Never Trust A Fart

It was recently suggested to me that my criticisms of Obama and his administration are unfair; the result of narrow minded and skewed conservative propaganda, namely Fox News and Rush Limbaugh – you know, the typical baseless liberal drivel.
I try to deal in the facts, no matter the source. My friends might be surprised to learn that I do get information from several liberal sources, specifically the Daily Kos, the Huffington Post, several Democrat Party web sites, Keith Olberman, Rachel Maddow, Laurence O’Donnell, Ed Shultz and a number of other ones. That I disagree with nearly all of them does not mean I do not read what they have to say, and, in a few instances, actually agree with them. For example, Bill Maher, perhaps the most despicable of them all, expects the Catholic Church to hold predator priests accountable for their crimes. I know that he is a rabid anti-religionist, but I have to agree with him on this, because justice is a necessary, meaningful objective no matter what you believe.

A liberal friend of mine made mention of a list of Obama’s accomplishments on the Internet – as if such a list would exonerate him from the state of our union today. I suppose the existence of the list is well known to liberals, but it is obvious that the contents of the list are not, or else my liberal friend would not be so quick to point it out to me. The list, which I link to below, perfectly illustrates the fallacy of liberalism whereby their standards are purely symbolic and completely free of substance. To many liberals, it isn’t necessarily what someone thinks that matters, but only that he or she is thinking, unless of course it’s a conservative doing the thinking. Notice that the author of this list, Professor(!?) Robert P. Watson has a Ph.D. and is the Coordinator of American Studies at Lynn University in Boca Raton Florida. (Mental note to self; don't send your kids there). I looked for other lists that people might have created, but the Watson list is by far the most popular, having been published on numerous websites. I found the first copy posted on The Daily Kos – if you click the link you can see for yourself.

Bear in mind, as you read each item, that Watson describes his list as “impressive.” Asks yourself these questions:

1.) “Is this a substantive, measurable accomplishment?”
2.) “Is it actually true?”
3.) “Is this ‘accomplishment’ good for the country? Is it sound domestic or foreign policy?”

I found, to the point of laughing out loud, that the majority of the list did not include actual accomplishments. If I “announced plans” to clean the kitchen but didn’t really clean it, would my wife accept my announcement as an accomplishment? How long could I keep my job if I “intended” to make it to work, but didn’t? Is “hiring the first Latina in my department” something I can add to my résumé?

Other items on the list may be measureable, but either a specific item was accomplished by others, or the accomplishment was bad for the country, as in the case of the stimulus bill and “Obamacare.” In fact, I can’t think of a single item on the list that I would call a bona fide accomplishment. It’s true that the list is old, but I have to ask, “Has Obama done anything good for the country since he took office?” The cost of living is up, and is going to go way higher as higher fuel prices and out of control inflation – due entirely to his detrimental energy and economic policies – kick in. The true measure of his “accomplishments” is just now being realized at home and abroad. Unemployment is higher than when he took over, despite what he promised when ramming his stimulus down our throats. The deficit is ridiculously higher because of his administration and the Democrats in Congress. The amount he will add to the national debt by the end of his first (and hopefully, only) term will be more than all other presidents combined! He aligns himself on the wrong side every time, from the "Beer Summit" to the ransoming of children's education in the latest union bruhaha. Smear tactics by those merchants of hate in the liberal press go unchallenged while conservative rhetoric is sacrificed on his altar of free liberal speech.

Respect for this country abroad is in the toilet because of him. Great Britain, Israel, and to some extent, Pakistan, once our staunchest allies, now keep us at arm’s length at best, and openly criticize us at worst, and our traditional enemies are still our enemies, only now they are growing stronger while we are growing weaker both economically and militarily. China, Venezuela, North Korea and Iran are emboldened by his weak leadership. Support for and control by the Muslim Brotherhood is expanding in Yemen, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and virtually throughout the entire Islamic world.

Where is that once vaunted “Hope and Change?”

Obviously the liberals will continue to blame George Bush, but doing so is dishonest, proven by four years of Democrat congressional control and super majorities in both houses of Congress and Obama’s own reign of over 2 years. Besides, shouldn’t Obama have the decency to accept responsibility given that, on June 3rd, 2008, accepting the nomination of his party, Obama’s infinite hubris led him to say:

“I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on earth. This was the moment—this was the time—when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves and our highest ideals.”

