Because They are Good

Our best thoughts are with the children and adults of Newtown, Ct., who
were slaughtered by a madman. They are with the families who will live
with pain running through in every fiber of their beings. No amounts of
insight or understanding can soothe them. 

The story of Adam Lanza will no doubt speak of cruelties he endured. But the telling of his story can never, will never excuse what he did.

The educators: Principal Dawn Hochsprung, Psychologist Mary Sherlach, the Teachers Anne Marie Murphy and Lauren Gabrielle Rousseau and Victoria Soto, the office worker and the custodian* showed us that good people do the right thing, the heroic thing in incredible danger. They break through their fears. Their instincts are to do right because they are good. Their courage is absolute proof of our better nature, our better selves.

The courage is seen in smaller doses when retail and fast food workers have the audacity to say “More, please,” or when advocates make sure the homeless and nearly homeless have a warm place to sleep at night and food to eat.

Let us find our courage.  We should be inspired by these brave people because they are good.  

Our best thoughts are with the victims, their families and the rest of us who must learn this lesson.

*Neighbor Gene Rosen sheltered six children who fled Victoria Soto's classroom. There will be more. Please add them in comments section.
 

Zombie Farm in Michigan

 

Looks like Michigan, yes Michigan, is going to become a right to work state. That awful misnomer means that workers don’t have to join unions even if they work in a union shop. That means gutless weasel pigs can take all the advantages a union gives like decent wages, benefits and above all defense against arbitrary and mean spirited managers, but they don’t have to pay a nickel in dues.  Unions rightly call this the “right to freeload.” Eventually, the companies will ask workers to decertify unions and if the suck ups who think the bosses just love them go along with it, the companies will begin to cut wages and benefits, impose erratic schedules and layoff anybody they want.

These campaigns are fueled by greedy bastard companies that want a compliant zombie workforce, which can be double tapped at will. But this movement didn’t happen overnight and it won't go away with demonstrations. The anti-worker movement started in a place few people even care to learn about. It started with the long-planned Republican takeover of the most boring elected offices of all – the state legislatures.

 

 

Do you even know who your state senator or representative is? Do you care? You probably don’t, and with good reason. They’re often creepy, grinning party hacks on their ways to other offices. They let lobbyists write bills for them and often don’t even read legislation before voting on it.  Michigan’s legislature is controlled by Republicans 59-51 in the house and 26-12 in the senate. Gov. Rick Snyder is a Republican. So is it any wonder that Michigan is on its way to becoming an anti-union state?

 

Moreover, this started years ago when Republicans got a lot better at  methodically taking over statehouses. They now control 26 legislatures. The Democrats have 19, four are split and Nebraska is allegedly non-partisan. Boring, yes. But consider that in most states, the legislature controls who gets to vote for which legislators and members of Congress. It’s called redistricting or reapportionment and the GOP didn't have to read Sun Tzu to understand that controlling the terrian meant controlling the future.

Very boring, right? But it’s also the reason why so many assholes are in Congress. The legislatures vote on House and state legislative district maps designed by very expensive, sophisticated party consultants who know how to stack a district in favor of one party or another. That’s how we wind up with representatives who don’t even have to consider the needs of people who aren’t like them. It’s why they can turn their backs on the poor, elderly, minorities, gays, women, you name it. It’s why a dozen states were able to impose voter ID laws which discriminated against largely Democratic voters. Yeah, it’s boring and that’s the way they like it. Put you to sleep while they rob you of your dignity and freedom.

I fault the Democrats for letting this happen, for pandering to the right because they thought the tea party was a real movement instead of the same old fringe gun nut, racist creeps who’ve been trying to hold the nation back since nobody at a love-in wanted to screw them. And, the Democrats have proven again and again that they really don’t give a shit about organized labor except when they can use union members to get out the vote, take union political action committee money or use union membership lists to populate a rally.

But we don’t have to live in crazy town. You can get involved in your local politics, even by just figuring out who your state legislator is and calling him or her up and bitching about what they’re doing. They freak out when real people contact them. Reversing this terrible anti-worker bill will take a disciplined effort to oust Republican legislators. Don’t let them be comfortable as they rob you of your rights!

The Message in the McDonald's and Wal-Mart Walkouts

 

Is that Somethin’s Happening Here, and It’s Pretty Clear to Everyone but Big Business

Last week minimum wage or slightly better paid workers at burger joints around Manhattan walked off the job. They wanted better pay and predictable hours, probably to fit in a second job. This was no sudden, spontaneous event. It came as the result of the SEIU organizing workers and building coalitions with community anti-poverty groups. But people without the protection of a union contract, walked. It’s hard to get union workers to picket, so I have great respect for the stones it took for those workers as well as Wal-Mart workers who walked, and who were mightily aided by UFCW and others.

Something clearly is happening with the American workforce. Whether it is fatigue with the recession and the recognition that little can be done to improve their economic situations or utter desperation, these workers are speaking to the vast inequality between the very rich and the rest of us.

 

New Jersey is poised to raise the minimum wage. Gov. Chris Christie probably will veto a bill which passed this afternoon. But he won’t have his way. The Democratic-controlled legislature has enough votes to get it on the ballot in 2013 and that is the same year Christie runs for re-election. Does he really want that issue upsetting his rather fragile hold on a mostly blue state? Who knows. He loses on minimum wage no matter what so why not get it done with? Other than to be a mean bastard.

Business leaders piss and moan that the minimum wage will place a burden on them, have got to quit the whining. If their businesses are so shaky that a $2,000 increase per full-time employee per year is going to bust them, then they already are on the road to bankruptcy court. Big retailers, like the Wal-Marts and Targets, and burger slingers like McDonalds and Wendy’s can afford this adjustment.

Another thing business has got to realize is that consumers drive the economy. The working poor don’t save. Most of their incomes go right back into the economy on food, clothing and shelter.  Henry Ford was just fine with a living wage because he wanted people to buy his cars. So, wake the F up, business and get with the program because, guess what assholes, your employees are already wide awake and ready for action.

Disclosure

The truth about Work Witch. She's really Workin Bitch. So please go to workinbitch.blogspot.com  or stay here and leave a comment.