Republicans Hate America 8: UAW, the Belvidere Illinois Assembly plant and revived Union Strength

In Union there is strength and Labor is prior to and independent of Capital.  - Abraham Lincoln or Karl Marx?

Republicans are furious they believed they had functionally killed Unions reducing them to a shell of their former selves via their Right-to-Work (For Less) Legislation and big Court rulings.

Here in Illinois for example, in the 2018 Janus Ruling, Republicans thought they had severed the roots of Union member solidarity and ushered in the slow withering of Unions.  It was only a matter of time before every worker would "choose" to not pay Union dues and Unions would slowly die.

TraitorTrump was a fan of the Janus Ruling as he's famous for not paying people who do work for him.

But, then the President Biden had to go and walk the picket line with the striking UAW members, and the stunned Corporate Media quickly tried to ham-handedly proclaim Actually BothSides love Union workers.

Well, the striking UAW has just won 3 successive victories for their members over the automakers, Ford, GM, and Stellantis.

Mr. Belvidere, site of the new Dodge Dakota

I drive past the Belvidere plant just south of Rockford occasionally and recall when the demonstration vehicles were removed from their little display hills in front.  Well now it's going to be a powerhouse for EV in Illinois;

“Eight months ago, Stellantis idled Belvidere Assembly Plant, putting 1,200 of our members on the street. From the strength of our strike, we are bringing back those jobs and more,” stated UAW Vice President Rich Boyer. “Stellantis is reopening the plant, and the company will also be adding over a thousand jobs at a new battery plant in Belvidere.”

According to the UAW, the new product at the plant will be a new mid-sized pickup truck. While many believed it would be a variant of the Brazilian-built compact Ram Rampage pickup, our sources have indicated that it could be a true successor to the popular Dodge Dakota.

UAW President Shawn Fain indicated that the new pickup would offer electrified and internal combustion engine (ICE) power. “We are bringing both combustion vehicle and battery jobs to Belvidere,” said Fain.

Shawn Fain is the type of Union leader we haven't seen in a while.  Every time he's been interviewed he stays on message and doesn't allow Corporate Media to interject their pro-plutocrat talking points into his interviews or get him to concede to their anti-Union stance. 

And this deal besides again showing President Biden's solidarity with Labor also highlights Governor J.B. Prtizker's continued leadership and investment in the people and state of Illinois,

With the announcement that United Auto Workers and Stellantis have reached a tentative agreement that’s good for workers and good for the state of Illinois, auto workers can get back on the job with higher wages, expanded benefits, and new and valuable opportunities in a growing industry.  

For over two years, I have been laser-focused on working toward a permanent solution in Belvidere that retains and grows good-paying jobs, while supporting economic development in the surrounding region. Since the plant was idled in February, we’ve provided support to furloughed auto workers, while concurrently leading a collaborative effort with local officials and legislators to craft aggressive incentives that position Illinois at the forefront of the EV manufacturing industry. Thanks to that collaboration and the passage of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act and the Reimagining Energy and Vehicles Act, we are on the verge of significantly advancing that effort. 

I’ve been in constant contact with auto workers, Stellantis executives, UAW representatives, and the White House as the bargaining has unfolded, and I am delighted we are now on the verge of getting this done. I look forward to finalizing the state’s economic package and not only reopening the shuttered assembly plant in Belvidere to manufacture electric vehicles, but also co-locating a new battery production facility. This will be thousands of jobs, billions in investment, and a huge win for Illinois.

Once more Governor J.B. is everything the Corporate Media has tried to force us to believe Shrimpy Boots DeSantis is but, DeSantis is a Republican he hates America, his every policy has been to impoverish, harm, and kill people, while feeding his hateful degenerate base a steady diet of lies, bigotry, hatred, and racism.

The choice is clear; the Democratic Party and Leadership is for the American people and for a better standard of living while the Republican Party hates America; viscerally, intractability

Railroaded Unions (The New Afghanistan Fiasco)

Stop that Train
I wanna get on

Famously, and incorrectly, it was claimed at least Mussolini made the trains run on time.  Much like his ideological descendent Trump this was a bit of fascist propaganda and the truth was Il Duce lackey's told him things to keep him placated.

The United States House of Representatives voted today 290-137 to avert a December 9th railway strike and impose the compromise contract previously brokered by President Biden's  emergency board led by Labor Secretary Marty Walsh President Administration between the Unions and Railroads. 

Railroads and workers in America are an outlier in modern American labor.  It was no accident, the vicious Ayn Rand choose a railway as the business her female protagonist owns.  Rand pined for the days of the rapacious billionaire, the consolidation of businesses and the power they had over workers was untrammeled and resulted in brutal Wage Slavery until those evil government bureaucrats interfered with their "anti-trust" laws.  In my Gen-X history classes wedged between the end of the Civil War and the glory of the World Wars was the small section on the glided age of Robber Barrons and the terrible working conditions from children in mines to garment workers and railmen, including stories of linemen, signal maintainers, and engineers getting their arms cut off or mangled by trains and being unceremoniously fired by the Railways.  Murderous working conditions and lack of retirement benefits pushed the FDR administration to pass multiple pieces of legislation separate from the Social Security system in the 1930's.  The Railroad Retirement Board is an independent agency of the Executive Branch of the US Government.

The current situation seems unbelievably ridiculous and a throw back to 19th century working conditions. Currently, railroad workers have no paid sick days and are reportedly terminated if they take a single leave of absence.

But, the CBS news story I highlighted earlier choose to end their story with this quote, "The 'most labor-friendly president in history' has proven that he and the Democratic Party are not the friends of labor they have touted themselves to be," Conductor Gabe Christenson said.  And numerous media pieces seem to focus on President Biden's role in requesting Congress intervene in a shocking attack on Unions and the working man and his role in averting an earlier confrontation by forcing a compromise contract which 4 of the 12 Railroad Unions rejected.

