The lobbyist and spin doctors against the working American have launched all sorts of anti-union websites, one of their newest is using the "stop unions" phrase. So here's a nice little spot on Blogger where I can test some nice widgets for my own site Joe's Union Review
"We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent."- James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950
Take it as you will, this is the second part to the Zeitgeist Movie, available free for anyone with a computer. As a friend of mines father said about the first movie, if only 1% of it is true the world is a fu@ked up place.
The first movie goes through the gamut of the history of religion, the idea of 9/11 being a false flag operation, the history of the privatization of the US banking system via the Federal Reserve, one world Government, the North American Union and the New World Order. Along the way there is a hypnotic soundtrack which features video clips and audio from the movie Network, Bill Hicks, Lou Dobbs, Martin Luther King, George Carlin, among others, and quotes like the one posted above.
Like I say, you can see it for many reasons, I watched it with some friends last year while the NY Jets were doing really crappy, and I did learn a lot about the Federal Reserve and religion. As far as the 9/11 stuff, that is up to you to sift through. The squeamish may even chose to skip through the section if they so choose. Was it worth it, definitely better than watching your run of the mill Hollywood junk, a lot better than watching the Jets get pummeled.
The first movie gets a whopping 8.7 out of 10 stars from almost 7,000 voters at IMDb (Internet Movie Database) and the most helpful comment I read was by The Goat:
Very compelling, definitely don't believe everything you hear, do your own research! I've watched this movie about 4 times by now, will definitely watch it again as i show it to others. Many interesting arguments, many good points.
While this film is aimed to prove everything presented as truth, one should watch this with an open mind. Take in all the topics, then do your own research, just with any speaker/film/presentation. To blindly follow is pure ignorance.
I do not believe everything in this film. I do however think that everyone should see it if nothing more than a thought experiment. You should be aware of all sides of an argument as to make your argument more effective.
Here's Part 2, which starts off real slow, but gets interesting when they talk about the monetary system and Corporations, it speaks of free trade and sweatshops, Wal-Mart and Bechtel, there's some talk about how profit rules over people and while the first movie left you with a sense of fear, this movie seeks answers to get our world on the right track.
Chalk this up as very interesting, at least in my book, and a lot better if you watch part 1 first. Is there truth in this movie or is this wingnut conspiracy stuff? I'll leave that up to you to decide. Absolutely a great view if your pissed about the bailout.
Blue Pill/Red Pill?
Neo: What truth? Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind. (long pause, sighs) Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. (In his left hand, Morpheus shows a blue pill.) Morpheus: You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. (a red pill is shown in his other hand) You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. (Long pause; Neo begins to reach for the red pill) Remember -- all I am offering is the truth, nothing more. (Neo takes the red pill and swallows it with a glass of water)
Main Stream Media, are they lazy, or is it in their best interest not to report factual information.
In November 2007, I wrote a story entitled "Slavery Alive and Well In New York and the rest of the US" at Union Review , in which i run through the various ways in which is not only tolerated and unregulated but the facts are so underground the real tallies on these human rights infractions are almost impossible to figure. From the Long Island, NY perfume barons who had actual slaves living in their house, the slave like conditions in which undocumented workers in the construction industry must endure, to the prostitution industry that uses indentured servitude to pay their way to the states which the NY Times reported on way back in 1994. Before that story, back in 7-08, I wrote about the H1B Visa abuse, mostly in the tech sector, that a law firm actually had the audacity to produce a video training seminar where they boast on how to use this procedure. That story, "Corp Objective: Disqualify Qualified American Workers, Get H-1b Visa's For Non-Citizens." and it's follow-up, "Offshoring and H1B Visa abuse, the 1-2 punch to knockout US tech workers" are among my two most read entries since I have been writing about the labor movement. Which brings us to the newest in the trend of slavery and Visa abuse that is alive and well in these United States.
From:ABC News 3-07-08
Revolt in Mississippi: Indian Workers Claim 'Slave Treatment' Workers Call for Signal International to Be Prosecuted on Alleged Human Trafficking Charges
Rebelling against alleged "slave treatment," some 100 workers recruited from India staged a dramatic protest at a Mississippi shipyard Thursday, claiming they had been tricked into coming to the United States.
