois Senator rejects greenback debasement, that’s the best news to date about Obamanomics.
Reuters also quoted Mr. Obama as saying “The way to strengthen the dollar is for us to get our economy back in shape.” On that point, he has it backward: Strengthening the dollar would help the economy — by making the U.S. a destination for capital, and especially by reducing the inflation in food and energy prices that has pounded the American middle class. Those price hikes may yet tilt the economy into a recession it could otherwise avoid.
We don’t know who is whispering in Mr. Obama’s ear about the dollar, but he’s on to a rich political vein. Americans know instinctively that something is wrong when the Canadian loonie is worth more than the greenback. Over to you, John McCain.
See all of today’s editorials and op-eds, plus video commentary, on Opinion Journal.
By Beau L. Chevik
August 13, 2008 10:32 AM | Link to this
Peace.
Harmony.
Equality.
Brotherhood.
Obama ‘08.
By Maniac is accurate
August 13, 2008 10:37 AM | Link to this
Obama: A never has-been.
But vote for him anyway, because, well, he’s exciting and has ideas as fresh as Tip O’Neil’s corpse.
By Ga Values
August 13, 2008 10:40 AM | Link to this
Jim, Here’s today’s Jim Shipp Editorial. Looks like the Georgia Homeownwers are about to get screwed.. We need a good LOBBYIST…
No lobbyist? Grab your wallet.
It’s time to keep one eye on your bank account and another on our friends at the state Capitol. Times are tough, and Gov. Sonny Perdue, fresh off his junket to China, is circling like a shark, looking for additional cash for state government. Perdue fired the initial shot last week when he suggested that the state end $400 million in annual property tax relief that dates from the administration of Gov. Roy Barnes.
Frankly, Republican Perdue has been hostile to the Democrat Barnes’ property tax relief since taking office, having proposed ending it in his first budget in 2003. Perdue was stopped only by a bipartisan revolt among legislators. With the state sinking deeper into the red, he’s taking another shot at eliminating the tax relief, and will likely succeed.
During Perdue’s 2006 re-election campaign, we heard him bragging about “converting a deficit to a surplus,” telling us he inherited a mess he’d since cleaned up. Now, as we head toward the seventh legislative session of Perdue’s term, the state likely is facing its worst budget crisis in decades. The budget may be off the mark by the billions, which likely will require Perdue and the General Assembly to raise taxes, cut the budget or both.
We will undoubtedly hear from Perdue and tax-hiking legislators about how “we have to make tough choices” and “we’ve done everything else we can” before they stick their hands deeper into your pocket. When you hear that inevitable talk, remember the list below, which is a sampling of the narrow, special-interest tax breaks that Perdue and his legislative allies have provided in recent years (with credit to the lobbyists, who ply decision-makers with NASCAR tickets, fancy dinners and, of course, campaign contributions). These breaks have cost the state money while benefiting only a few well-connected people and industries, and the lost revenue will make the hit on your wallet all the deeper next year as you pay to make up for them.
According to one budget watchdog group, some of the special-interest tax breaks in the last few years included:
$11.5 million for a sales tax exemption for manufacturing machinery.
Up to $8.7 million for a sales tax exemption for energy use in manufacturing.
$4.9 million to extend the sunset on ad valorem tax exemption for watercraft inventory.
$292,000 to extend the sales tax exemption for petroleum gas and fuel used for swine-raising purposes.
Powerful insurance lobbyists have managed to score tens of millions of dollars in breaks, as well, all in the name of economic development and keeping insurance jobs in Georgia.
In addition to these recent tax breaks, there also are many ongoing special-interest tax exemptions, including an exemption for sales of goods to the Daughters of the American Revolution, the rental or sale of videotape to people making movies and an exemption on paying sales taxes for owners of coin-operated video machines, including, presumably, video poker.
Some especially interesting tax exemptions are available for the agriculture industry, which is probably better connected than any other under the Gold Dome, considering the powerful elected officials who have farming interests and the well-connected lobbyists who do the industry’s bidding. Whether any of these are touched as our political leadership scrambles for money will be interesting to watch. The betting here is that the ag folks will be left alone.
One special agriculture tax break exempts from sales taxes the sale of seed and fertilizers. Note that our governor just happens to own a company named Houston Fertilizer and Grain. The same tax exemption also applies to straw, which, coincidentally, is the chosen crop of Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams, R-Lyons. Also included in the tax exemptions is a long list of agricultural machinery, much of which now costs millions of dollars, meaning sales taxes paid by purchasers would be significant. Fuel used for farmers’ irrigation systems also is exempt from taxes. That would sure be a nice break if it applied when you filled your tank at the local gas station these days, wouldn’t it?
Just don’t expect these types of special-interest tax breaks to be the ones that the GOP and Sonny choose to address when they are constitutionally required to reach a budget agreement sometime in 2009. Your property tax relief makes a much more inviting target. After all, if you don’t have a lobbyist at the Capitol watching your wallet, you’re just ordinary folks, ripe for gouging.
By Deva's tater
August 13, 2008 10:42 AM | Link to this
I can’t believe my eyes when I read this blog. Where do you people dig this stuff up? You need a little less starch in your undershorts. You’re half-baked thinking makes you think your brains are all mashed. That really fries me. I think some of you need to be planted in Memory Gardens.
By Dusty
August 13, 2008 10:51 AM | Link to this
Devastator@10:14
Indeed, Obama is going to tax THE RICH. Did he just read the COMMUNIST MANIFESTO or was he raised with it?
Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but in this country we allow people to use their minds and abilites and become RICH or poor or mediocre of whatever they can accomplish. We don’t grade them like fruit and say this is WHO IS GOING TO PAY TAXES. Freedom, as in the USA, does not allow pigeon holes for citizens.