What I could see happening is a repeat of the End of Afghanistan, where the media works overtime to try and pin blame on President Biden.  And then repeatedly calling the Afghanistan pullout a disaster, fiasco, or failure.  Fortunately or sadly, I don't think this will happen because Americans don't really care about railroads or union contracts.  But, it does highlight how Democratic Administrations are often placed in untenable situations by years of neglect and subversion of the Federal Government by Republicans.

Because that is how Republicans operate at the Federal Level.  The GQP has run on a platform of Government doesn't work since at least Ronnie Raygun and when they get into office they undermine the government to proclaim the were right about government not working all along.  So, Democratic Presidents and Congresses find themselves in the thankless task of keeping the trains running by forcing the workers to accept a contract.

But, while Republicans seemingly aren't willing to be seen as halting the trains, the anti-American Republican Party is damn sure against giving workers more sick leave.  Because after the first vote to impose the contract, Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a second vote to provide more sick leave for railroad workers and 207 (out of 213) House Republicans voted no.

Republicans feel confident this vote against workers won't get the media coverage as the Corporate Media tries to push the Biden Hates Unions and working class people narrative.

Conservative Cancel Culture: From 1619 To CRT to CTU

'Republicans want "to put y'all back in chains".  This was called a gaffe by President Biden in 2012. The last 9 years have shown Joe to be correct.  Republicans wish to reimpose Slavery, physical and mental, onto the American people. 

One of the areas conservatives saw and then seized a chance to impose mental slavery was to demonize the 1619 project and Critical Race Theory (CRT).  By undercutting and disallowing teaching of the past conservatives believe they can shape the minds of the future.

All of this circles back to Conservatives abject visceral hatred of Teachers; or more specifically Teachers' Unions.  Years ago teachers were mostly women and made little money, but today Teachers Unions have ensured educators have good salaries and benefits, and more importantly have Political Power.  That is unacceptable to right-wingers.

The American Right loathes the influence Teachers Unions exert on politics and have for decades.  Under Ronnie Raygun school choice and creationism were the cause celebre.  These days it's Critical Race Theory, transgender students, and sensible Covid mitigation efforts.  But, whatever the phony issue brought forth by rightwing propagandists and uncritically repeated by Corporate Media stenographers the goal is the same; cut funding for public education and exert control on what young people learn and, more importantly, how they think and process information.  As the splash page for the Arlington Heights, Illinois based "Christian Libtery Academy" quotes Proverbs, "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."

American Conservatives have been engaged in a long struggle to halt change and turn back the clock not only on the Progressive Era of the 20th century but, on all advances for civil rights, since right-wingers lost the Civil War.  A prime tactic conservatives used to undermine the United States has been infiltrating and subverting government at every level.  Intimidating and Invading Public School Boards has always been a tactic used by right-wingers.  For instance, here's the latest story about Ashley Sova, an Oregon III Percenter (3 percenters are one of the larger well-known rightwing paramilitary domestic terrorism organizations currently active) winning a spot on the school board.

Conservative Cancel Culture's goal is to defund public education, destroy Teacher's Unions, and control children's minds for the next and all future generations.  Covid and CRT are just the latest false flag operations used by conservatives but, the goal remains the same

Governor Bruce Rauner says it's time to Break Illinois

In his State of the State Address, Bruce Rauner laid out his vision for Illinois Workers; Wage Slavery and Corporate Bondage.

"It is make or break time for the Land of Lincoln," Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner.

As always Rauner was short on specifics, he nonetheless let the Public Employee and Private Sector workers in Illinois know that he'll not stand for them making so much money.

Rauner declared his intent to destroy Unions (both Public and Private) and Public Sector Bargaining and he'll do so by whatever means available. Bruce Rauner issued an Executive Order declaring "Fair Share" employees Union dues should be held in a Trust until he can get his "Employee Empowerment Zones" established.

Rauner's Employee Empowerment Zones are the newest attempt to undercut Unions by allowing local muncipalities to create Right-to-Work Zones without the State of Illinois passing the necessary legislation.

Right-to-Work laws are best known as Right-to-Work for Less. Once passed these laws transfer all bargaining power to Business, which immediately enact cuts to pay and benefits.

Rauner claims these Orwellian-titled Empowerment Zones are needed because of the broken economic situation in Illinois. Of course, it was Bruce Rauner and his Hedge Fund Wealth Manager buddies who broke Illinois Public employees pensions.

By Rauner's own estimate 2/3rds of the funds for his Hedge Fund Firm GTCR were supplied by Public Pensions. In Illinois, GTCR "mismanaged" money for the Illinois Teachers' Retirement System (TRS) and the Illinois State Board of Investment, the state's largest and third-largest, respectively. Additionally, GTCR had access to state and municipal pension plans from the San Francisco City and County Employees' Retirement System to the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board.

For this "work" GTCR, takes 20% or more plus consultation and management fees. Rauner got his compensation no matter what the funds he "managed" did.

So, it's not surprising that Illinois and other Public Pensions began to go into insolvency once Rauner and other Vandal Capitalists got their hands on the funds. In fiscal year 2009, TRS lost $4.4 Billion (22% of its' value) in 2008 TRS lost 5% of it's value because of the Management of their Portfolios by Rauner-types.

Rauner made his fortune through "coin-clipping" he and his Vandal Capitalists clipped points off of Worker's Pensions to make their fortunes. Additionally, in keeping with his Transfer of Wealth Upwards, Rauner wants to lower taxes on the Rich and Corporations and expand sales taxes because those taxes hit the Working Class the hardest.

Rauner and his aides know exactly what Employee Empowerment Zones, his Reverse Robin Hood Tax Rates and Theft of Pensions will do to Illinois during interviews with the Chicago Tribune; how to improve the state's business climate as companies move out of state in search of a cheaper workforce.

