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Comments Posted By SequimBob2

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THE REPUBLICAN “DOGS OF WAR”

Concur. As noted in the comments, the Republican “army” is a hodge-podge of disparate interests, yet the ‘management’ is able to keep all the various motivated forces moving in lock-step. Ever notice how the Republicans have two or three news conferences a day to attack, spin or respond to the White House? You can just hear their equivalent of Red Leader saying “stay on target (message). Stay on target.” Yet the White House and the Dems never seem to respond in kind. Seems a strange way to respond to an attack.

» Posted By SequimBob2 On March 1, 2011 @ 8:00 pm

Montana tea party on crack … or something

Haruko – Thanks for the great article.

» Posted By SequimBob2 On February 27, 2011 @ 3:06 pm

Writing Responsibly for Other Universes

Greetings, Vancouver, from Sequim!

The thing I like about reading and writing Fantasy / Science Fiction is that the author can enlarge a particular aspect of the human condition beyond “normal” proportion. Once enlarged or magnified, the condition can be explored and manipulated in ways that are difficult to accomplish in traditional genre fiction. It is a wonderful, powerful, fascinating and versatile genre.

An author who has created an alternate world and societies to populate it has accomplished something unique and extremely difficult — over and above the normal hard work of beginning and finishing a novel. Anyone so arrogant and condescending to ‘pat you on the head’ has probably never accomplished either task.

» Posted By SequimBob2 On February 27, 2011 @ 3:48 pm

From a union worker family standpoint…

“I really want to know what the right wing and the Tea Party has against unions?”

As an active duty Army officer, I was somewhat surprised to find myself transferred to a Civilian agency in Detroit, MI. (A great assignment, by the way.) Anyway, I recall waiting for a phone to be installed. The installer arrived and promptly sat down upon my desk. Not a good sign, I figure.

“You here to install the phone?” I asked.
“Uh huh,” says installer.

But he doesn’t move. So after a couple of more polite inquiries, I ask him why he isn’t working. Answer: “Waiting on the union guy to come move the desk.”

At this point I got a bit annoyed, and said “I’ll move the @#$# desk.” I’ll never forget his response. He hopped off the desk, visibly paled and said, “Don’t do that. The union will file a grievance against me.”

And that was my first introductions to unions. After leaving the military, I went to work for General Motors in Flint, MI. UAW country, big time.

To make a long story a little bit shorter, I quit after having three requests to meet with my Director were refused. I had been promised certain things as part of the hiring process and wanted to discuss these promises. Three requests followed by three refusals to meet with me followed by a resignation. In contrast, I’d never once in my military career been refused the opportunity to speak with a commander.

After only four months, I ended my career with the auto industry with the ironic understanding that had I been offered the opportunity to join a union, I would have been first in line.

Now, understand as a military guy, it wasn’t as if I was unfamiliar with working in a structured environment. But while I never chafed under the military’s regimen, GM’s management practices were another story. I now understand on a personal level why there are unions — to protect workers. I get it. Didn’t always get it, but I do now.

Have unions abused their role? Absolutely. But American the so-called captains of American industry have shipped jobs overseas, raked in huge profits, decimated the American middle class and now are bound and determined to finish-off the unions.

Why attack the unions? The unions are an organizing force for Democrats. Destroy the counter-balance union campaign contributions provide and, as Rachel Maddow said last night, the Republicans can run the field — giving us Karl Rove’s much desired permanent Republican Party.

It’s not so much that the Right hates unions, although they do, because unions are perceived as more costly, less flexible, etc., it’s that the unions threaten the wealth power structure.

If you watch how the Governor of Wisconsin reacts to the protests, he’s angry. He’s indignant. He’s outraged. He just wants his way –or rather the way of those that funded his campaign. He gives 150 million in tax cuts and then claims he’s got to reign in the evil union contracts to get the looming fiscal crisis under control. It’s a con job — just like the Republicans having rammed through the Bush Tax Cut extensions through are now railing about the deficit. It’s a con.

This is not to say the debt and deficit aren’t real problems. They are. But the math associated with solving these problems is not that complex — nor are the objectives of the Right’s power structure. They want to keep the Military Industrial Complex booming. To do this, they are currently spending roughly 20% of federal spending, $665B annually. (Canada by contrast spends $21B.)

But the right feels threatened. We’re running a deficit, boomers are retiring rapdily and Social Security, Medicare and other entitlements expenditures will be rising. All this, plus the spectre of rising interest rates, threaten what the Right wants to do with your tax dollars. Solution – attack entitlements. What stands in their way? In part, unions stand in their way.

But unions are just the first step. A Republican controlled government will lead to radical reductions in entitlement programs — no doubt more tax cuts for the rich — and bring about a different America than the one in which I grew up. I find this prospect very disturbing. Again, just wait. This is just the beginning. States will use the same arguments to break their pension obligations to state workers. Meanwhile, the stock market will be perking along and the wealthy will just become more so.

Does the Right hate unions? Yeah, but the real issue is money. It’s only business from the Right’s perspective, but its impact on Americans will be very painful and very personal.

» Posted By SequimBob2 On February 18, 2011 @ 8:37 am

An HP Moderator Replies

Zootman:

Thanks for the great, albeit depressing, post. What I found most interesting about the moderator’s reply was the haughty, defensive tone. I found that revealing and not a good omen for HuffPo changing its ways.

Your experience has caused me to coin a new term… Modsturbayshun. Modsturbayshun is defined as the self-gratifying censorship activity performed by an HuffPo moderator to shun or keep at bay those commenters whose posts they deem inappropriate.

I can only conclude that the Huffster & company have gone blind to the damage they are doing to themselves regarding their mod activity. Oh well, I guess it turns out Mom was onto something afterall.

Cheers!

SequimBob2 is now orbiting the planet

» Posted By SequimBob2 On February 14, 2011 @ 8:39 am