Maybe Obama FORGOT that we are considered EQUAL, no one allowed to be GOUGED for another. That includes the “rich”.
By Devastator
August 13, 2008 10:51 AM | Link to this
One of my loyal fans @10:42.
As everyone can see, I have a very unique following.
Obama/Sebelius ‘08
By hillbilly nagger
August 13, 2008 10:51 AM | Link to this
Now that’s not the kind of parody I’m talking about. That’s hate speech, you redneck ba$&*rd.
By Dr. Depresso (dermatologist)
August 13, 2008 10:56 AM | Link to this
Acne is caused by malfunctioning Sebelius glands.
By The Anti-Wooten
August 13, 2008 10:57 AM | Link to this
Naturally, Jim glosses over one of the most egregious points of this story.
When the WalMart program spun up to attempt to influence their employees regarding this legislation they broke federal laws.
Store, department managers and the corporation made it mandatory for all WalMart employees to attend “training” regarding how they should vote in upcoming state and federal elections. Corporate HR types for WalMart claimed that this was just a case of local managers taking things too far. If this had been a one off in Nebraska or some other flyover state then it might be believable but this occurred across the country.
Illegal acts are just that(despite Mulkasey’s blathering)and should be punishable. A few hundred millions in fines and this type of activity would be undertaken with a great deal more care.
By Devastator
August 13, 2008 10:58 AM | Link to this
Dusty,
Let me put this another way: Obama intends on everyone paying their fair share of taxes. Right now, the rich aren’t doing that because of Bush tax cuts and policies that favor the rich. Obama simply wants to reverse the system that is putting an unfair tax burden on the lower and middle class.
So you see, Bush is violating what you just stated yourself by passing laws that only favor the rich and not everybody else.
By getalife "whiners"
August 13, 2008 11:12 AM | Link to this
Here is crusty the clown’s hero falling down drunk at the Olympics
Pathetic.
By nolife "wankers"
August 13, 2008 11:27 AM | Link to this
Here is my hero, Obama, picking his nose
Cool.
By buster brown
August 13, 2008 11:30 AM | Link to this
By getalife “whiners”
August 13, 2008 11:12 AM | Link to this
GETALIFE…
Spot on! What a loser, and a total embarrassment!
Anyone who voted for this incompetent, moron the first time around should hang their respective heads in shame. Anyone who voted for this DOOFUS the second time around should see a psychiatrist .. What a joke…Unfortunately the joke’s on us!
By Deva's tater
August 13, 2008 11:33 AM | Link to this
The reason I oppose oil exploration is purely personal. See, I have an innate aversion to oil. Many of my friends and relatives have gotten burned by it. Oil really cooked their gooses, so to speak.
Solar? All for it. Can’t live without. But no oil. No way.
By dirty harry
August 13, 2008 11:38 AM | Link to this
Now that the Russian..Georgian conflict is waning.
Who pops out of their hidey-hole? None other then the so-called queen of Soviet expertise…Kinda-Sleazy Rice.
Welcome back from vacation Kinda!
By findog
August 13, 2008 11:48 AM | Link to this
I think all Orwellian labeled laws should be found unconstitutional.
I also think that any item that the barcode reader cannot find should be free at Home Depot; however that’s off topic.
Too many laws are opposites from a plain text reading like Georgia being a right to work state when in actuality it is a right to fire state, as long as one doesn’t discriminate against one of the seven recognized minority sections of the populace. Have you ever noticed that the people who want jurist to follow a plain text reading of the constitution then write these hideously titled laws?
I am just really glad I have not had a job where my level was so low as to afford union protection; of course I am always eligible to be advised my services are no longer required. Should that happen and the only way to feed my daughter was to sell Chinese cr@p at the local Wal-Mart I would probably hope I could seek combined collective agreements to make such a dehumanizing experience bearable…
I guess Mrs. G isn’t Obama after all since he’s still on vacation…
By Poste Haste
August 13, 2008 11:48 AM | Link to this
The problem with Unions is that the Chinese pay a buck a week for hi tech skills to their loser citizens who are nothing but chinese scum and the communist chinese know it, and so do the workers. The Chinese only have to look at Amerian Movie stereotypes of themselves to know that they’re horrible little scummy weenie people. They’ll never demand more than a buck a day, even if they get medical degrees.
That’s why America is finished. We forgot to nuke the chinese. Or assassinate their leaders, and install saddam husseins in place who would “deal” with our conservative interests. that was stupid, now, wasn’t it.
Truman fired MacArthur for suggesting that we nuke the chinese in the early fifties when we coulda got away with it.
Truman was a whining, liberal dimocrap wasn’t he?
‘muff said.
By Will
August 13, 2008 12:03 PM | Link to this
Dear Mr. Wooten:
I need your help in understanding something.
I have been listening to the republican radio entertainers all week and one of them (I can’t remember his name but he is very popular and is a self-confessing recovering drug addict) has talked almost nonstop about Congress ignoring the will of the people regarding a vote of opening up additonal oil drilling sites. He says this is a real winner for republicans.
I also read in the AJC that several of Georgia’s congressmen are saying the same thing. One of them said, “The American people, in poll after poll, have made it clear that they favor off-shore and artic drilling. Those who deny a vote on this will pay in the November elections.”
Do you know if this entertainer and these politicians have said anything about the “will of the people” and polls in regard to the war in Iraq or an issue like stem cell resarch?
How do politicans determine when “the will of the people”, driven by polling, is the reason they support something?
By Tom
August 13, 2008 12:14 PM | Link to this
Settle down and cease this bickering. Trouble with the Rushkies in Geargia. Pray to Geesussa that Bush/McShame cool things down by threatening to send a couple divisions of our Paper Tigers over there to take charge and Democratize everything. Bring it on!!! One mission complished - ready for thee next!