So yes, Rauner wants to bring jobs here, the kind of jobs where you work 40 hours a week for wages which barely get you over the poverty line, with no prospects of being able to retire and no pension, working until the day you die.

New York's Finest, The Thin (Skinned) Blue Line

Now choke yourself. Goddamn it, with MY hand, numb-nuts! Don't pull my fucking hand over there! I said choke yourself; now lean forward and choke yourself! - Marine Corps legend R. Lee Emery and Vincent D'Onofiro famous Boot Camp introduction scene in Full Metal Jacket (1987)

As New York's Whiniest continue their spectacle of entitlement and petulance, the New York Post is reporting Police Union Leaders have convinced the Thin Skinned Blue Line to engage in a work slow down. According to the Post,

overall arrests down 66 percent for the week starting Dec. 22 compared with the same period in 2013, stats show. 

Citations for traffic violations fell by 94 percent, from 10,069 to 587, during that time frame. 

Summonses for low-level offenses like public drinking and urination also plunged 94 percent — from 4,831 to 300. 

Even parking violations are way down, dropping by 92 percent, from 14,699 to 1,241. 

Drug arrests by cops assigned to the NYPD’s Organized Crime Control Bureau — which are part of the overall number — dropped by 84 percent, from 382 to 63.

From invoking the Stab-in-the-Back rhetoric to Disrespectful protesting at Funeral of a fellow Officer, the New York Police Department has put a permanent blemish on their Shields, which will take years of hard work to erase.

It's hard to see whom exactly the NYPD think they hurting with this work stoppage? The reaction to the drop in citations and the declaration Officers are making arrests "only when they have to" has been 'Super! keep up the great work'.

Now, perhaps the Officers are trying to bring Mayor de Blasio to heel by cutting off funding for the City Budget, but such a tacit admission that Police Departments, including the Nation's Largest, have been filling City Budget Holes on the backs of the Working Class probably isn't the message the NYPD wants to be sending.

Of course, the NYPD, as a monolithic organization, probably doesn't care what anyone thinks. But, the interesting phenomenon has been the sudden tack by the American Right back towards unwavering support for "Law & Order". Meanwhile, Right-Wing violence, up to and including murder of Police Officers, is coddled and encouraged in America.

Conservatives, of course, don't give a shit about individual Cops but, what they do love is exerting Power and Authority, especially the type traditionally enforced by Police Departments over their enemies.

Police Departments have always been the guardians of the 1%, the enforcers of the plutocracy, with specific goals of keeping the Working Class in line and incarcerating or killing minorities.

Law books are replete with "crimes" designed to nickel and dime the Poor and Working Class to make them pay for their own incarceration, with "fines, fees and costs".

Besides the constant threat of arrest and imprisonment for minor offenses, the Working Class faces the full power of the American Justice System while the 1% are free to swindle Billions and even escape unscathed because of their Affluenza.

Conservatives don't give a shit about Cops

Conservatives don't care about Law Enforcement Officers. All conservatives care about is using each and every situation to advance their fascist agenda and take over of the United States.

Do you recall all the right-wing outrage over the murder of 3 Pittsburgh Police Officers by a Staunch Conservative angered over the Coming Obama Gun Ban? Or the 2 Alaska State Troopers killed by a Right-Wing Soverign Citizens son? Or the ultra-conservative war game playing nutjob who killed a Pennsylvannia State Trooper? Or the 2 Arkansas Cops killed by Soverign Citizen? Or the IRS agent killed by the Grover Norquist Anti-Tax Crusader who flew a plane into the Texas IRS building?

Of course you don't, because the Conservative Media squealed like petulant children and proclaimed each of these incidents was actually President Obama's fault.

Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism is coddled and encouraged in the United States. The Media is scared to correctly report that Conservatives are one of the most dangerous threats facing America today.

In 2009, the Department of Homeland Security correctly pointed out that President Barack Obama's election would lead to a rise of Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists. This is exactly what happened. All manner of conservative terrorist groups arose, the Oathkeepers, UnConstitutional Sherrif's of America, the III Percenters, for instance. All these groups have threatened to murder any Government Offical or Police Officer who dares to implement laws, which they deem Unconstitutional.

The indignant screams from the Conservative media caused the DHS to retract their correct conclusions. And sadly, once the Obama Adminstration gave into their tantrums, it only emboldened Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists to conduct their campaign to undermine and subvert the Nation.

But, Conservatives can never resist Waving the Bloody Shirt and they have two more bodies to use as building blocks to construct their evil edice of a Neo-Feudalist Wage Slave State. Conservatives reveal in blood and use death to enforce their values of Oppression, Intolerance and Slavish Obediance to the Rich.

So, now in-line with their values, Conservatives have finally found a Union Boss with whom they gleefully agree, in Patrick Lynch of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association.

Lynch's inflammatory rhetoric of blaming Mayor Bill De Blasio has been discussed at length at several excellent websites, but, having worked the job for almost a decade now, I can guarantee whenever you see a man with the combed back hair-do Lynch is sporting, that man is a slime bucket.

Conservatives support Police Officers who kill Black Men because right-wingers believe every Black Man is a potential criminal. It's the same pathos which explains how Conservatives support the killing of innocent Muslims, including children, because they see every Muslim as a Potential Terrorist.

Thus, the only Unions supported by Right-Wingers are Police Unions, as long as those Union Leaders vehemently defend Officers who kill Black Men and blame Liberals for America's woes.

What has become clear is Police Officers are just another partisan issue for Conservatives. Any deviation from what they deem the proper use of the Law and Police (i.e. Killing Black Men, incarcerating minorities, beating liberal protestors, and crushing Unions) is "Unconstitutional" to the American Right.