Lofty promises; none of which have been obtained. Rather than slowing the rise of the oceans, Obama has us sinking to the bottom under the cinder-block-weight of our massive debt. Who will they blame in another two years? And if, God willing, Obama is defeated in 2012, will his Republican successor get the same mileage out of blaming Obama? Doubtful, given the intellectual dishonesty of people in the media and academia like “Professor” Robert Watson, and the mindless liberal masses – devoid of critical thinking skills – who accept the notion that Obama can add a bullet point to his list of accomplishments every time he farts – or intends to.

American ills not caused by unions

I haven’t written in a while because so much has been going on in my own life and especially, in the world, I just couldn’t figure out what would make more sense to write about. I sat down several times to write about the Tucson AZ shootings and the outrageous accusations made by liberals, especially in the press, attempting to link the murderous actions of that lunatic Loughner to conservative political speech, all while excusing by way of omission the hate speech and lies offered up minute-by-minute by rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth liberals. But I didn’t need to – conservatives have done a spectacular job of derailing this worse than usual liberal smear job, especially Michelle Malkin. I recommend that everyone visit her website, http://www.blogger.com/www.michellemalkin.com.

A couple of days ago something caught my eye which hasn’t received a lot of media attention so I thought I’d throw in my two cents worth on this one. It’s an article written for the Detroit News by James P. Hoffa, son of Teamsters Union heavy man Jimmy Hoffa, titled “American Ills Not Caused by Unions.”

I take exception immediately to just the title. I often find myself wondering about liberals/socialists/modernists: “Is this one of the stupid or gullible ones, or is this one of the clever mendacious types?” There are no in betweens; liberals are either ignorant or they are liars, or both.
His title is a ploy, a sophism, typically employed by liberals, whereby a statement is made to defend a non-existent accusation, thereby making it seem as though his adversaries are treating him or his cause unfairly. This is precisely why the stupid liberal thinks that good conservatives are a fringe group of extremists. Has anyone ever said that unions are responsible for America’s ills? Not to my knowledge. I would posit that the modern day union is partly responsible for some of America’s ills, but that for the most part unions are a symptom of a far greater ill. And I think Hoffa knows this; he knows that that is the real criticism. His article begins:

“The 19th-century robber baron Jay Gould once said, ‘I can hire half the working class to shoot the other half.’ Gould's vision of class warfare is being played out today in the shameful attacks on public employees.”

“What shameful attacks?” you might ask. I was just as curious, so I kept reading:

“These attacks are secretly financed and planned by modern-day Jay Goulds who aim to keep their own taxes low.”

So, people who want to be able to keep what they earn are “attacking” the poor unions by demanding they be allowed to keep their own money? That’s like saying that the evil homeowner viciously attacked the poor homeless thief who broke in to eat and help himself to the contents of the homeowner’s safe. Don’t believe me?

“Some vastly powerful corporations and billionaires want to cripple all unions and turn America into a low-wage banana republic.”

Hoffa, true to his name, paints the modern day union as the saving grace of the downtrodden worker, and anyone or any entity that disagrees is “powerful” and “eeeevillll!” Anyone who knows anything about unions these days can tell you that the public unions deprive taxpayers and under-perform. How many hundreds of billions of dollars of state deficits are out there purely because of the ridiculous sweetheart deals made between liberal Democrat state legislators and governors (like Jerry Brown of California) and public unions? Talk about Robber Barons! How about those (unfunded) pension plans offered to automotive workers, teachers, miners, etc., etc. There is no money to pay for them! So now it falls to the taxpayers, some of whom hadn’t been born when these slimy backroom deals were made? Say again? That’s fair? Hoffa goes on:

“They're succeeding. Across the country, new governors and new legislatures are demanding cuts to jobs, pensions and concessions from public employee unions. Their demands are nothing more than payback for the billions of dollars that the ultra-rich have poured into political campaigns.”

You mean ultra-rich like George Soros, David Gelbaum, Herbert and Marion Sandler, Ted Turner, and Tim Gill, who heap millions upon millions onto the Democrat machine that built up these unions in the first place? Here is another liberal canard – 'the rich only contribute to conservatives.' Funny how the aforementioned multi-millionaires and billionaires never appear on the members lists of the country club of evil rich folk.

“Scapegoating public employees has almost become a sport. In New York City, a city councilman accused sanitation workers of a deliberate slowdown in removing snow during the Christmas blizzard. It turned out that slow snow removal was actually caused by the layoffs of 400 workers and the failure to call a snow emergency quickly enough.”