By ray
August 13, 2008 12:14 PM | Link to this
silly libs - the reason for the drop in gas prices IS because we started drilling offshore secretly…silly lib morons.
By Sgt. Rock
August 13, 2008 12:22 PM | Link to this
Glad to see they’re letting you clients use the Internet over at the development center, Tom.
By Poste Haste
August 13, 2008 12:22 PM | Link to this
Will, I think I can field that question for Mr. Woo, (the chinese sellout). The will of the people is the bill of the people, that is, they dont want a bigger bill, that is, a bigger tax bill, and they WILL vote for anyone who fools them into thinking that it’s even possible to lower the bill, the tax bill.
But the reality is, that taxes must forever go higher, as our national burden becomes apparent: we must provide healthcare for our sick, education for our stupid, and wars for our unemployed, but then I repeat myself.
That takes taxes, huge taxes.
By Dutchman
August 13, 2008 12:25 PM | Link to this
Will,
Regarding
“Do you know if this entertainer and these politicians have said anything about the “will of the people” and polls in regard to the war in Iraq or an issue like stem cell research?”
The Congress has listened to the people, that is why they have continued to fund the war.
Regarding Stem Cell Research, there is no ban on research, the only ban is on Federal spending for it. - and again, that is the will of the people.
By findog
August 13, 2008 12:25 PM | Link to this
Dusty, is that really you at 9:49 or HIDT? If so well said, if not well said…
BFKaJ, Is there a union store to shop at around here? I do not shop at Wal-Mart on principal: I do not like their practices is driving out local small business; destroying advertising revenue for local papers; and bulldogging through zoning regulations to put another big box on the corner. But I do not begrudge your, or anyone else’s, desire to buy cheap Chinese stuff 24-hours a day…
Will, The will of the people is not guaranteed by the constitution, nor the pursuit of happiness. Your question of what an entertainer [radio or congressman] says is out of both sides of the pie hole. They claim the will of the people for the narrow concerns they agree with and then commend as principled stand when they do not follow the poles. So your line of thought just kind of stops when faced with reality; but good try anyway…
By BFKaJ
August 13, 2008 12:39 PM | Link to this
Dear Devastator @ 10:16, right, cult worship not respect for the ideas. I think that only makes sense for those supporting your chosen one.
Dear Will @ 12:03, I think you are on the right course. I think the democrats should publicly oppose more drilling because Americans really don’t want it. And I think they should urge all who feel differently to vote for the evil drilling republicans in November. That would prove the democrats are honest people.
By HIDT
August 13, 2008 12:41 PM | Link to this
T’weren’t me. I haven’t done, er, mimicked Dusty in weeks. But I agree. Well said, Dusty.
By Maniac is accurate
August 13, 2008 12:45 PM | Link to this
It ought to be a crime – in this city, at least – to headline a photo gallery ‘Cheetah Girls go Bollywood’ What a letdown. When I think of Cheetah and girls, it a whole other scene completely.
By Curious Observer
August 13, 2008 12:47 PM | Link to this
I believe Unions are fast becoming relics of time gone by. They were great in the removal of child labor, unfair wages, horrible working conditions and discriminations of all sorts.
Despite the killing and maiming of hundreds by employer-hired goons, unions created a national revulsion toward abuses in the workplace. Mr. Wooten seems to have forgotten which side hired the goons. Does Matewan ring a bell? Look it up.
And if you are stupid enough to think that the spirit that fostered such abuses has changed, you are entitled to take smug satisfaction in enjoying the protections that unions have brought you.
I see nothing wrong with allowing signed cards to be the proxy by which employees decide whether they want a union. Given the overbearing hostility to unionization of companies like WalMart, I doubt that the traditional form of employee voting would be anywhere close to secret or free from employer intimidation. In fact, I cannot imagine that a Democratic administration would stand idly by while a one of the nation’s largest companies called employees together in mandatory meetings to preach an anti-union agenda.
The political winds have shifted, and conservatives are about to lose their stranglehold on national labor policy. Veto-boy will be leaving in January. Let the knuckle-draggers scream and holler. They are powerless to resist what is coming.
By hillbilly ragger
August 13, 2008 12:55 PM | Link to this
Hoo boy, this is rich—Jim, all of the sudden, is haunted by the notion that some po’ workin’ folks voting rights might be jeopardized in some way?
Also, I need to gently inform Dutchman @12.25, who claims “there is no ban on research, the only ban is on Federal spending for it. - and again, that is the will of the people.”
um, no, not from what I can tell from the polling. per a 2007 poll, which asked straight up, “Do you think the federal government should or should not fund research that would use newly created stem cells obtained from human embryos?” - 53% yes, 41% no, 6% not sure.
If you’re aware of some other national polling that suggests otherwise, or if some national referendum was held on the topic that I was unaware of, please fill me in.
By Logical Dude
August 13, 2008 12:57 PM | Link to this
If companies paid fair wages, gave fair benefits, and a fair work week, then unions would not be needed.
Unfortunately, company owners are in it for money, and screwing the workers is one way to make a bigger buck for themselves. THIS is why unions are necessary, to prevent workers getting screwed by companies. If more companies were employee focused, then unions would no longer be needed.
In Wal-mart’s situation, it seems they are aware they are screwing over workers, and are scared pantsless that workers might unionize and ask for (wait for it… ) fair wages and fair benefits.
By BFKaJ
August 13, 2008 1:02 PM | Link to this
Dear Curious @ 12:47, I think you and I would agree that unions will never win a secret election, but they will win every time when they are allowed to “collect” signed “yes” votes. God help those who would vote no.