And an entire media industry now exists to swaddle conservatives in a incestuous cocoon of comfortable lies and partisan bullshit as they shamelessly use the dead to advance their Agenda.

The SCOTUS McCutcheon Ruling empowers the Koch Brothers and Plutocracy to Buy the Republic

"These five justices are working night and day to make the wealthy and powerful more wealthy and more powerful. The Supreme Court is paving the way toward an oligarchic form of society in which a handful of billionaires like the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson will control our political process." Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

The Supreme Court took another step in transforming the United States of America into a Neo-Feudal Oligarchy with the McCutcheon Ruling. The Roberts Court in a 5-4 ruling decided Elections can bought outright and cheaply, as they slowly build towards 2016: The Year the Plutocracy Rules.

As the Power of the Plutocrats has grown in the last 35 years of Neoliberal Piss Down Your Back and Tell You It's Raining Prosperity Reaganomics, the 1% has grown more vocal. While most of their nefarious schemes remain hidden from the public via PACs and phony 501(c)(4) organizations they've felt more and more comfortable telling the 99% to look forward to Wage Slavery.

Just a day after Paul Ryan revealed the latest Republican Death to the Poor Budget, Charles Koch wrote an op-ed to explain his worldview. Of course, Charles Koch sees the problem as the plebeians daring to criticize him, Rather than try to understand my vision for a free society...

As always Mister Koch, we do understand "your vision for a free society" which is why Our Voices are getting louder and louder and why Plutocrats, such as yourself, are getting shriller and shriller.

Charles Koch and his despicable brethren know their Oppression is intolerable and making the 99% desperate, so the Plutocrats tell their Media Lap Dogs that Opposing the Will of Plutocracy equals Kristallnacht and then call those whom they Oppress, Nazis.

Peppered with language swiped from his father's John Birch Anti-Commie screeds, Charles Koch goes on to decry "Collectivists" and blame "The System", while invoking Arthur Schopenhauer and Saul Alinsky.

Of course, Charles Koch blames it all on Obama, The central belief and fatal conceit of the current administration is that you are incapable of running your own life, but those in power are capable of running it for you. This is the essence of big government and collectivism.

Like, all scoundrels, Charles Koch swaddles himself in the Bosom of America. Those in power fail to see that more government means less liberty and liberty is the essence of what it means to be American. Love of liberty is the American ideal.

This screed is the supersonic whine of a rich entitled plutocrat. What Charles Koch means by Liberty is the Freedom for him to rule a Section of the Nation as his own little Fiefdom as a Landgrave, accountable to no one who, along with his fellow Plutocrats, chooses the Government and ensures those chosen do nothing but, enforce the Will of the Rich.

Medicare? Don't need it. Social Security? Not necessary. Food Stamps? Collectivism! To Charles Koch and his ilk, Government exists only to quell domestic dissent and expand overseas business opportunities; everything else is "Unconstitutional". Charles Koch desires nothing less than a return to brutal Feudalism.

Now, Plutocrats however can't rule without a Guardian Class, empowered to attack the Enemies of Inequality and the Opponents of the 1%; Enter the Republican Party.

The Sole Purpose of the Republican Party is to ensure the 1% get Richer while the rest of us are ground into perpetual Wage Slavery and unending Corporate Bondage.

The day after Koch's Declaration of Neo-Feudalism, Republican Senator Jerry Moran took to the floor of the US Senate to genuflect before Charles Koch and read his op-ed into the Congressional Record.

"It seems to me the things that are outlined in Mr. Koch’s opinion piece are certainly within the wide mainstream of American thought..." and " I wanted to share one of Koch Industries owner’s beliefs about those values and his philosophy and how it affects Americans today,"

During CPAC 2014 in March, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann thanked god for David Koch and declared RICO laws should be used against those who speak out against the Koch Brothers,

"I just thank god that there’s a billionaire or two on our side. I hope we get a few more that are willing that come out but realize also this is an intimidation movement, I’m sure that the donors on our side don’t like to have their names vilified and that’s what this is about, intimidating people from giving money to our cause, that’s it. There’s something called the RICO statute, the racketeering law, that should be applied against them for doing this."

Meanwhile, other Republicans are engaged in a slander campaign of Senator Harry Reid. Not debating his viewpoint but insinuating that he has suffered a mental breakdown or is drunk or on drugs.

Republicans exist to guard and increase the Vast Wealth of the Rich at the expense of everyone else.

The odious Newt Gingrich, a viciously racist miserable political failure famous only for cheating on two wives while trying to impeach President Clinton for cheating on one, took to the Sunday Morning talk Circuit to bask in the beauty of the McCutcheon Ruling. Gingrich went further and declared,

"Candidates should be allowed to take unlimited amounts of money from anybody and you would overnight equalize the middle class and the rich."

In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread. Anatole France, 1894. Sheldon Adelson can give a million dollars to Gingrich or Christ Christie and so can you!

Meanwhile, Republicans have adopted the Kochtopus approach of attacking the Working Class on multiple fronts to crush the 99% and enforce brutal Koch Feudalism. Republicans want to give Companies time to delay Union vote because Republicans use the Awesome Power of the Government to aid the Rich in crushing Labor.

Republican Congressman John Kline of Minnesota and Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee introduced legislation requiring the NLRB let 35 days pass after employees file a petition before they are allowed to vote on forming a union. 

Because Companies might need extra time to threaten workers against Unionizing, bring in Armed Forces to ensure the proper votes are cast and give Republicans time to interfere in the Free Market as Senator Bob Corker, Tennessee Governor Haslam and State Republicans did against workers trying unionize a VW factory.

Republicans don't care about the American People. They are solely in office to succor, defend and protect the Plutocracy. Medicaid eliminated, Medicare eviscerated, Social Security Swindled, Unions abolished, The Working Class impoverished, higher education made unaffordable, laws applied unequally, Plutocrats buying elections, Corporations telling you what you can spend your earnings on and what you can do with your free time, these are ancillary benefits of the Brutal Koch Feudalism, Republicans are pushing upon the Nation.

