Local Idiocy = Federal Idiocy

In case you couldn’t tell, I am growing more and more fed up w/ government “leaders” at all levels. If you watch the news or listen to any talk radio outside of NPR (or its network and cable equivalents) then you know pretty much what the Fed is doing, and trying to do, these days. It is pretty sickening. Sadly, though, the BS doesn’t stop in DC.

Our local city council in their infinite wisdom, prudence and logical forethought relied on a $3M grant from the Fed to fund city police and fire services in an effort to close the $20M budget deficit. (There is also a $40M deficit projected for next year. How much do you want to bet it turns out to be bigger?) Guess what? Shocker of all shockers, the grant didn’t come through. This is the same city council that tried to close last year’s deficit in part by installing red light cameras to catch local taxpayers running red lights, then mail tickets to the car’s registered owner (maybe not the driver), to raise funds (hidden tax) instead of cutting costs. Great idea folks.

This little ploy to threaten to lay off cops and firefighters is very similar to the California legislators “worrying” that great state may have to lay off teachers and cops and open up the prison doors in order to cut costs. They still haven’t done it months later.

But back to The ‘Nati… I understand that in bad times all departments need to make sacrifices, but that is only after all unnecessary programs have been slashed and/or killed. This is definitely not the case. They found it necessary to put in $3M for a new environmental department for a 4th layer of EPA-type oversight (isn’t $3M what the supposed grant was for?), they want to give section 8 housing in a new riverfront commercial / condo development downtown, etc. and they are pursuing a trollycar / streetcar on a fixed track route. This would cost at least $100M, all for a downtown area near a part of town recently ranked #1 on deadliest neighborhoods list in the nation?! WTF?? Talk about an Epic Fail if that goes through. How many tourist and suburbanites are gonna be mugged or killed on the streetcar if they build it? We’re already claiming we can’t afford the cops and extra jail space. (The voters did turn down a wopping tax increase to build a new jail, but if they could have come up with a plan for a jail at a reasonable price, it would have gotten the votes.)

There is still a little problem of a $7M deficit that they haven’t addressed – and have gone into a summer recess. I had this very short exchange on Twitter with a member of city council. The first 3 were posted before I logged in to check the updates.

Council Member: Sigh. Another suburbanite telling Enq street car is wasteful and analysis needed. Well, we did anlysis, which is why we want to build it.
Council Member: Maybe city residents should start complaining more about the billions we spend on sprawl highways to subsidize your suburban lifestyle?
Council Member: Well, we want an urban lifestyle here--based in transit, not 3-car garages.
Me (ajh1836): @Council Member: urban life=hi pop density. you have 2 clamp dwn on crime b4 any1 agrees 2 live dwntwn & use streetcar sys. can't RiF cops.
Council Member:(By Direct message) Well, 64 percent of our budget goes to public safety--$103 mill to CPD. Obviously this Council prioritizes safety.
Me (ajh1836): (By Direct Message) Yet Council threatens 2 layoff cops & firefighters because foolishly relied on gov grant? Politcal tactic? other cuts (enviro dept) better.

And then the conversation was ended. Why didn’t he (or likely his aide) respond? Notice how “they” responded by direct message, out of the public timeline? Easier to be snarky and make misleading assertions where the public won’t see. Pathetic,but not unexpected.

So, is it any wonder people across the country are fed up with their government at all levels? When you hear threats of layoffs for cops and opening of prison doors, is it any wonder gun sales are up across the country?

Here is an article from a senior law enforcement professional in Columbus, OH. Sobering stuff. It isn’t just crazy, end of the world, folks buying up guns and ammo. Cops, grannies, working stiffs... all worried about a breakdown of government services, mainly cops and jails, riots due to loss of jobs/income, etc., general disenfranchisement and distrust of government - buying firearms and getting their concealed carry permits, if Nanny allows it. Do you see what is going on in France? Could it be coming here? Throughout history, the best way to control a people is to disarm them. A majority of the population are already mindless sheeple waiting for their feed at the Public trough. Maybe it won't be too hard for the gov to take that next step. They tried it in New Orleans after Katrina...
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Every move the Congress and President have made over the last year (obviously longer, but we’ll stick to recent events) has been about control. Not the welfare of the people or the future of the country. As the Fed amasses more power and takes oversight of, stock in, and partnerships with, private business we’re further down the fascist road. How many “leaders” move in and out of government and private sector jobs in big corporations? Goldman Sachs, Fannie/ Freddie, SEIU, AFL-CIO, ACORN, etc, etc. And the state / local level politicians, and Congressional Reps grovel for scraps of bailout and stimulus money, “sweeteners” (aka bribes), selling their states and constituents out in hopes of getting enough dollars for the next campaign and enough uninformed voters to keep them in power.

“I know of no safe repository of the ultimate power of society but people. And if we think them not enlightened enough, the remedy is not to take the power from them, but to inform them by education.” – Thomas Jefferson

Something New - Daily Reads

Since I don't really have the time, energy, motivation, words, etc to put together any rational and well thought out posts, I'm going to share some interesting articles and blog posts that I come across every day or two, or three. I'll try to add some commentary or a short summary with each link.


Articles
A little surprising when you consider all the monthly dues they rake in, but they did spend a TON of cash to get Barry et al into power. The union-owned golf course/country club in Michigan (for leaders, of course) is up to it’s eyes in debt too.

Ten-year notes didn’t sell too well, huh? No surprise – are you confident in the US gov / the dollar, enough to go 10-years long? 4% is considered high? I’d need something closer to 6 or 8% to even consider plunking my money down. 30-year bonds up for sale on Thursday. We’ll see how well that goes over.