By jm
August 13, 2008 1:03 PM | Link to this
Will@12:03 - americans, whether liberal or conservative, are NIMBYs at heart. They are all for drilling for oil or mining for shale as long as it is not where they live. The same for nuclear power. Why do you think Yucca Mountain is still not open but waiting for “more study” - the good conservative republicans who run the state don’t want it there. Why do you think Jeb Bush, his father and brother opposed drilling off of the coast of Florida for so long - cause the people that lived there did not want oil derricks off their coasts.
By Poste Haste
August 13, 2008 1:05 PM | Link to this
BTW: What is the mission of US troops in Iraq?
Dusty? I thought not.
RW? anything? of course not. Castor oil ruined your mentality. (thanx RW’s mum)
Duhng? Maybe there’s a way to work the phrase, “liberal whiners” into our mission in Iraq. (moron).
JBLowmeINlaws? zzzzz
By BFKaJ
August 13, 2008 1:07 PM | Link to this
Help Wanted: Knee-capper, to collect votes for ratification of a union. No brains required, but must be physically indimidating. Pay: ample reward for each “yes” vote collected.
Dr. Williams offers an extraordinary argument on education today “Patterns of Black Excellence,” the seminal idea partially borrowed (with credit) from a 1976 column by Dr. Sowell: http://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/archive.shtml Be sure to read the joke at the end.
By ron
August 13, 2008 1:10 PM | Link to this
Good afternoon all,I’ve been associated with unions most of my working career in one context or another.They are necessary.The unions are what brought about the rights workers in America enjoy today.Without unions corporations will usurp workers rights away rapidly and put everyone back to slave labor conditions.
That said,I still don’t like the idea of uniouns being formed without a secret ballot process.Workers should feel free to vote on whether or not they want a union at a specific workplace.I once witnessed a union vote on a serious issue carried out in the open where each member had to cast their ballot in front of their International Representative.He got his vote and he did this union a lot of harm by it.To this day they have never recovered what they gave away.Not to a company,but to other unions.
There are unions out there that exist to take care of their members and there are unions out there that have their own agenda.Don’t make the mistake of lumping them all together.
By TW
August 13, 2008 1:10 PM | Link to this
Poste Haste - The mission of the troops was to serve as free labor for rightwing money makers.
By Poste Haste
August 13, 2008 1:12 PM | Link to this
Anyone else notice how unfair the scoring in the woman’s finals in gymnastics were last night?
The scoring is political. One chinese preteen fell off the beam. Our star did a near-flawless and much more difficult routine and their scores were similar.
The chinese stink. So does Russia.
The russians and the chinese stink.
Obama 08: America wont stink anymore.
By Illogical I Want My Mommy Liberal
August 13, 2008 1:16 PM | Link to this
By Logical Dude August 13, 2008 12:57 PM
“If companies paid fair wages, gave fair benefits, and a fair work week, then unions would not be needed.”
Uh, moron: this is not the 1920s coal mining days anymore. And just what, let alone who, praytell, determines what a “livable wage” and “fair workweek” is, moron? Look at France’s unemployment for that. You pinheads on the left want to dictate that? Just watch MORE businesses fail and companies head their coat tails overseas, fascist lib. As God as my witness I’d close up shop if you socialists ever dictate how to run my business. Ever wonder why foreign car makers are building plants in the South?
By Oh! Oh! Oh!
August 13, 2008 1:17 PM | Link to this
“BTW: What is the mission of US troops in Iraq?”
I know! Let me! Ahem. The mission of US Troops in Iraq is to guard the efforts of Parsons, Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater, and so forth while they pump oil from unmetered wells into pipelines for which the destination is unspecified, to be sold on the world market with the profit going to entities not specifically identified to the US taxpayers, and to “rebuild” what our troops were ordered to destroy, the bill for which is footed by the US taxpayers, with money we borrowed from Saudi Arabia and China, with interest, to be paid by future generations of Americans, for the extreme, tax-free profit of a few, unspecified, yet highly-patriotic American and Saudi executives and stockholders.
By findog
August 13, 2008 1:23 PM | Link to this
Historically Georgians, like many of the Old South, elected to not join in unionization. Maybe if it were confederation it would have been more warmly received. Anyway, the south became attractive to mills and they relocated from the North East because of cheap, unorganized labor. So the north had to put money into education for the higher end job market while the south just accepted those good jobs. NAFTA now has the depression era jobs the south gained from the north going overseas.
My favorite, follow the jobs experience is: grandma needed brakes in 1996 and the rotors were from Mexico and cost $28; then in 2005 when they had to be replaced again they were from China and only $24. Even within Mexico mega-corporations are relocating their plants to poorer and poorer sections of the country looking for cheap labor. As Springsteen said in 1984, these jobs are going boys and they ain’t coming back.
If you need union protection you need to go back to school and either learn a trade or profession that can’t be outsourced like automotive repair or surveying…
By Poste Haste
August 13, 2008 1:31 PM | Link to this
That’s right, Johnny, here’s a cookie. The mission of US troops in Iraq is the exact same as the mission defined Bush’s auto-bio: “Mein Pet Kampf”. (which he stole from der heetler, unt his frauline teetler, the dirty rat).
By Illogical I Want My Mommy Liberal
August 13, 2008 1:32 PM | Link to this
By Poste Haste August 13, 2008 1:05 PM
“BTW: What is the mission of US troops in Iraq?”
Gawd, don’t tell me that extremist liberal wingnut parroting pantywaste is back at it again. Somebody pop the polly in his beak please - the poor thing is stuck on stupid again.
By GMAN
August 13, 2008 1:40 PM | Link to this
John McCain is so old and stupid, you can tell when he’s used the computer because there’s White Out all over the screen!
GOP - Taking Pride in Ignorance!