Charles Koch used a quote from Thomas Jefferson so shall I,

"I hope we shall take warning from the example and crush in it’s birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and to bid defiance to the laws of their country." Jefferson to George Logan Nov. 12, 1816.

Money is not Speech and Corporations are not People. MovetoAmend!

Volkswagen threatened by Republicans. Boeing screws its' Employees. Conservatives hate Unions and Freedom.

Three years ago, I wrote about Boeing turning to the Republican Party to aid them in their quest to destroy their Union.

Chicago* based Boeing, in retaliation against their Union Workers, has decided to move a 787 plant to South Carolina, a so-called Right-to-Work State. This is because South Carolina outlaws Unions. Can't have workers gettin' all Uppity and shit! 

S. Carolina also has Nikki Haley, a Teabagging Governor. Haley had this to say, when the National Labor Relations Board took up the Union complaint to stop this move, "If this is checks and balances, God help our country."

Ever since Ronnie Raygun, the Right-Wing Hero of a Thousand Myths, obliterated PATCO he signaled to Businesses across the Nation that it was Open Season on Unions and they can rely on the Awesome Power of the Government to back them up as they grind the Working Class into dust.

Well, a new struggle in Tennessee is illustrating once again the Republican Plan to obliterate Unions and ensure Americans are reduced to Wage Slavery.

"The members of the Tennessee Senate will not view unionization as in the best interest of Tennessee." Tennessee State Senator Bo Watson said at a news conference. He added that a pro-U.A.W. vote would make it “exponentially more challenging” for the legislature to approve future subsidies. 'That's an awfully nice plant yous got there... Be a shame if somethin' were to happen to it...'

Now we also have an admission by Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker that he's gotten special assurances the Union vote will be defeated. Corker didn't further explain if this would be accomplished by importing Pinkerton's to crack Worker's skulls or if Republicans would just make voting illegal.

"I’ve had conversations today and based on those I am assured that should the workers vote against the UAW, Volkswagen will announce in the coming weeks that it will manufacture its new mid-size SUV here in Chattanooga," Senator Corker said, without saying with whom he had the conversations. 

Well, previously Corker has boasted about his deep involvement in VW's hierarchy, "I know [VW Chairman Martin] Winterkorn really really well. We're in constant contact with Volkswagen at every level. Seriously, I don't know a public official that's been more involved with Volkswagen."

Governor Bill Haslam added his concerns about being able to attract other business to Tennessee without the prospect of wage slave labor, "I think that there are some ramifications to the vote in terms of our ability to attract other suppliers..."

Senator Corker, Governor Haslam and other Tennessee Republicans have held multiple special press conferences given several interviews to make their hatred of Unions and the UAW known while reiterating threats to harm Volkswagen and the people of Tennessee whom they ostensibly represent.

In truth, Republicans represent Corporations and are the enemy of Working Class Americans.

The situation is so dire that Grover Norquist, Staunch enemy of Working Class People everywhere, descended upon Chattanooga with his army of plutocrat worshipping acolytes to rent 12 billboards to tell the people of Tennessee that if the UAW unionizes the VW plant, ALEC will work to destroy their State just like they've done in Michigan, Indiana and elsewhere.

Conservatives love this because conservatives ardently believe the Awesome Unique Power of Government should be used to help Corporations exert total dominance and control over Americans. Conservatives hate when the Power of Government is used to help people, especially the poor, women, or minorities.

But, conservatives also hate when regular Americans organize and fight for rights on their own as the Union organization in Tennessee illustrates.

"We are in a battle with Mexico on where this new product goes," said Mike Burton of Southern Momentum, an anti-UAW group, "and it stands to reason that the union will add costs. We need to keep costs down to fight for that new product."

See, anything which helps the Working Man is anathema to Conservatives, who love Wage Slavery and want to shackle Americans with the chains of Corporate Bondage.

Mike Burton's "Keep costs down" equals lowering the wages of Americans and destroying the American Dream.

As such, once Business knew they could rely on the wholly owned Republican Party and Pro-Business Democrats, the American Dream has been brought to the brink of extinction. Over the last 35 years of Neo-Liberal Ultra-Reactionary Republican leadership the Middle Class has been ground into dust and the Working Class has been driven into near penury.

Briefly back to Boeing, who succeeded in dividing the Machinist's Union this year. Boeing threatened its' employees that without an end to a defined pension benefit they would move operations out of the area as they had previously done in 2011 with the threat to move to South Carolina. Well, the Machinists caved to the pressure from Boeing, Washington State Politicians and the Media and despite having a contract through 2016 agreed to end defined pensions, which will be frozen in 2016 and allow all new hires to be shafted under 401(k) non-retirement plans.

The vast majority of Boeing contracts come from the US Government. They also routinely receive special tax-payer funded welfare from Washington State, Kansas, Illinois and DC. Last November, Olympia agreed to let Boeing flout paying their fair share of taxes for 30 years, Boeing was given a package of $8.7 Billion in taxpayer assistance.

Boeing is a Corporation which would collapse without Government contracts and tax assistance. Boeing also engages in routine criminal overcharging of the Government (acts which would be called stealing if you, I or former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell did it) for all the contracts they sign, while flagrantly reneging on their side of the bargains with workers whenever they feel like it.

One of the goals of the Republican Party and Pro-Business Democrats is to make the Working Class understand that they have no friend in Government. They represent Corporations.

All across America we've seen defeat after defeat of Unions as Republicans advance the cause of the Plutocracy and and with it the Rise of a Billionaire Class, a group of 400 people which controls more wealth than over 150 million Americans. As Unions retreat so does the Middle Class and the American Dream.