Gee whiz! What caused the layoffs of 400 workers? It wouldn’t have anything to do with New York City’s debt crisis, would it? It wouldn’t have anything to do with the union’s failure to accept renegotiated contracts to help save those 400 jobs….would it? And by the way, in that now famous video of the union employee who carelessly tried to free a snow plow despite repeatedly smashing into an SUV… did he do that because 400 workers got laid off too? How come 400 employees were laid off, but he didn’t get fired for that? Oh yeah – he’s in a union that protects bad employees.

“In Ohio, Gov. John Kasich wants to ban collective bargaining for public employee unions and get rid of the prevailing wage.”

As well he should! These people are paid by the taxpayers who do not get to directly supervise them. That’s why the quality of work by unions usually sucks!

“In Wisconsin, Scott Walker suggests banishing unions for government workers. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he won cooperation from unions because he threatened "to take a bat out and hit you."

What’s wrong with either of these!!!???

“Christie's threat isn't funny to anyone who remembers the Memphis sanitation strike in 1968. All the workers wanted was to earn above-starvation wages and to be respected as human beings. Peaceful workers were gassed, dragged, arrested and threatened by armed National Guardsmen in tanks.”

Another sophism - that people didn’t respect the sanitation workers as human beings. These peaceful workers shut down sanitation work which affected the entire city – poor included. The bottom line, as with any employee anywhere, is that they don’t need the power of collective bargaining since they already possess the power of individual bargaining; if you don’t like your job or your pay you are free to seek employment elsewhere.

“Only after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed while in Memphis supporting the struggle did city officials come to their senses and recognize Local 1733 of AFSCME as the bargaining representative for the sanitation workers. Just think where those workers would be today without a union.”

Hoffa is just full of sophisms! He makes it sound as if King Jr. was assassinated because he supported the strikers! Nowhere has it ever been suggested that this was the case. By trying to connect the two, Hoffa is engaging in the worst sort of opportunism. Rather than being the savior of poor workers, unions stifle and constrain the natural human ambitions and individualism that allow us to rise above the economic and cultural status in which we are born. I can imagine where those sanitation workers might be today – they might have decided to work elsewhere for better pay; they might have pursued better educations and earned degrees with substantial bargaining power.

“It's time for a reality check. Government employees did not blow a hole in any state budget, including Michigan. Economist Dean Baker points out that shortfalls were almost entirely caused by the recession. ‘If revenue had increased in step with normal growth (2.4 percent real growth, plus inflation), state and local governments would have had an additional $290 billion since the start of the downturn,’ Baker notes.”

Another fallacious argument. Notice how Hoffa shifts focus from all unions to simple government employees. No one denies the recession deeply affected state budgets. The real problem is why the recession affected state budgets so deeply. Furthermore the rise in the numbers of government employees increased dramatically since the recession. Since Barack Obama took office there has been an increase of over 200, 000 government employees and that number is bound to go up to facilitate new legislation such as “Obamacare.” The real issue here is that our government, at the federal, state and municipal levels is spending too much money on entitlement programs. Social Security, Medicare and other welfare programs account for over half of the yearly federal budget. Medicaid is crippling the states. Now throw in lifelong pension plans for union employees and not only are states out of money, they are in a major debt crisis. State budgets need to be recession-proofed, and one way to do this is to cancel all the sweetheart deals created between unions and their corrupt and complicit partners within the Democrat political machine. One last bit of B.S.:

“It's also important to remember, as economist Robert Reich points out, that the typical public employee's pension is only $19,000 a year.”

Robert Reich is one of those “economists” who provides anecdotal evidence to people like Hoffa so that these sophisms can be created in the first place. Notice that lifelong healthcare, at taxpayer expense, for these employees is purposefully not mentioned. The “typical” public employee pension is an average of all the pensions. So those who retired 30 years ago or longer when a pension of $17,000.00 a year with lifelong healthcare was considered decent are included. Hoffa fails to mention what the average will be in say, oh, 10 years.

It isn’t just that unions are bad by the way. It’s the tactics they use. Just today it has been reported that a teacher’s union in Wisconsin has resorted to some outrageous methods in a collective bargaining disagreement there. Click the link to watch some video – but the fact is some teachers are pulling students out of class to have them join a protest against the governor. This is being done without the consent or knowledge of the kids’ parents, and as the video shows, the kids don’t even know for what they are protesting! Looks a lot like the majority of Obama 2008 supporters to me. No, America's ills may not be caused by unions; they are caused by socialists like Hoffa who turn the natural social order upside down in order to acquire peer recognition, wealth and power.