By Dr. Ruth's marketing department
August 13, 2008 2:33 PM | Link to this
In advertising, among the old truths are: Sex sells. And, nostalgia sells (hence the existence of Time Life Music).
If one angle is good, both must be better right? Apparently, because 1970s and ’80s adult film goddesses Seka and Nina Hartley have returned to heat up the small screen with post-menopausal porn, tutoring a new generation of male and female co-stars.
God bless America.
By Southern Democrat
August 13, 2008 2:37 PM | Link to this
To my friends on this blog,
Hello again. I have missed our “conversations.” I was overseas again on business for an extended period and could only read and comment sporadically. I see that the Georgia heat has not wilted any firmly held political convictions!
Maybe it’s nostalgia or happiness to be spending dollars and not Euros or pounds, but I actually tend to agree with Dusty today. Her argument of the evolution of modern society and built-in corporate oversight seems reasonable to me. I will always support the ability of workers to organize, but am leery of the corruptibility of large unions. I had zero patience for my fellow educators who wanted to have a “strong union” in Georgia. Perhaps predictably, I found that the teachers making those calls tended to be the ones that hit came in 10 minutes before the school day began, hit the door running at 3:30, and took little pride in their work.
That being said, I consciously choose not to shop at Wal-Mart for a variety of reasons, including their treatment of workers. I also simply dislike trading in walking down a Main Street and poking into four or five different stores for a soulless, over-flourescented (a new word) space populated by frightening smiley faces.
By Southern Democrat
August 13, 2008 3:12 PM | Link to this
To my friends on this blog,
Hello again. I have missed our “conversations.” I was overseas again on business for an extended period and could only read and comment sporadically. I see that the Georgia heat has not wilted any firmly held political convictions!
Maybe it’s nostalgia or happiness to be spending dollars and not Euros or pounds, but I actually tend to agree with Dusty today. Her argument of the evolution of modern society and built-in corporate oversight seems reasonable to me. I will always support the ability of workers to organize, but am leery of the corruptibility of large unions. I had zero patience for my fellow educators who wanted to have a “strong union” in Georgia. Perhaps predictably, I found that the teachers making those calls tended to be the ones that hit came in 10 minutes before the school day began, hit the door running at 3:30, and took little pride in their work.
That being said, I consciously choose not to shop at Wal-Mart for a variety of reasons, including their treatment of workers. I also simply dislike trading in walking down a Main Street and poking into four or five different stores for a soulless, over-flourescented (a new word) space populated by frightening smiley faces.
By Dusty
August 13, 2008 3:19 PM | Link to this
Poste Haste, …yeah, PoFo..you’re back as a dirty rat I see….
So America stinks, you say. Funny that happens ONLY when YOU are around.
The “Heetler” comparison is so old it also stinks.
Rotten stuff aint funny, honey..Go back to your old routines which were laughable at least.
By Jim Wooten
August 13, 2008 3:36 PM | Link to this
Welcome back, Southern Democrat. Your contributions have been missed.
By Tom Hill
August 13, 2008 4:03 PM | Link to this
As a lifelong republican and conservative I strongly disagree with your anti-union article. What is wrong with workers organizing and bargaining for better wages and working conditions. That is the American way to better yourself. You sound like what the Russians are saying now. Overthrow your government or else……. Divide the workforce and conquer…………… A true conservative would value the freedom to organize and have a check and balance system in place. Or have you forgotten the sweatshops, unsafe working conditions and buying from the company store.
By ron
August 13, 2008 4:18 PM | Link to this
Foreign car manufacturers came to the South to avoid a unionized work force.It also came because the market is here in the U.S. This is where there is a large number of people that are able to afford their vehicles.These people don’t work for Wal-Mart.
By Dusty
August 13, 2008 4:33 PM | Link to this
Well, I see Southern Democrat had a rejuvenating overseas trip and sees things much clearer!! That is, he AGREES with me. Ah so!!! Well, probably just today.
Anyway, Southern Democrat, nice to have you back. Some of these folks are not worth pickin’ on. But you are worth the time. Usually. I shall do my very best!! McCain 2008..
(JIM WOOTEN, how come I never get a hug!!! I may form a Bloggers’ Protest Union..)
By @@
August 13, 2008 5:00 PM | Link to this
The way I see it Jim, unions are a thing of the past as is the thinking of those who “cling” to them. I’ll give them their due but not their dues.
At the school where I work we negotiate individually or as a collective depending on what it is we seek. It’s always been a compromise. We get what we want, within reason, and they get to keep a dedicated staff.
None of us would ever push our administrators on an issue to the point that it would place the school’s ability to educate special needs children in jeopardy.
Ours is a common goal. The kids come first.
For those who think that a union will not use strong-arm tactics in retaliation against one of their own, you should thing again. My husband’s cousin went to work for a union company straight out of his military service. Paid the dues…….went along to get along until one day, some 20 years into his employment, there was a strike. By then he had formed a pretty solid work ethic. He felt his pay was fair. He gave an honest days work for an honest days pay. He refused to join the strike.
The union made his life a living hell for the remaining 15 years of his employment.
The thing I find most odd in all those I know who are union employees is that their “traditional” values guide their voting in presidential elections. All but one vote conservative. Trying to discuss politics with him is like talking to a stump. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.
He really believes that universal healthcare will come free of charge, courtesy of the Democrats.
By Tared and feathered
August 13, 2008 5:24 PM | Link to this
POSTE HASTE is a TROLL who posts on this and numerous other AJC blogs under at least 15 different names!!! Pay him no mind because he has nothing to say and seemingly all the time in the world to say it. Go away poste haste- aka-fruitless objections, pigskin life, cop talk, nice to fool, analcord and on and on and on.