Already we've seen Generation X and the Millenials, the children and grandchildren of the Baby Boomers, deal with a lower standard of living than their parents, soon their children and grandchildren will wake up and see Republicans and Conservatives have sold them into Corporate Bondage and they've lost the Freedoms past generations fought and died to win.

Walker's win in Wisconsin eliminates Uncertainty, shows the Dominance of the Neo-Feudalist State

Scott Walker, criminal and heir-apparent to Ronald Reagan, easily won his Recall election.

It's a blow to the Democratic Party and to the American Left. While, I still believe President Obama will win in November, even if he does (and possibly with his assistance) the Rise of the Plutocracy and the Dominance of the Neo-Feudalist State is not going to be stopped.

Unions were already one foot in the grave, when Scott Walker at the behest of his Lords & Masters, the Koch Brothers, decided to "Divide & Conquer" and kill them in Wisconsin. The Plutocracy has so much power and influence that one party (the Republicans are completely servile and worship the Rich) and a majority of the other (the Democratic Party) are under their sway as well, it will take a reborn Labor Movement to undue the damage of the last 30 years.

Right-Wingers are correct to be mad about the Government; It doesn't represent them. The Government represents the Richest 1% (or 1 in 100 Americans) and increasingly just the Richest 0.1% or 1 in 1000 of Us.

But, while millions of Americans continue to suffer from the Republican Recession, the 1% of this Nation have increased their share of Wealth, rebounded and are doing better than they were before The Republicans led by George W. Bush and his Plutocratic Owners crashed the economy.

While we Liberals and Unions have been working to lift up Our Fellow Americans, conservatives have been convinced that it is by destroying collective bargaining rights, crushing Unions and tearing down their fellow Americans which shall bring about a smaller, more representative Government.

But, what Conservatives seem to fail to understand is the 1%, the Plutocracy only speaks the words of Small Government, Free Market and Capitalism. Their actions show what they really want is a Neo-Feudalist State, in which the Government ruthlessly defends their vast wealth and crushes any real or imagined threats by the 99% under the Iron Heel.

As I wrote on New Year's Eve 2012, The 1% Hate Uncertainty,

The 1% of this Nation hate uncertain elements. What they would rather have is the certainty of the economic model they are confident in; Neo-Feudalism, in which their profits are privatized and protected by Government and their losses are socialized and paid for by the 99%.

The 1% don't need you. But, what they do need every so often is to eliminate Uncertainty. And that is why the filthy 1% who deliberately caused the economic collapse and the housing bubble are now trying to convince enough people that it was caused by social programs for the poor and middle class.

Because they need to get their Wholly Bought and Paid for Republican Party and Pro-Business Democrats elected to eliminate Uncertainty so that they may turn all of America into A Galt's Gulch. But while, they live as Lords, the 99% will live as serfs and wage slaves mining their gold, picking their arugula and quietly dying off when their working years are over.

Because that is Certainty the 1% are Striving towards; Rand's Ultimate Vision for the 99%, for the Common Man, that he toil unobtrusively underneath the feet of the 1% Colossuses and have the courtesy to die quickly and quietly.

So, the question is what lesson shall we all take from Scott Walker and Wisconsin? Are we now locked into a path leading us down to Corporate Bondage and Wage Slavery? Or will we rise in Solidarity and craft a truly Democratic Party to represent Us and Our Prosperity?

Related:
The Walker Recall: Lessons for Progressives by Robert Borosage [OurFuture.org]

A Wake Up Call for the Dems, Labor and the Left by Greg Sargent [Washington Post: The Plum Line]

If you want to Know what your job would be like without Unions, Ask a Concussed NFL Player

On 01/28/12 Chicago Tribune ran a story on former Bears Linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer and his struggles upon suffering his career-ending concussion during the 2010 NFL Season.

On August 28 2010, Hillenmeyer suffered a concussion during a pre-season game. He was placed on injured reserve before the season and has never played again. The Bears terminated his contract Feb. 28, 2011, one month after the team's concussion consultant, Dr. Elizabeth Pieroth, a board certified clinical neuropsychologist, examined him and recommended he no longer play. The Bears cut him with one year and $1.8 million remaining on his contract. According to the union, Article 45 of the collective bargaining agreement stipulates Hillenmeyer is eligible for an injury protection benefit of 50 percent of his base salary up to $1 million, meaning he should be able to collect $900,000.

If you want to know what it's like to be a non-unioned employee, look at what the NFL Teams do to their players. Oh got hurt? Can't play anymore? Gone. NFL players have short careers, averaging roughly 3.5 years. They have a famously powerful Union. Hunter Hillenmeyer had a contract. The Bears aren't honoring it.

This is what we have to look forward to as the 1% continues their drive in the Right to Work for Less laws. RTW doesn't actually secure you a job what it secures is your employers' right to fuck you over. And fucking over workers is what American Capitalism is designed to do.

Don't want to come in on the weekend? You're Fired!
Don't want to work Thanksgiving? You're Fired!
Got hurt on the job? Well, the Company says you didn't. Now, try and get benefits. Oh and the Republicans eliminated Medicare and stole Social Security.

The Indiana Republican controlled Legislature pushed through Right-to-Work-For-Less and Governor Mitch Daniels signed the bill into law on 2/1/12.

Quickly upon the heels of this success the Republican controlled State Legislature of Minnesota and Arizona are trying to pass through Union-busting and anti-worker agendas. Minnesota Republicans want to amend their state constitution to outlaw Unions.

2011 saw Republicans in Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan push through heinous anti-worker legislation in direct opposition to the will of their constituents. The current Republican attempts at fucking over the 99% are always done on the strength of We're a Representative Democracy. But, what it shows is Republicans are the equivalent of governmental suicide bombers. Once they get elected they never ever represent their people but engage in a political campaign of doing the most damage possible without worrying about the electoral consequences.