Twenty years he spent as a member of this guy's church (but really, how often did he attend?) "Show me a man's friends, I'll show you who he is" or something along those lines.


USA Today - more good news.


Oil climbs

Are they F*%&^ing serious with this? I don’t even know what to say about this one.

Blogs
Some perspective on Barry's cost cutting in the budget from a few weeks back. I meant to put the video on here when I first found it, but I can't figure out how to post video on here in the 5 minutes I normally spend looking each time I think of it. Lack of an attention span is a kicker.

Michelle Malkin is hosting a little "contest" for the best "Photoshopped" Obamacare posters, most spun off of the old wartime morale boosting posters. I think these are my favorite 2 so far.








Nanny to own big stake in Citi. I think this was part of the power play all along w/ the preferred shares.

Barry Loves Big Labor

"Craig Becker and Mark Pearce are President Barack Obama’s nominees to fill two of three vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). .......Becker is associate general counsel to the Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO."

No shit, really? A lawyer for the SEIU and AFL-CIO? I said it before, it's all about payback now.

And how about this little piece of info that hasn't gotten much, if any reporting - Barry decided that the Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) in the U.S. Department of Labor can do without $4M of it's 2009 budget for 2010, a decrease from $45M to $41M. For anyone who doesn't know, this is the government agency that investigates fraud, embezzlement, etc. by union leaders and officials. It's a good thing that corruption is not a serious issue anymore in Big Labor. Did I miss that goernment report? It must have been released on a Friday afternoon.

Check out the link to this story over at Atlas Shrugs for a very solid rundown of the stories linking Barry w/ the SEIU and ACORN.

EFCA = "Barry and The Gang Screw the Country and American Business in Order to Pay Back Big Labor for all the Campaign Contributions....Act

The Employee Free Choice Act. Another proposed bill that is not what it says it is and doesn't do what it says it will do. It isn't about Employees; it's about unions and power. It isn't about free choice; it's about a forced choice, or no choice. It is the Grand Prize for the labor unions who donated millions of dollars from member dues to the Democrats in the past elections. And now it's time for Barry and The Gang to pay up on their part of the deal. You know what they say about payback.... but this time it’s the American Taxpayer and American businesses that will be hurt. Here is the first payment …

And the next payments are being drafted with the royal screwing of the primary stakeholders / creditors along with the American taxpayers in the proposed auto bankruptcy deals. O'bama is calling the creditors and tier 1 stakeholders "speculators" and is giving the UAW BILLIONS in cash, a major equity stake, the right to appoint a Board member, etc. It is good to have friends in high places.

So back to EFCA, aka "card check." Here's how it currently works - the short version:
A union decides to target a business. They can "Salt" the job with paid union organizers to get inside, or just hang out on the outside and get access to employees during non-working hours. The union gets enough employees to sign these cards in order to ask for recognition by the company or take a petition to the NLRB. This isn't the worst thing in the world because, as an employer, you are able to launch an information campaign to combat the lies and half-truths told by the union reps. It goes to an election WITH SECRET BALLOTS and if the union gets the votes, there is still no mandate to reach an agreement through negotiations.

Now, if/when card check is passed the unions only need to get 50% + 1 of the workforce or bargaining unit to sign the cards; and there are no expiration date on the cards. Cards signed before EFCA passes could theoretically be saved for use later on down the road. The union reps will be able to say whatever they want, or do whatever they want, to get the targeted employees to sign cards indicating that they are interested in being represented by the union. They can use intimidation, coercion, at lunch, after work, in the parking lot, at the bar, the grocery store, church, your kid's little league game, your house. Employees may sign for any reason - bad day, family problems, lies, fear, to be part of the crowd, don't want to get left out, or to get the harassment of them and their family to stop, etc. You don’t think harassment will take place? You don’t think fraud will take place?

Once the union gets the 50% +1, the game is over. No election, No Secret Ballots. No counter-campaign, no election, you are off to bargaining. Isn’t the right of casting your vote in privacy something we hold sacred in this country? Do Barry, his henchmen and all the Big Labor bosses want the poll workers to start going door to door to “ask” you to fill out your local and state ballots while a couple thugs stand behind them. The intimidation factor on this is huge! But whatever they can do to help the unions and screw business is just fine with them.

After the union gets the 50% + 1 you have 90-120 days to bargain. That might as well be a day. Nothing ever gets done that fast. If no deal is reached, both sides are subject to binding arbitration. So really, what the hell is the motivation for the union to bargain, at least with any semblance of good faith? They know Barry and his boys are waiting to set the deal in their favor! So they sit on their hands, or thumbs, and wait for the Federally mandated - and selected - arbitrator to swoop in, feign listening, and lay out the deal that will be in force for 2 YEARS! Some lawyer, or worthless bureaucrat, who has no idea about your industry, your company, your competitors, yours costs, your business hurdles, etc. will have final say on how you do business, what you pay, what you offer in benefits, time off, discipline process, etc. The companies that get hit with this first, will be at a serious disadvantage in the marketplace. Their only hope will be to hold on for dear life long enough to see all their competitors placed under the same disadvantages by this cluster of a process.
But here is the kicker – many union members don’t agree with EFCA. It is mostly the government and union leaders. Even some national politicians like Diane Feinstein and Arlen Specter have said they don’t support EFCA…. “in it’s current form.” Of course a few wording adjustments and they’ll fall right in line and claim it was changed or that it’s a new version, or even the old favorite, that it was a bi-partisan effort. Let’s all get ready to take it up the ….. again.