By @@
August 13, 2008 5:32 PM | Link to this
On Aug. 12, Pakistani security sources confirmed that an Aug. 8 operation in Bajaur resulted in the death of al Qaeda leader Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, aka Sheikh Said al-Masri. Some posters on jihadist message boards have denied the reports, but al Qaeda itself has yet to release a statement on the issue. Al-Yazid was reportedly al Qaeda’s operational commander for Afghanistan, and some reports also claim he was responsible for planning attacks within Pakistan, such as the June 2 attack on the Danish Embassy.
If confirmed, al-Yazid’s death came just 11 days after the July 28 missile strike in South Waziristan that resulted in the death of al Qaeda’s lead chemical and biological weapons expert, Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri. The strike against al-Sayid also killed three other Egyptian al Qaeda commanders. In an ironic twist, the official al Qaeda eulogy for al-Sayid and his companions was given by al-Yazid.
Unconfirmed rumors also have swirled since the July 28 attack that al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri was either killed or seriously wounded in the same operation.
And here’s hopin’ those rumors are true.
By getalife "whiners"
August 13, 2008 5:51 PM | Link to this
How many times can they kill #2?
Anyhoo, Putin saw w falling down drunk and decided to invade and occupy Georgia.
Where was the CIA to warn w Putin was going to pull a w?
Was w too drunk to listen?
By @@
August 13, 2008 5:58 PM | Link to this
Speaking of trolls. The other night I’m in here catching up on the day’s read. I hit the comment section and it takes me to Jim’s column “Forum on Manhood Misses the Mark” where I find all sorts of afterhours spam (which Jim Wooten may want to remove) because much of it was pornographic in nature along with drug promotions for “enhancement” purposes. Anyhoo……….
Who can be found right smack dab in the middle of the spam offering advice? None other than our own PoliFore posting as Duhng Undone.
By Duhng Undone July 13, 2008 11:21 AM | Link to this
Azithrom, they say watermelon, (or a blow-up doll), is a good substitute for zithromax, you know, in a pinch.
Ignore the July 13th date. PoliFore’s Run for Manhood was in April.
PoliFore?
By Juan Flummoxed
August 13, 2008 6:05 PM | Link to this
Ixnay on the secret ballot. Labor codes across the 50 states would be mooted. The democratization of the labor unions — and through them, the increased democratization of the workplace — is the key to their success and survival. They are given special rights in law precisely and ONLY because they have been so directly democratic in the past. Without this Pro they should lose their de jure Quid.
By @@
August 13, 2008 6:10 PM | Link to this
Getalife:
It’s common knowledge that those who take pleasure in someone else’s drinking, true or not, are usually those who have a problem themselves. Something about misery invites company.
Maker’s Mark or Crown?
By BFKaJ
August 14, 2008 9:53 AM | Link to this
Good morning all. Jbmlaw proposal for the day: amend the legal definition of bribery to incorporate (1) any earmark by any politician for benefit of any company whose officers and shareholders have aggregately contributed more than $1,000 to any politician within the preceding five years, or (2) receipt by any politician of more than $1,000 from aggregated officers and shareholders of any company that received an earmark by that politician within the preceding five years.
By getalife "whiners"
August 14, 2008 9:57 AM | Link to this
“Man fired from job kills Ark. Democratic chairman :
Police and neighbors are struggling to explain why a man described as a loner drove more than 30 miles to Arkansas’ Democratic Party headquarters and fatally shot its chairman hours after getting fired from his job.”
Another dangerous wingnut terrorist.
See a trend starting ?
Better send these wingnut terrorists to Gitmo.
By Copyleft
August 14, 2008 9:57 AM | Link to this
Sick of all the negative campaigning?
John McCain has just released a POSITIVE ad, addressed directly to his base of supporters!
http://tinyurl.com/55tutk
By BFKaJ
August 14, 2008 10:16 AM | Link to this
Dear getalife @ 9:57, was the gunman a rich republican, or was he a working class sort?
By Vacalope
August 14, 2008 10:34 AM | Link to this
BFKaj,
Spiffing good job on the Bribery amends. Give them to your favorite embattled U.S. Representative, won’t you?
By Eddie
August 14, 2008 10:35 AM | Link to this
What do you have against the middle class, Mr. Wooten? You are old enough to remember when the middle class was such a strong segment of our society. Well, why do you think? The unions were also very strong. It gave workers, many who didn’t have a high school or college degree, better pay and benefits.
The middle class is in decline and is under serious stress due to stagnant wages, loss of health care, rising college tuition, rising housing costs, etc. etc. Unions have been in decline during the same period. There is a direct connection between union membership and our standard of living. Afterall, isn’t that why workers form unions?
Giving workers a better chance of forming a union seems like a good idea to me. If Bush can give a one-time stimulus package to working people and help stimulate the economy, the unions can give a PERMANENT stimulus package to workers.
Instead you want WalMart to continue to drive down wages in the U.S. by importing sweatshop products from overseas, and squeezing their employees as much as they can. Boy, you must really hate working people.
By Dusty
August 14, 2008 10:36 AM | Link to this
Copyleft@9:57
You lie like a rug. Your “positive” Geritol ad is nothing but a typical undercover Obama ad thought up by far left liberals.
It’s as “positive” as saying Obama has put out a religious ad. Then show Obama wearing a turban and holding the Koran saying “This is where my loyalty lies”.
Very cute, AlwaysLEFTie. Anything goes, doesn’t it? How’s your 90 year old Democratic senator from W. Virginia doing? Still able to make decisions??
By Eddie
August 14, 2008 10:39 AM | Link to this
What do you have against the middle class, Mr. Wooten? You are old enough to remember when the middle class was such a strong segment of our society. Well, why do you think? The unions were also very strong. It gave workers, many who didn’t have a high school or college degree, better pay and benefits.