Because even if the Republican scumbags are voted out or recalled, they've done the explosive damage they sought to do and they've assured themselves of Right-Wing Paradise being lavished with hundreds of thousands in speaking fees from Conservative Think Tanks or jobs as rhetorical bomb-throwers on Faux News.

Non-Union workers demonstrably receive less in wages and benefits. Non-Union workers are at whim workers. This is precisely what the 1% wants, the ability to reduce pay and eliminate pensions and have every worker afraid, one wrong step, one breath away from termination.

And do you think you're going to be able to fight and win a lawsuit against a Criminal Corporate Conglomerate? Look at the former Bears player Hillenmeyer. He earned millions in his career but it's coming up on one year since his release. Think you can hold out for a year trying to win a legal battle against Corporate Criminals? They will drag court procedures out for decades because they never die, but the victims of Vulture Capitalists, the 99% do...

The XLVI Super Bowl brought to you by Non-Union Labor

The New England Patriots and the New York Giants will be playing in Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis on 02/05/12. The spectacle of the highest paid Union Members in the world playing in a state fighting to destroy Unions by adopting Right-To-Work-For-Less laws is a disgusting measure of the dirty lengths Republicons will delve to in their fight to service their Moneyed Masters.

I'm glad football players make as much as they do. We see as people get stronger, larger, faster and maintain a higher level of conditioning, the toll on these men's bodies and brains is horrendous. The average career is 3.5 years. As Derrick Mason stated at his retirement announcement this year,

"I leave it healthy and able to run and walk and not take a half-hour or 45 minutes to get out of bed."

But, while Indiana enjoys the financial fruits of the Patriots and Giants labor, Governor Mitch Daniels wants to restrict the rights, lower the wages and slash the benefits of workers in Indiana. Right-to-Work laws are nothing short of the 1% finding a way to get Government to outlaw Unions and enforce the 1% schemes of paying less and less for labor and avoiding deferred compensation or healthcare for their retired workers under the power of law. Information on the 3 Right-to-Fuck-Over-Workers Bills, Indiana HB 1028 and HB 1043 and Indiana Senate Bill SB 0395, proposed by the Indiana Legislature can be found at BadforIndiana.Org

In fact, if the 1% had their way, American Workers would have to ply their labor against Workers from around the world with the Plutocrats picking the lowest price, least benefits and ease of eliminating any worker who dared question his Neo-Feudal Lord. While we Wage Slaves gawk in awe as, Vulture Capitalists Stephen "Fuck Her" Schwarzman and Leon D. Black congratulate themselves for their "ingenuity" and "job creation skills" with Multi-Million Dollar Birthday Parties. It's the Global Race to the Bottom.

This has been the goal since the end of World War II when the Industrialists and their Multi-National Conglomerates saw an opportunity to get Governments to finance the construction of plants and factories in other Nations while they get to steal all the profits. They front no risk and reap all the rewards. And if the Nation the Corporate Monster invades gets uppity, say like Ecuador, then the Corporation takes to the IMF or WTO and sues them demanding Billions of dollars in blood money be forcibly extracted from the people.

But, it's not limited to foreign shores, the Vultures are more than willing to descend on your local town or use America's Favorite pass time to steal wealth. Lowe's got the Village of Schaumburg, Illinois to front the costs for laying the foundation, running the wires and plumbing to their store, got millions in "tax breaks" and when their store wasn't making as much money as they'd like, they simply up and left. Billionaire Hank Steinbrenner, extracted $1,200,000,000 Billion dollars in Taxpayer money to finance his baseball stadium while stating,

“Socialism, communism, whatever you want to call it, is never the answer.“

Of course, it works. If you're Rich.

It's the Goal of the Plutocracy. Push the burden of business onto the people while keeping the benefits for themselves. Socialize their Losses and Costs and Privatize the Profits.

Boeing the Biggest Thief in the United States

"Ignore him. He's a common thief."
"Ha! As common as they come! But, I ain't nothing compared to you gentlemen. You steal peoples lives..." ~ from The Mask of Zorro

Chicago based Boeing has paid over $644 Million Dollars to the Pentagon and the Government Accountability Office to settle fraud complaints, since 2000. Yet, Boeing is still be awarded enormous Welfare Handouts errr, DoD contracts. It's difficult to get an exact total but I've seen credible figures that show Boeing, alone, has been awarded over $90 Billion in DoD contracts since 2006.

Yet, the Chicago Tribune has spent a better part of this year highlighting individual cases of pension fraud. Because theft is wrong and Unionized pension theft is really wrong since it's stealing tax payer money, just like Boeing but on such microscopic scale in comparison. However, the last article on Boeing from the Chicago Tribune is from October 26 and it highlights the $17.7 Billion in revenue and $1.1 Billion in profits boeing made in the 3rd Quarter of 2011.

It would be easy for any company to post Quarterly profits in the Billions when they are committing case after case and Hundreds of Millions in fraud (a nice white collar word for Theft). So, why is it when a Corporation like Boeing commits theft on a massive and Nation ruining scale, the presses are silent?

When a Corporate Criminal Enterprise known as Boeing attempts to bust their Union;

Boeing officials said in a video-taped press statement that, "the overriding factor (in transferring the line) was not the business climate. And it was not the wages we’re paying today. It was that we cannot afford to have a work stoppage, you know, every three years."

why is the press not running a news story everyday as with the individual cases of thousands of dollars in pension theft?

Why when Boeing attempts to harm American workers and turns to the Republican Party for aid in eliminating workers jobs and slashing workers rights is there so little coverage by the major newspaper in the city, in which, that company is Headquartered?

Why does the Tribune not ask Republican Congressman Darrel Issa, the richest member of Congress, to recuse himself from the Boeing and National Labor Relations Board case? Why?