The workers, brought from India to work as welders and pipe-fitters at Signal International shipyard in Pascagoula, hurled their hard hats at company gates and demanded a federal investigation.
The workers claim they were defrauded by a Signal International recruiter in India who promised them green cards and permanent residency in the U.S. in exchange for a $20,000 fee. The workers allege that they instead received 10-month work visas, which was only enough time for them to pay off their recruitment fees.
The workers also claim that Signal forced them to live in substandard housing, with 24 men crammed into a small room. The men say Signal charged them more than $1,000 a month to live in company housing.
"For more than one year, hundreds of Indian workers at Signal International have been living like slaves," said former Signal worker Sabulal Vijayan. "Today the workers are coming out to declare their freedom. This trafficking needs to end."
The workers have reported their situation to the U.S. Department of Justice and are calling for Signal International to be prosecuted on human trafficking charges.
Signal International strongly denied the workers' allegations. The company released a statement saying, "Unfortunately, a few of the workers whom Signal had sponsored for H2B visas and recruited have made baseless and unfounded allegations against Signal concerning their employment and living conditions." According to the statement, "The vast majority of the workers whom Signal recruited has been satisfied with the employment and living conditions at Signal."
Signal called its housing complex "state of the art" and said government inspections have "found that Signal's practices and facilities are fully compliant with the law."
The Mississippi Gulf Coast has faced a severe labor shortage in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and many companies have replenished their workforce with overseas labor brought in under a guest worker plan. Human rights groups, however, charge that many foreign workers have been exploited by their employers.
"The U.S. State Department calls it 'a repulsive crime' when recruiters and employers in other parts of the world bind guest workers with crushing debts and threats of deportation," said Saket Soni of the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice. "This is precisely what is happening on the Gulf Coast."
How is it that we have temporary Visa's for Foreign workers when we have vast unemployment here in the United States? It's amazing how they are getting away with this, under the cloak of labor shortages, I fucking know plenty of welders who are quite capable of doing the job for an honest days pay. Never mind the fact that big business wants more Visa's. People's Weekly World has a more in depth article, from way back in March 2007:
Guest workers fired after protesting ‘slave’ conditions
Strike line formed when more than 200 workers walked off of the job at Signal, March 9, in solidarity with at 3 employees that they believe were wrongfully terminated and illegally imprisoned by management on Signal’s property. MIRA photo.
Hundreds of guest workers from India are protesting conditions in a Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard that immigrant rights activists compare to slavery.
Many of the workers gathered in a church on March 11 in this Gulf Coast port, after their employer, Signal International, threatened to send some of them home. Signal is a large corporation that repairs and services oil drilling platforms around the world.
According to Bill Chandler, executive director of the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance, “they were hired in India by a labor recruiter sent by Signal. They had to pay exorbitant amounts to the company, to the recruiter and to the attorney who did the labor certification for them.”
Labor traffickers globalized Signal brought about 300 workers from India in December to work in its Mississippi yard, and another 300 to work in two yards in Texas. The workers are part of the H2B visa program, in which the U.S. government allows companies to recruit workers outside the country and bring them here under contract. The visas are good for 10 months, but the company can renew them for those it wants to keep longer. The workers must remain employed, and if they lose their jobs, they must go home.
Signal H2B worker Joseph Jacobs talking to WLOX reporter March 9, about the general despair of mistreated Indian H2B workers at the Signal International, LLC, plant in Pascagoula, MS, including a young man who attempted suicide when he learned that he might have to return to his country without the opportunity to earn the money he had borrowed to come to the United States. MIRA photo.
Workers say they were promised jobs as welders and fitters, and had to pay as much as $20,000 each to the recruiting contractor, Global Industry. Workers also say they were promised that Signal would refund the money.
“I had to pay $14,000,” says one of those workers, Joseph Jacob. “I worked for years in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, and I spent all the money I had to get the visa, which the recruiter promised would be a permanent residence visa. But that visa never came, and finally he said they could get us a H2B visa. That would give us 10 months of work, and if the company renewed it, we might get as much as 30 months. I thought that was the only way I’d ever be able to get back the money they’d taken.”