The middle class is in decline and is under serious stress due to stagnant wages, loss of health care, rising college tuition, rising housing costs, etc. etc. Unions have been in decline during the same period. There is a direct connection between union membership and our standard of living. Afterall, isn’t that why workers form unions?
Giving workers a better chance of forming a union seems like a good idea to me. If Bush can give a one-time stimulus package to working people and help stimulate the economy, the unions can give a PERMANENT stimulus package to workers.
Instead you want WalMart to continue to drive down wages in the U.S. by importing sweatshop products from overseas, and squeezing their employees as much as they can. Boy, you must really hate working people.
By Vacalope
August 14, 2008 11:24 AM | Link to this
Dusty,
Do you remember any of the vicious anti-Nixon caricatures and counterculture mockeries that sold like Viagra even before Watergate? Stickers, posters, deadly political cartoons featured, first, on the very covers of the counterculture magazines, and later in the the Op-Eds of the Demstream press.
You’d find them in record stores and headshops, and atop folding tables in college quads. (All your favorite hangouts!) They became ubiquitous, as the Free Speech movement degenerated into the “Filthy Speech Movement”.
People didn’t disagree with or dislike Nixon; the hated his guts, and wanted everybody to know it. Why? Because they thought — excuse me, they felt — that he was killing off a generation of young Americans, and because he was the ultra-square embodiment of The Establishment, meaning the killjoys.
What your seeing with this new style of out-and-out hate-propaganda against McCain is nothing more than incompetent “Movement” nostalgia.
By AmVet
August 14, 2008 11:25 AM | Link to this
getalife, I too noted the murder of that innocent man in Arkansas. His crime? Being a Democrat.
First an O’Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh (and other “conservative” right wing mullahs) loving scumbag shoots up a children’s play because he admitted to hating liberals.
Now this.
Though purely conjecture at this point, I would bet a hundred bucks he was just another Southern, hate-filled (probably unemployed) “conservative” who bought into the cr@p sold by this hijacked Republican Party.
But even the looniest of these ostriches know (even though they will never admit) their days are numbered and some of these cowards just can’t handle the impending and inevitable demise of their incompetent and outdated, very soon to be irrelevant, ideology.
Conservative “suicide bombers” - the new poster boys for the violently enraged and otherwise impotent neo-cons.
And like you, getalife, I see more of this coming…
By Copyleft
August 14, 2008 11:30 AM | Link to this
Congratulations, Dusty… you finally got the joke. Well done.
(Sheesh!)
By Poste Haste
August 14, 2008 11:34 AM | Link to this
What is the mission of Russian troops in Georgia?
What is the mission of US troops in Iraq?
Obama 08: Mission America
By Copyleft
August 14, 2008 11:36 AM | Link to this
Vacalope: Thanks for the reminder about Nixon, our last criminal Republican president.
You, uh, DID mean to draw a parallel to the indisputable fact that Nixon was, in fact, GUILTY of lawbreaking and treason, right?
By Dusty
August 14, 2008 12:05 PM | Link to this
Yes…Copyleft..I get the JOKE!! And now, show up the Obama JOKES..
Vacalope, you are correct. Truly incompetent libber lovely “jokes”.
Let’s see now. We see liberal prejudice against veterans, older people, US troops, Iraq War. Then AmVet arises from his pathological miasma to insist that any horrible incident involving Democrats is done by conservative “Suicide bombers”.
What a crowd! I am so glad that Democrats can claim all of them. No one else would.
By BFKaJ
August 14, 2008 12:30 PM | Link to this
Dear Dusty @ 12:05, have an idea for you to keep in reserve, for the next time the moonbats talk about the white-haired dude. Ask them who is older, Nancy Pelosi or John McCain? While the answer is what one would expect, the differential is much less than most would think (3.5 years). Another funny trivia matter, who had more political experience, Dan Quayle in 1988 or Barack Obama in 2008. You’ll get a real laugh out of that one.
By BFKaJ
August 14, 2008 12:37 PM | Link to this
In fact I think I have a new name for the chosen one - Barack Quayle.
By BFKaJ
August 14, 2008 1:09 PM | Link to this
Excellent essay documenting the efficacy of leftist policy in the Iraq war, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121867196750438873.html?mod=djemEditorialPage Leftists advisory: the result was humiliation.
By Jock Ewing
August 14, 2008 1:48 PM | Link to this
Is ol’ Wutty Woot OK? Anybody heard anything?
By Dusty
August 14, 2008 1:51 PM | Link to this
Dear BFKaJ, 12:30
Dp you really think the Pelosi bit would work? After all, she has far better cosmetic surgeons, make-up madames and fashion fandanglers than McCain. The real Pelosi is so far gone that a comparison with the really real McCain might falter. Who can see beneath the “fixed”facade of Pelosi and numerous movie stars? We, the women,(I admit) prefer a continued bit of youthfulness in our demeanor. Pelosi has been working on that angle for years. McCain is not affected by such blandishments. He is as honest and straightforward as Abe.
But QUAYLE? Can’t Obama spell potato? That is about the only thing I remember about Quayle. Tell me more.
I’m sorry about Gordon Browne and the thought that the British might have “chickened out” at Basra. Awww…not the British. They are my favorites and usually dependable. I am so sorry Browne did not have the foresight of Bush.
Bush reminds me of Truman. I guess Browne will not remind me of Churchill. But I still love the British.
By BFKaJ
August 14, 2008 2:59 PM | Link to this
Dear Dusty @ 1:51, I agree with all of your analysis, good arguments.
