Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Unions are not the problem!

It has become a pastime in the U.S. to bash unions. I don't understand this. Without unions we would probably all be working 7 days a week. 12 hours a day, with no breaks and really unfair compensation. Some people say. Oh but we don't need unions anymore because we have labor laws. Well Unions are the reason for those labor laws. And I believe that if they break the unions there really isn't anything then to stop them from rescinding laws and making new laws to restrict and totally take away any rights that workers have. Because, folks, Unions are the only organizations who fight for those things.Some People are bitching about the auto loans ( it's not a bailout by the way, which implies just giving them the money, like they did with the banking industry.) because the auto workers " make too much money" excuse me! they make about $25 and hour. What is that like $45 to $50 thousand a year. well that's pretty good, but I would not say by any means that is too much money. Especially if you have kids these days. We all know what it cost's to live. Plus the cost of labor is only something like 8% - 10% of the cost of making a car. I say we look at the other 90%. What is that? And how come there wasn't this outcry of the employees making too much money when they GAVE away $700 billion to the banking industry. The money they want to give to the car companies is going to come out of money they have already been given, by the way, to finance the making of Eco friendly cars.
This blaming of unions and the working class has to stop now. Don't put unions and the people who work for them down cause maybe your jealous. Join your own union.

Anyway here is an article in truth out that probably says things better than I can

Marie Cocco Unions Aren't the Problem truthout.org Marie Cocco, Truthdig: "As Congress and the White House lurch toward possible approval of a loan package for the crippled auto industry, we are undoubtedly in store for more union-bashing. Note well that we did not hear any such tirades when vastly larger sums of taxpayer money - with fewer strings attached - were lavished upon the banks and financial industry wizards who created the credit crisis."

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

The Bible as a weapon?

I was recently watching a Sunday morning news show, and there was a story about a man who had taken pictures of all the people in this town, I can't remember where. But he went back some twenty years later and took pictures of most of the same people again. One man stuck out to me for what he had to say about his then and now pictures. He is a preacher now, he didn't say what denomination. In his old picture he is standing dressed in civil war reenactment garb and holding a gun. In his today picture. He is in a suit and tie and he is holding a Bible. But what struck me is what he said about the the pictures. He said something like. The same person except now I just have a new weapon, referring to the Bible he caries in his new picture.

I thought about that and thought, WOW that's exactly how some people use the Bible. Some people use it to exclude certain people. Some people use it to justify war. Some people use it as a reason to take land away from others. All of these things are using the Bible as a weapon. Just like a gun or club. They beat people into submission. They force them into their way of thinking. They rape people of their free will, and right to choose. They steal their true religions and ways of thinking from them and call it aid.

I do not believe that this is what Jesus wanted. I believe Jesus wanted us to share our land, to share our beliefs to share our abundance of wealth and knowledge. To give of ourselves and not take what is not ours unless it is given. We have the capacity as a people to be so much more. We have the capacity to give and live together and reason and talk about our differences. I have to believe we have and will evolve into that.
And won't continue to use the Bible as a weapon.

Consumer Christmas

We maim each other for just the right Barbie. We fight each other for Elmo. We race for $300 televisions. And we trample and kill each other for Myley Cyrus. Ah, it's another consumer Christmas the season of joy and giving. We see all this and we just keep on going, keep on buying so that WalMart can stay in the black. So that OUR economy can stay afloat.

While it is a tragedy if our children don't get a Wii or a Barbie or the newest best thing for Christmas ON CHRISTMAS DAY. It is just a bother for us to think about the children who made those toys, and the real tragedy they live everyday. We fought for child labor laws in this country, and we fight for good wages here. 5 day work weeks, and eight hour days. WE know this is not the case in most of the countries that make the things that we buy to keep our economy floating. WE know that in Mexico their economy is so bad that people have to risk their lives and their freedom to come here. But we do nothing to get our government to make OUR business's pay fair wages to workers in places like Mexico so they won't have to come here. We barely pay our workers something they can live on so that they can buy the cheap crap that comes from WalMart.

Do American children really need a Barbie or Guitar Hero to make them happy. Or are they just told they do. We as a nation are bombarded with advertising. We are told what we need to make our lives better and worth living. We are not whole without a brand new car even though the one we have works just fine. So we trample security guards and kill them. A man who probably had his own family. And who won't be bring anything home this year. Merry Christmas everybody.