Signal put the Indian guest workers to work in the yard alongside U.S. workers doing the same job — welding and fitting. The company claims it pays workers from India the same wages as domestic employees. The guest workers say they were promised $18 an hour, but many were paid only half that after the company said they were unqualified. Chandler says the company recruiter in India determined the workers knew their jobs during the process of hiring them.
The new ‘company town’ Out of their wages, workers pay an additional $35 per day to stay in a labor camp Signal set up inside the yard. “The conditions are very bad here for the H2B workers,” Joseph says bitterly. “Twenty-four of us live in a room in a barracks that measures 12 feet by 18 feet, sleeping on bunk beds. There are two toilets for all of us and only four sinks. We have to get up at 3:30 in the morning, just so all of us have time to use the bathroom before going to work.”
Fired for meeting
Indian H2B workers from Signal International, LLC, marine fabrication company meet at a Pascagoula hall to strategize how to present their demands against substandard living and working conditions, March 4. MIRA photo.
A month ago, the Indian guest workers began meeting in a local church to discuss how they might get the company to refund the huge sums they paid to come to the U.S., and to protest the bad conditions. They organized a group, Signal H2B Workers United. It was after the company found out, they say, that it accused workers of being unqualified for their jobs and cut their pay. Eight were told they were completely incapable, and Signal announced it was sending them back to India immediately. Joseph was fired. “I am now terminated because I attended the meeting,” he says. “That’s what the company vice-president told me.”
Signal International President Dick Marler told the Mississippi Press that although workers had been employed since December, the company only discovered recently that they had no skills. Federal law required the company to fire them, he asserted.
Signal did not return calls for this story, but a statement on the company web site says the workers “receive the same pay and are taxed the same as all other Signal craft personnel. Workers from India have a reputation for being pleasant and hard-working.” It quotes Marler, who says, “We are fortunate the U.S. government has such a program that allows us to supplement our workforce during a time of emergency created by hurricanes.”
Deportations, company lock-up When the company announced the terminations, one worker disappeared. Another, Sabu Lal, slashed his wrists and was taken to the Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula. He told the Mississippi Press that dying would be better than being sent home.
“Lal and I are from the same place in India,” Joseph explains. “I knew he had sold his home, and had no place to return to. He was only able to make back a small part of the thousands of dollars he paid to the recruiter, and he said he couldn’t go home like that.”
Company security guards locked the fired workers in what they call the TV room, and wouldn’t let them leave.
Their co-workers contacted the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance, which went to the Pascagoula Police Department. The police went out to the yard and eventually freed the imprisoned workers. Outside the yard, dozens of workers and activists denounced the firings and mistreatment.
DANGER: Guest worker programs
Signal International plant in Pascagoula, MS. MIRA photo.
“We’ve learned about case after case of workers in Mississippi, Louisiana and all along the gulf in these conditions,” Chandler says. “There are thousands of guest workers who have been brought in since Katrina and subjected to this same treatment. Mexican guest workers in Amelia, La., were held in the same way. They also got organized, and came to Pascagoula to support the workers here when they heard what happened.”
According to Chandler, Signal imported hundreds of workers from Peru a year ago, and after sending them home, brought the present group of guest workers from India to replace them. He says the experience of these workers highlights the problems inherent in proposals introduced into Congress over the last two years, which would set up similar schemes for the importation of as many as 400,000 guest workers per year.
“Organizations that are fighting for the rights of workers and advocating on behalf of workers should be totally opposed to these kind of programs,” he says. “The conditions that people work in here are so exploitative they’re worse than the conditions for even undocumented workers.”
The Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance and the Southern Poverty Law Center plan to go to court to stop the deportations. Meanwhile, workers say they are determined to continue challenging the company until the money they paid the contractor is returned to them.
Suppression of News that matters
Whatever your thinking, know this as a fact, this information was out there a full year ago and the suppressive corporate media didn't acknowledge it.
