Well…not sure if you’ve heard of the latest outrage by the repubs across the country and their continuing push to rig elections by any means possible, starting with the gerrymandering of congressional districts, various methods of voter suppression, and now trying to rig the electoral college so even if their candidate loses by as big of a margin as ole Mitt did, he would still be president. This latest, nasty little trick by the Koch’s and ALEC, seeks to change the way electoral votes are awarded from the winner take all method in most states, to apportioning them by congressional districts that the repubs have already rigged. If you need any evidence of the seriousness of these proposed changes, you just have to look at our state of Michigan where Obama won by 9% but with the new scheme, the majority of the electoral votes would have gone to ole Mitt. An analysis I saw yesterday that was done on the national level found that if the votes were awarded as the repubs propose, even though Obama won by almost 6 million votes, ole Mitt would have won the election. How much more un-American can you get? But, that is the repubs pattern, wave the flag to distract people and then steal elections by any way they can. In all of my long life, I have never seen a party, other than in the Soviet Union, that would go so far to rig an election that they wouldn’t win on their ideas…these guys should be arrested…oh, one last thing…it is being proposed here in Michigan by the same folks that brought you right to work for less and guns in the schools…geez…
Tag Archives: right to work
Snyder and the repubs were wrong..again…
Well…with the overtly ideological and political passing of the right to work law here in Michigan, something that these liars said business was asking for, ole Snyder got a surprise at the Detroit auto show this week when he tried to use the RTW law as a reason for companies to move to Michigan…one little problem came up….the businesses that he talked to just didn’t care about RTW and most said it was not a major factor in business decisions. In fact, he was told by some companies that it would make them less likely to move here since it is such a divisive issue and will make labor relations more difficult…so, this whole nonsense is exposed for what it is, just naked hatred of the middle class and unions from the right paid for by the Kochs who don’t give a damn if they hurt the state, just as long as they get their agenda enacted. Geez…
Just a few things….
Well…I just hate it when these smug billionaires buy themselves legislation and then strut around like they are kings of the world…just like the idiot Dick DeVos did yesterday after he and the Kochs bought themselves the right to work law here…but, I have news for these guys, their days of doing whatever they want are numbered….go ahead, gloat like hell for the next two years but when we throw your bought and paid for legislators out and repeal all of the nonsense that is being passed you will never have the power to take and take and take from workers again….it is coming so smile that smarmy smile one more time…it just energizes the people to take this state back from your ilk….geez…
A message to independents here in Michigan…
Well….with all of the furor and the shenanigans going on here in Michigan driven by the repubs…I have one message to the independents who elected ole Snyder to office and believed he would do what was right for all of Michigan and not just the Kochs and DeVoses….REPUBLICANS LIE! They lied in Wisconsin, they lied in Indiana, they lied in Ohio, and they continue to lie that they have the workers in mind with their right to work nonsense…remember that in the next election if you have any thought of voting for another one of the wholly-owned corporate party here. These guys do not give a damn about you but they will lie to you and use you to get elected and then stab you in the back as fast as they get to Lansing. The one thing you have to know about ole Snyder’s explanation of why he pushed these bills was that the even the repubs on “Morning Joe” eviscerated him on the nonsense that these bills will benefit workers…they went so far to laugh at ole Snyder when he tried to trot out the ALEC talking points…this is what you independents have given us…making our wonderful Michigan no different than Alabama or Mississippi and we are now the laughing stock of the country….vote these idiots out in 2014 so we can start to take our state back from the billionaires that just want more and more and more for themselves and do not give a damn about anyone else….geez…
The 6% solution…
Well…have been sitting here stewing about the liar Snyder here in Michigan and his betrayal of our state and the workers here….in this whole mess, a new fact popped up in the news tonight about a poll that was taken over the past few days on how much support this labor attack law has…when the question was asked if people supported this new law, only 6% of the people said they wanted something like this passed…only 6%…so how can Snyder sit there and lie through his teeth saying that most of the people want this? Just another instance where the Kochs and DeVos’s have purchased a legislature and whose voices count for more that the people who actually work here…..I am getting excited for 2014…we will take back this state and return it to the path of a labor/management cooperation where the workers share in the profits that derive from their labor and have a true voice in their lives…geez…
The Koch brothers and the DeVos’s buy another state…
Well…I am so ashamed of my state right now it is hard to even come here to right this…but, if you didn’t know, the idiot repubs here in Michigan, backed by the Kochs and the DeVos’s, have made Michigan a right to work state in a transparent attempt to destroy the unions here and with it, the middle class. Up until now, I had thought that our governor was a reasonable repub, yeah, I know, no matter how much they lie, there are no reasonable repubs here…and just like ole Walker in Wisconsin, Snyder hid his true colors while he was running for election; never once mentioning right to work because, if he did, he would never have been elected. The most galling thing is how the repubs are breaking their own legislative rules to jam this bill through…with no debate or no chance for the dems to speak against it…more like the Soviet Union than America…but, this is just what the repubs do…speak of their reverence for the country out of one side of their mouths while they destroy the American dream. There will be hell to pay in the next election if Snyder signs this bill…I can see a permanent dem majority being built here…and none too soon…
Some good news and bad news…
Well…kind of bombshell today when the crazy bastard Jim DeMint decided to resign his seat in the senate to take charge of the Heritage foundation…a right wing “think tank” that is one of the echo chambers funded by the crazy billionaires in the repub party. Now, if you are a progressive like me, this is a great bit of news since ole Jim was the biggest backer of “legitimate rape” Todd Akin, and gave him almost 100k for his election run. But, this is not the only bit of craziness that ole Jim has exhibited in his time int he senate…this idiot once promised to put holds on any bill introduced in the senate unless it was cleared and approved with his office first….and on and on…he even criticized Boehners stupid plan for debt reduction for not being far enough to the right…what a maroon.