Poor Dan Quayle was a young and reasonably well-accomplished conservative, who said conservative things in a way hurtful to leftists. The leftist response was to attempt to turn him into a cartoon - so a thoughtful critique of morality as depicted by Hollywood became Quayle’s inability to distinguish reality from soap opera (Murphy Brown.) Quayle’s popular persona was formed by his unwillingness to address the personal insult delivered by a long forgotten Texas senator in the Vice Presidential debate. This VP debate was the period when democrats were first developing their “politics of personal destruction” formula, still so integral to their efforts today.
By BFKaJ
August 14, 2008 3:05 PM | Link to this
Dusty, you mentioned the “potatoe” fiasco, when Dan was asked - “set up” to referee a spelling contest, and the inviter gave him a mispelled key. In the big scheme, that sort of error is indistinguishable from a candidate who asserts there are 57 states, or who advises that inflating tires is a fully adequate substitute for drilling for new oil sources.
By JLK
August 14, 2008 4:01 PM | Link to this
Fake Lawyer man, can you point me to the quote where a candidate said, “inflating tires is a FULLY ADEQUATE SUBSTITUTE for drilling for new oil sources?” Or are you just pathetically making sh-t up again? Also, if you had anything truthful of merit to add, would you be making sh-t up again?
By Vacalope
August 14, 2008 4:08 PM | Link to this
JLK,
He doesn’t need to make sh!t up; the original, from O’Schlock, is what BFKaj says it is, and ain’t nothing with more “merit” than reporting on that candidate resorting to “just pathetically makine sh-t up again.”
By Poste Haste
August 14, 2008 5:08 PM | Link to this
Dusty’s arguments were great, but, do you think a prettier, younger woman could blog-sync for her? I mean, we do want ratings, matey.
bwa How about the chinese thinking that they could substitute the little girl with the Moe haircut for the little girl with the Moe hair cut to lip synch a song the other one actually sang. Like the chinese dont all look alike. This is the funniest Olympics yet: watching the Chinese try to fool us. I love it!
By US Department of Energy
August 14, 2008 5:15 PM | Link to this
Excuse me, are you trying to say that US Department of Energy data and recommendations are wrong? That the proper maintenance of vehicles DOES NOT improve the fuel efficiency of the vehicle and reduce the economy of operating costs for the vehicle over time? Please explain.
By the way, you misquoted Senator Obama.
By Dusty
August 14, 2008 5:27 PM | Link to this
Dear Poste Hastey PoFo PuffBall,
You are just jealous of my savoir faire, mon petit four, not to mention that.. je suis a petit poulet!! (Southern but not fried.)
Take that and cast it with your nomme de plumes! The Chinese opening show put all other Olympics to shame. No dog and pony show that one. Pure genius.
And speaking of genius, I’ve got to figure out something for dinner. See ya later…
By BFKaJ
August 14, 2008 5:28 PM | Link to this
Dear JK @ 4:01, surely, anything for you. “There’s things that you can do individually though to save energy. Making sure your tires are properly inflated. Simple thing. But we could save all the oil they are talking about getting off drilling if everybody was just inflating their tires. And getting regular tune-ups. You could actually save just as much.” You can see the video here: http://riggword.wordpress.com/2008/08/13/obama-inflate-tires-archives-and-more/
When he said “you could save just as much” I wonder what he meant? Since he had just said, “We could save all the oil they are talking about getting off drilling if everybody was just inflating their tires,” I inferred he meant that inflating tires would save as much oil as we could get from new drilling in ANWR and off the coasts of the US. Did you have a different interpretation of “We could save all the oil they are talking about getting off drilling if everybody was just inflating their tires”?
By BFKaJ
August 14, 2008 5:30 PM | Link to this
Dear JK, in all fairness, I don’t think Barack Quayle remembered we had 57 states to drill in when he made his “Ludicris” inflationary statement.
By BFKaJ
August 14, 2008 5:34 PM | Link to this
Dear Department of Energy @ 5:15, I would be remiss if I failed to note that the Department of Energy has not produced the first joule of energy in its 30-year existence. I would also urge you study English style, as quotations are generally within quotation marks, and mocking paraphrase is generally not. I appreciate that humor is beyond leftist comprehension, so I will not dwell on your inability to grasp the distinction in your mindless and unfounded criticism.
By BFKaJ
August 14, 2008 5:39 PM | Link to this
Dear JK @ 4:01. don’t you ever get tired of me humiliating you on these things? I mean, you try over and over, attempting to manufacture a phony argument over the deficiencies I publish about your heroes, and I kill you every time. When you notice you are hitting yourself over the head with a hammer, over and over, I suspect you will give it up. Until then, have at it; if it is fun for you, I assure you it is fun for me.
By JLK
August 14, 2008 5:53 PM | Link to this
Fake Lawyer, following your talk-radio spiritual leaders, you jacked the quote to mock what Obama said, which actually had merit, to imply that it was ridiculous. He did NOT say what you said he said. He DID relay information that all responsible car owners know: proper tire inflation and regular tune-ups improve gas mileage, and that’s something we, as individuals, can do. (Please forgive my paraphrasing, but you seem to be fine with doing it.) I already knew this about vehicle maintenance. Maybe you should talk less and listen more, and you might learn something useful too.
Have a lovely evening choking on your hatred of all things rational. (Please be careful though: the warm tingly feeling you can’t get enough of is the endorphins that are released when you deprive your brain of oxygen. You might need a few of those brain cells to be clear-headed enough to shaft your clients on this week’s billing hours without getting caught.)
By JLK
August 14, 2008 5:57 PM | Link to this
Thank you, sir. May I have another?
By Jim
August 14, 2008 5:58 PM | Link to this
Mission Accomplished 4,000 + W - The President
Four more years 8,000+ John (George Jr.) McCain
By Jock Ewing
August 14, 2008 6:04 PM | Link to this
I sure hope Wutty Woot comes back tomorrow. Is he OK? Anybody heard anything?