It is us against them, at so many levels. Turn off the damn TV and get to learning.
We knew about the abuses in New Orleans, the facts are never reported on, just take a look at the article at Union review published by Chuck Lazette in Sept 0f 2007, entitled "In the Lawless Post-Katrina Cleanup, Construction Companies Are Preying on Workers", and its further backed by a comment I found on the upcoming attack on the guest commentary found in the NaplesNews that was published on Labor Day in 2007 about unionized teachers entitled "Labor Day ’07: Union bosses’ agenda scary", by corporate lobbyist, and the mind behind "The Center For Union Facts" and other disillusioning bullshit against the people of America, Rick Berman. Here is the counter "attack" and I use the terms loosely, because Mr.Charlie Ward uses FACTS in his comment.
More for Rick Berman: Why didn't the Right to Work Committee defend the rights of the American workers in Louisianna(which is, after all, a right to work state? Recently, the State of Arizona (which is also a right to work state), passed legislation stating that businesses can not hire illegal workers, and illegals can not own businesses. These illegals are leaving Arizona by hundreds a day, selling their houses, leaving for other states or heading back to their homeland. The U.S. workers of Arizona have had enough of their wages being undermined and demanded change--and they got it. Guess who is challenging this new law? The United States Chamber of Commerce. Where is the outrage by you and the Right To Work Committee? Union membership in Arizona has grown by 30% in the past two years. One wonders why. With respect to The Employee Free Choice Act,tell the truth. The glitch in the bill that you and the Right to Work Committee object to is not the way a union is voted in.(card vs. secret vote--they are both legal and valid, and it is diversionary to assert that this is the issue. The issue really is that this bill would stop management from stalling for time and finding bogus reasons not to sit down and negotiate--just as you and the Right to Work Committee assert that unions use this tactic to slow down a decertification process. What is really not wanted is the clause that would require a federal mediator to step in if management and the union representation can not come together, and any employer who commits unfair labor practices shall be fined $20,000.00 for each violation. Thus far it has been passed by the House and it is up to the Senate. They are being lobbied strongly against this bill---by you know who. You are correct, unions do lobby and donate to politicians that they perceive will help them with their issues. As you know,all union members have the right to use the Beck Right Law, which states that they can request that none of their dues be used for political interests to which they do not subscribe. It's a law. Conversely, anti- union organizations and businesses also lobby strongly and donate heavily for support of their interests. So, where's the beef? It's politics. Right now, the NLRB is stacked with anti-union people, mostly Republicans. And yes, you are right, if the Democrats win, the pendulum will swing the other way. That, too, is politics as usual. The only thing The Right to Work Committee has done has been to assure that an individual does not have to join a union or pay dues, even if there is a union in their workplace. But they have done their best to undermine labor laws for all workers: i.e. minimun wage, overtime laws, OSHA and reduced workmans comp entitlements , which have been reduced as much as 50% in some right to work states already, and other laws which protect the rights of workers both union and non-union. In closing, Mr. Berman, I would like to say that with all the faults unions have, they have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed. They have done more for decency, education, betterment of all races, and for the developing of character in man than any other association of men. Clarence Darrow
Remember, before there is profit, there is labor. Abraham Lincoln (Republican President) Happy Labor Day. Charlie
One more note about Labor Day, according to WIN, Workers Independent News Radio on 3-14-08 "The Department of Transportation came under fire by Senator Byron Dorgan on Tuesday over a controversial “pilot program” that allows Mexican trucks to operate on US roads.", that program, which is Illegally being funded by Mary Peters DOT, was being pushed into operation directly by President Bush to have had a start date of Labor Day 2007.
There is a war against the workers here in the United States and using Labor Day to push our faces in it is showing you just how brazen they are. I don't think if you add all the facts you could come to any other conclusion. Rick Berman, who this site got it's name from, has now launched a new agenda, to find the worst unionized teacher, in the same week here in New York the United Federation of Teachers is fighting for the city to keep its funding for students. Yeah those bad teachers fighting for kids. What a bunch of bullies.