Okay…now the bad news…our wonderful governor here in Michigan has broken his promise to the people of Michigan by changing his mind and supporting right-to-work legislation that is the darling of the owner class and a direct attack on the middle class. All I have to say to him is actions have consequences…and the amendment that didn’t pass last time that would have protected workers right to organize is going to win in a landslide in the next election. Why do all of the repubs need to participate in the race to the bottom for our middle class…thankfully, in two more years these clowns will be gone and we can begin to repair the damage that has been done to workers here…geez…
Organized labor wakes up…
Well…I was really surprised and interested reading the latest developments in the war on labor being perpetrated by the repubs here in Michigan…and while I do applaud Gov. Snyder’s telegraphing to his repub cohorts that he doesn’t want a right to work law to get to his desk…I have no faith that he will veto the bill if it does get there…in fact, he was asked if he would and he ignored the question. So, when I heard that there is a coalition of labor organizations that is putting together a petition drive to change the state constitution ensuring that no party can take the rights of labor away, I was heartened somewhat but saddened as well that we that oppose restriction of the rights of you and me to bargain with our employers had to resort to the nuclear option. One of the things that I find troubling with this entire issue is the fact that the repubs are leading a race to the bottom for workers that will only benefit the rich…if wages drop in right to work states, where does the profit go that used to go to middle class wages? Straight to the top 1% in the form of bonuses that will further decrease purchasing power that used to drive the economy…this increased concentration is what has caused this recovery to be so weak since middle class wages and consumption are more than 70% of economic activity. I ask the same question of the rich that I always ask in this situation: “how much is enough?”…geez…
Maybe I was wrong about Snyder…
Well…as you know, I have taken the governor here in Michigan to task on many occasions just for the fact that he screwed the middle class and retirees here with tax cuts for business while raising taxes on everyone else…and I still feel that this is wrongheaded since tax cuts for business as a means to spur job growth has never worked anywhere it has been tried….that said, I will give him his due for statements this week that tries to put a damper on the repub controlled legislatures headlong rush to attack organized labor by making Michigan a right to work state…I think he got it just right when he said that taking up this issue will end any other legislative work for the year and that Michigan can’t afford that….less than a ringing endorsement of labor but at least he seems to understand that, at least in this instance, that ideology has no place in trying to get the state moving again…so, I will applaud this stance while reserving the right to criticize when the situation merits it….
More labor bashing from the right…
“haven’t you heard it’s a battle of words, and most of them are lies…” Was listening to Pink Floyd on the bike ride and this line struck up a thought that connected with the concerted push by the right here in Michigan to destroy the unions abetted by their propaganda paper for west Michigan “the Grand Rapids Press”. For the past couple of weeks, the Press has been running a series whose purpose is to push the repubs continued attack on the unions; now cloaked in the right to work flag. The theme of the series is that if Michigan didn’t have unions, there would be many more auto jobs and the state would be more competitive in the race for new manufacturing plants that have generally been won by the low wage southern states. Their star example is the new Kia plant in Georgia and everyone they interviewed kept to the right’s line that the only reason it was built in Georgia instead of Michigan was Georgia’s right to work status.
Well…in the fine print, they mention what I think is the key, and it isn’t the right to work laws….it IS the fact that Georgia built Kia a $410 million, yep, that’s a $410 million dollar manufacturing plant and handed them the keys…and, while this plant was being built, all of the repub southern legislators were screaming socialism when the Obama administration was helping the unionized, American manufacturers survive. Why do the Republicans want the US worker to win the race to the bottom? Why aren’t they rejoicing that the unions are protecting the middle class with wages high enough so they can buy a house, a new car, put their kids through college, and save a little for their retirement? Again, I think it’s the unholy alliance of the repubs and business, now including even foreign manufacturers whose goal it is to accelerate the redistribution of wealth up the the rich…with the American worker paying the price. Geez….