Because, when Workers get all uppity and shit it's time to bring in the Republican One Percenters like Darrel Issa to aid a Criminal Corporate Enterprises in undercutting government regulations and workers rights, safety and... Jobs. The role of the Republican Party is to keep the 99% down.

Boeing turns to the Republicans to bust their Union

While I've pointed out the Republicans elected in 2010 have no interest in jobs and are focused on implementing their bigoted social agenda, it turns out I was incorrect. The Republican Party's prime goal is to eliminate Union jobs and replace them with at whim employees whom their Moneyed Masters can work as Wage Slaves.

Chicago based Boeing, in retaliation against their Union Workers, has decided to move a 787 plant to South Carolina, a so-called Right-to-Work State. This is because South Carolina outlaws Unions. Can't have workers gettin' all Uppity and shit!

S. Carolina also has Nikki Haley, a Teabagging Governor. Haley had this to say, when the National Labor Relations Board took up the Union complaint to stop this move, "If this is checks and balances, God help our country."

Well, just to show the anti-Big Government Teabag checks-and-balances loving Nikki Haley is up to typical Republican malfeasance, she has nominated 59 people for State Government positions 26 of whom gave at least $74,703 in campaign contributions to her Sarah Palin styled election effort. Nepotism IOKIYAR.

Senator Jim DeBigot had this to say, "The administration is acting like a bunch of thugs." So typically the Republicans in the Senate rush to service their Corporate Masters.

Thirty-four Republican senators introduced legislation Thursday to protect states' "right-to-work" status and to ban the chief federal labor agency from determining where companies can do business.

Boeing should be able to do as it pleases and move it's manufacturing plant where ever it wishes. That seems reasonable right? A company has the "right" to set up a factory where it deems, right?

Well, the short answer is no. Fuck no when that company is primarily funded by tax payer dollars. Boeing like all Corporations receives Billions from the US Government. These Military-Industrial-Complex jobs are the ugly unspoken secret about the hollowness of the whole job debate. Boeing could not compete on the Open Market and only succeeds by Government Welfare, like this recent $35 Billion dollar US Air Force deal, euphemistically called Defense Contracts.

If a company is taking tax dollars We the People get to decide how you treat those workers. You have to pay them decent wages, provide them with healthcare and other benefits. But, that's not what Boeing wants, it's not enough that Boeing is funded almost completely by US, they also want to cut expenses (i.e. overtime pay, vacation time, sick leave, disability) to nothing and work Americans to death to increase their bottom line.

And that's the secret of the Republicans. They take Taxpayer money and funnel it to Mega-Corporate Monsters who then turn that into campaign contributions so evil assholes like Jim DeMint and Nikki Haley can turn their deluded supporters into cogs in the machinery of Boeing's Corporate Welfare.

May Day, Haymarket and the FOP

On May 4, 1886 an agent provocateur, most likely a member of the Pinkerton's (The Blackwater of the 19th century), lobbed a bomb at a labor rally, at Haymarket Square, which killed a Police Officer and started a riot in which 11 more people lost their lives.

125 years ago Police Officers could be counted on by the Plutocracy to beat, shoot, arrest and disrupt pro-Union demonstrations. They were the buffer, as Howard Zinn put it, The Guards of the System.

Today the Plutocracy has continued it's string of victories over the American People. However, the Kleptocrats can no longer count on their traditional Guards to defend their Rich Privilege and they have thus turned to the Republican and Democratic Parties.

With very few exceptions elected politicians can be counted on to enact legislation which aids, succors and provides comfort to the Rich Kleptocrats. Again as the late great Howard Zinn, artfully identified the enemy of the American People;

the Establishment-that uneasy club of business executives, generals, and politicos.

In the past the Establishment, the Kleptocrats, have been content to take a significant portion of America's Wealth but now, thanks mainly to Republicans, they find themselves in a position to hold a Majority of the Wealth of this Nation.

So, the Police who were once counted on to defend the Plutocrats have turned. FOP members and I stood shoulder to shoulder with our Wisconsin brother officers and with fellow Unions members up north.

The Fraternal Order of Police recognizes an attack when they see one. Once expected to bust up Unions, keep minorities and immigrants in their place and ensure the transfer of Wealth to the Rich Klepocrats, Police Officers are now counted amongst the class of people the Establishment wishes to marginalize and oppress.

Your law-enforcement training and experience have taught you how to protect yourself, your fellow officers, and citizens from criminals. Some of those criminals want nothing more than to do harm to an officer. You know to be on your guard, ready to act, and to do what is necessary to protect yourself and others.

Nothing in your formal training has prepared you for the new attack that we are facing as law enforcement officers. Now the criminals are not the only ones that want fewer officers on the streets. Now the criminals are joined by politicians in State capitols across the country. These politicians are doing what criminals everywhere have long hoped for; they are shrinking police forces, putting fewer officers on the streets, and undermining the safety of the officers left on the front lines.

Your job is on the line. Your pension is on the line. Your salary is on the line. Your safety is on the line. You must be on the front line defending your rights against these attacks.

Are you ready to act? Are you ready to protect yourself and your fellow officers? Are you ready to defend your family?

You have been targeted. You have been blamed for the financial crisis. You will be a victim of government mismanagement and scapegoating if you don't fight back.

But, while the filth-ridden Republican scum Governor's Scott Walker, Rick Snyder, Rick Scott, Jon Kasich, Chris Christie are clearly enemies of America they are merely hired foot soliders, akin to Iraqi Republican Guards, while the Koch Brothers are the Uday and Qusay Husseins of America.

And the Uday and Qusay Koch Brothers want more. Thus the attack on Public Employees. It is but one of their sorties against the American People. One of the tactics the Establishment is using to reduce the American People to frightened Wage Slaves.