Social networking site MySpace, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, has sparked controversy by deleting the world's largest online atheist group following complaints from people who find atheism "offensive".
"Atheist and Agnostic Group" boasted 35,000 members until it was deleted on 1 January for the third time in as many years. It was founded in 2004 by Bryan Pesta, an assistant professor at Cleveland University who established it as a social network "specifically for godless people."
The group was closed down for the first time two years ago after an organised campaign by Christians persuaded MySpace to delete it. It was eventually restored and MySpace promised to protect it. This time, despite a petition from 500 users and repeated emails to customer services, MySpace seems reluctant to reverse its actions.
What is the real bad side effect of losing your social networking account? Eric Lee creator of Labourstart could see this happening to organized labor and expressed a very strong argument to not outsource your campaign to their networks (back in Nov.)
What you're doing by outsourcing your campaigning to Facebook is growing their company, giving them direct access to your supporters and members. What's the alternative? Do-it-yourself online campaigns where you retain the information on who has sent off protest messages.
LabourStart has campaigned this way for years. Every time we do a campaign, we collect the emails, names and unions of participants. If they've given us permission, we've added them to our mailing list and they receive our weekly email newsletter. Our list has grown from 3,000 names five years ago to 51,000 names today due to these campaigns.
Imagine if Facebook had existed five years ago and if we had tried to campaign using it. We wouldn't have a mailing list today and we certainly wouldn't be able to send out more than 50,000 emails a week.
Which eventually we have seen come to pass, when a Union Organizer and Labourstart correspondent, whose goes by the nickname Blackadder, had his account removed from Facebook, it took John Wood, a dedicated unionist from the United Kingdom who created a site urging people to E-Mail Facebooks customer service and a Labourstart campaign sending E-Mails direct, to get him reinstated.
This isn't the first time a Big Media outlet has banned a less than conservative opinion, in Sept. 2007 Verizon took the step of banning text messages from the Pro-Choice group NARAL
The dispute over the Naral messages is a skirmish in the larger battle over the question of “net neutrality” — whether carriers or Internet service providers should have a voice in the content they provide to customers.
Which leads me to the impotence of the agency that is supposed to protect us from unsafe products, the CPSC, better known as the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This is a clusterfuck by all standards
Over the weekend, the Consumer Product Safety Commission will lose its quorum—just like it did for eight months in 2007 before Congress gave it a temporary reprieve to continue to operate with full authority.
Why should you care? Because without a quorum (in the CPSC’s case a quorum means having three commissioners), the agency’s activities are limited. It cannot vote on new safety standards, issue mandatory recalls, or take further action on civil penalties above $50,000 against firms that have failed to report defective or hazardous products.
An online friend, John, who has been following the toxic toys mess in this country E-Mailed his Senator with an article which explained that Japan has a very extensively researched product safety standard and a giant list of unsafe imported products, he has a great point in just asking for the list and giving it to the CPSC, I'd go one further, remove the CPSC and outsource their jobs to Japan.
You would think the Govt. wants sick and retarded citizens, could be theres an awful lot of Big Pharma money getting stuffed in politico's pockets, look at how they get whatever they want, look at how your asking your doctor for Viagra and all the other shit they want you to jam down your gullet, that hasn't been tested properly yet and makes you sicker so you can get more shit that makes you sicker so you can buy more shit. Heres his E-Mail:
Dear Senator Lisa Murkowski,
The enclosed news articles show the persistent problem of importing unsafe and toxic goods from China to America. The CPSC has been unable to get on top of this problem, because they say they don’t have the resources to do the job. I recently heard a news broad cast pointing out that America will have this problem for years to come.
The news story said that Japan does not have this problem and will never have it. Japan sends over inspectors to see to it that unsafe and toxic products are not shipped to Japan in the first place. Japan has a list of products that have passed inspection and a list of products that have not pass inspection.
What the US of A should do is get a copy of the list of products that Japan has screened and follow it as they do. Then the problem of shipping in unsafe and toxic products will come to a halt. As Japan does not have this import problem of products from any country, nether will the US of A.
I am sure that Japan would be willing to give a copy of their safe product list to the US of A for free. I hope you get a copy of this safe product list and give it to the CPSC for them to use in their screening of products that are shipped to America.
I'm all for it John, unfortunately in its impotent state the CPSC cannot do a thing. Speaking of ineffective, did you catch Mitt Romney, who after blowing $40 Million of his own cash bashing unions on the way out the door.
It’s high time to lower taxes, including corporate taxes, to take a weed-whacker to government regulations, to reform entitlements, and to stand up to the increasingly voracious appetite of the unions in our government!
Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, the only thing better than him leaving the race is when Giuliani dropped out, but has Mr.911 really dropped out. He has thrown his support into Mr.War McCain, who the conservatives allege is a Liberal, hoping all us closet Racists and Misogynists will storm onto his bandwagon. Well as this article will explain, Giuliani would be the perfect choice to make sure that the Fascist police state we are heading towards is enforced
In a McCain Regime, Cheney will be back in office with another stint as Secretary of War. Norman “Bomb-bomb-bomb-Iran” Podhoretz will be Undersecretary for Nuclear War with General John “Nuke them” Shalikashvili as his deputy. Rudy Giuliani will be the Minister of Interior in charge of Halliburton’s detention centers into which will be herded all critics of war and the police state. billy kristol will be chief White House spokesliar.
The first year Mr.Giuliani was in office I got arrested while trying to convince my friend to give the police his ID, who tried to remain in office during our time of mourning the devestation, which has become a popular thought as Mr.Bush has effectively created the National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive.
The directive defines a “Catastrophic Emergency” as the following.
"Catastrophic Emergency" means any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions;
So what does this mean? This is entirely subjective and doesn’t provide any real concrete definition of what such an emergency would entail. Assuming that it means a disaster on the scale of the 9/11 attacks or Katrina, there is no question that the United States at some point in time will experience an emergency on par with either of those events. When one of those events takes place, the President will be a dictator in charge of ensuring a working constitutional government.
Mr.Giuliani, as my friend George at work informed me, had part ownership of SkyWatch, who in collaboration with Raytheon(God how I love that companies name), a large military contractor was developing technology to build a virtual Border fence. Although he had dropped his assets in the company Mr.Giuliani was promoting his "fence" for quite some time, as recently as Feb.5th., the day he filed his papers to become a Presidential candidate
(Feb.5th.2007 he stated)"I support security at the borders," Mr. Giuliani said. "I do think that with the fence, the fence honestly has to be a technological fence."
He forgot to mention 9-11 and Terrorism in that statement, must have been an off day. Which brings me to conspiracy theories, lets see, big politicos who have big military ties, big corporations who swing right on the issues, terrorism, terrorism, terrorism. America's favorite pot smoking country singer Willie Nelson has come forward stating that 9-11 was an inside job.
This comes less than a year after another beloved, well known and respected member of the entertainment industry Charlie Sheen came forward expressing his disbelief, I don't remember seeing this on the news or in the paper, do you? God I got to see Britneys ragged snatch shot thousands of times and her new drug of choice is plastered all over everything, but when a legitimate member of the entertainment industry comes forward with such shocking words its buried. Oops, I stand corrected, Showbiz Tonight did a story on it.
Nothing in this world could make someone wonder more than Zeitgeist Movie. When first viewed it gave me the shivers, now I stick to the Serenity Prayer. The best comment I have read so far about it is from RustyLime.com
Well, in saying all of that, remember that conspiracy is just another form of propoganda. While movies like these, the Dawkins ones, the Loose change series, Al Gore's movie etc are principally informative, all information is greatly slanted towards the makers' own bias, prejudice, translation and interpretation.
The only source for information that is trustworth is you. You do your own research and make up your own opinions (if you feel it necessary). Otherwise, you are left with mindless cretons, sheep if you will.
Warning: View At Your Own Risk
Enough with the conspiracies, read a few articles about construction safety here in New York
Construction of low-rise buildings – 14 stories and under – is up 31 percent over last year, and "construction incidents" on such buildings are up 2 percent, from 288 in 2006 to 294 in 2007, she said.
But "the regulation framework within New York City is geared toward high-rise construction,” maintains Coletti of the building trades association. He also thinks DOB is not proactive enough. “DOB has always been reactive,” he said, voicing a sentiment echoed repeatedly by those interviewed. Until recently, “it was the Wild West show out there. They need more resources.”
I wholeheartedly agree, get more people and funding. Start investigating even the smallest sites, construction companies do not go into business to get smaller, expecting the growing companies to concern themselves with safety when they do get the larger projects, is like taking the driving test after you already have bad habits.
I'm starting to think that all pedestrians walking in the City Of New York should wear a hard hat, they would be a hell of a lot easier to sweep up if they were crushed, and at least it would make those guys digging 2 feet into the street have a real reason to wear a hardhat.
Which makes me wonder why the city is so lax on illegal aliens entering the state and working in construction, wouldn't it really suck if say a terrorists were to get underground at Grand central Station or the UN. Doesn't take a genius to figure a way to make a steam main explode, sometimes it happens on it's own. Hell if the workers are getting shit on for $8 an hour for 100+ hours a week any Al Quaeda operative, who could figure the correct language to speak to one, could surely get him to plant a bomb for a pittance. Probably just for some medical insurance.
Meanwhile, Republican Senators have made sure via a threat of filibuster that the better version of the Economical Stimulus Plan were not made available to the public, unfortunately a plan which did not include extension of unemployment benefits and heating assistance for those who need it most has been adopted and voted in. John McCain didn't bother to vote, some Liberal he is.
For all practical purposes their plan works like this: When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay until they die, except it may increase from time to time for cost of living adjustments.
For example, former Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their wives may expect to draw $7,800,000.00 (that's Seven Million, Eight-Hundred Thousand), with their wives drawing $275,000.00 during the last years of their lives. This is calculated on an average life span for each.
Their cost for this excellent plan is $00.00. Nada. Zilch. This little perk they voted for themselves is free to them. You and I pick up the tab for this plan.
Speaking of Liberals, a new friend and contributer here, Mike from Springfield, MA Union News had a great story which he posted on his site.
(excerpted) Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.
All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
Liberal, socialism all that gets me confused, but I know that Starbucks definitely fears union organizers, the Wall Street Journal explains that there were E-Mails floating company wide to management, expressing concern that they had union sympathizers in their ranks.
According to several emails, in early 2006, Starbucks managers discovered that two pro-union employees in New York were graduates of a Cornell University labor program. According to an email, managers took the names of graduates from an online Cornell discussion group and the school's Web site and cross-checked them with employee lists nationwide. They found that three employees in California, Michigan and Illinois were graduates of the program and recommended that local managers be informed.
The Gunite workers sure could have used unemployment extension in the Stimulous package if the are out too long.
Workers say they’re still united to get a better contract but admit that two months on picket lines collecting unemployment is a strain on their families. While the unemployment benefit is about two-thirds of a worker’s pay, it’s based on a 40-hour workweek. Gunite’s 136 union workers average 66 hours a week, according to the UAW.
“It’s getting tougher all the time,” millwright Mark LeFevre said. “It gets a little frustrating. For one thing, they stretched the talks out.”
In the meantime, security guards hired by the company keep a constant eye on the pickets. Replacement workers and salaried employees are operating the plant.
All leading to the newest book I have asked for a review copy of
"An outstanding contribution to our understanding of the lives of working people, past and present. Lawrence Richards's careful examination of workers' resistance to union appeals breaks new ground, while his case studies of failed organizing campaigns illuminate workers' ambivalent and often hostile views of organized labor. This account of men and women who are usually neglected by celebrants of unionism enriches the historical narrative and reminds us of the cultural and ideological obstacles that labor activists have faced and continue to confront."--Robert H. Zieger, Distinguished Professor of History, University of Florida
one world Government, the North American Union and the New World Order. Along the way there is a hypnotic soundtrack which features video clips and audio from the movie Network, Bill Hicks, Lou Dobbs, Martin Luther King, George Carlin, among others, and quotes like the one posted above.
