"The Plan"

So my wife and I were watching a dvr recording of the Colbert Report from two days ago and part of the show was dedicated to Glenn Beck and his ridiculous comparison of himself to Dr. Martin King Jr. Saying that Dr. King and himself were so alike in ideology...yeah, I threw up a little in my mouth too. Now for those of you that have never seen The Colbert Report, it's a satire of all the Glenn Becks and Bill O'Reillys out there, and is damn funny. But this last show...I wasn't laughing.

Apparently, Beck has "The Plan", he says that god is giving the plan to him...hmmm. Who else in history said that god or gods spoke to them, guided them and essentially consecrated them? Let's see, Caesar, The Pharaohs of Egypt, many dictators in history...and yes I'm going there...Adolf Hitler. Beck says he has a "100 year plan (for America) that will provide specific policies, principles and most importantly action steps that each of us can take to play a role in America's refounding." These words are direct from his website. First off, refounding? I think our nation doesn't need to be "refound", that isn't even a word...go ahead look it up in Merriam-Webster online...not there. Also I see 100 year plan and a certain phrase keeps going through my mind..."1000 year reich." More than likely this is a scheme for him to fleece more money from his brainwashed minions, but it doesn't hurt to keep an eye on this type of behavior.

But, the largest display of his arrogance is yet to come. On August 28th, 2010; Beck asked his followers to join him at the feet of Abraham Lincoln in Washington D.C. for the unveiling of..."The Plan." Think for a second, August 28th, Lincoln Memorial...yes he has the audacity to hold this spectacle on the same day and on the very ground where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. I was absolutely infuriated! He dares to hold himself up with the great Dr. King, one of the most selfless human beings that ever walked this earth? His ideologies couldn't be any further from those of Dr. King's...yet people eat up Beck's bullshit by the spoonful. Again, more than likely this is just a ploy to pettle his poison to the masses. That still doesn't make it right...

Blood for Money

The greed of man knows no bounds, April was one of the bloodiest months that labor had seen for some time. Twenty nine miners dead at the Massey Upper Big Branch mine after an explosion on April 5th 2010. Eleven oil rig workers dead after the explosion on Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico on the night of April 20th 2010. Those are the two major accidents that have been on the front page of papers all over the country. Seven deaths were not on the national stage; one on April 19th the day before the Deepwater explosion, a worker was killed in a crane accident in Port Arthur, Texas. Six other deaths in an explosion and fire on April 2nd 2010, at a refinery in Washington State. The death count for April is forty seven... When will Industry prize the safety of others over production and profit?

One man personifies greed and corruption in our modern industrial times; his name...Don Blankenship. He is the face of the modern "fat cat", he cares not for working families, only about how much dirty money he can make for himself and his shareholders. In 2009, he was the highest paid executive in the Mining Industry, totaling 27.2 million. Massey is only the sixth largest mining company in the U.S., yet Blankenship is the highest paid executive industry wide...interesting. This man has a reputation for a resistance to spend money, production supersedes all safety measures in this man's eyes. He has been known to personally go into mines to coerce workers into abandoning Union organizing efforts. In 2005, Blankenship wrote a memo stating that coal production was more important than taking the time constructing support beams and ventilation shafts. In 2009, at an anti-union rally on Labor day of all days, Blankenship railed against federal and state authorities for trying to improve health and safety conditions in the mining industry. What kind of human being thinks like this???

He is a terrible excuse for a human being, in 2004 Blankenship created a tax-deductible group called "And for the Sake of the Kids" which ran ads against WV State Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw. These ads attacked McGraw because he was part of a 3-2 majority in ruling to free a mentally disturbed child molester, who ended up working at a school. McGraw lost the election to a conservative that was sympathetic to Massey and big business. Blankenship did not create this group out of any moral obligation that's for sure. He wanted McGraw out because Judge McGraw sided with the workers, that is the reason why "And for the Sake of the Kids" was started. Don Blankenship doesn't give a rat's ass about the "kids", if he did safety would be top priority, and he would pay the people working in his mines better and would stop blocking Union organizing efforts.

Why is this man not charged with 29 counts of negligent homicide?!? His policies of skirting safety regulations for more production has destroyed 29 lives...29 families. Where is the workers' justice?!? If corporations have the same rights as individuals, then aren't their policy makers subject to the same punishments? Their blood is on his hands! If hell exists, there's a special place for Don Blankenship, one can only hope...

American Dream

Sometimes I think this country is so backwards, we preach the “American Dream”, yet so many are quick to disparage Unionism. Many of my generation don’t even know how the labor protections we have came to be, or why we have weekends and the eight hour day, etc. The answer is UNIONS! Where I grew up if you told some people that your dad was in a Union, they would sneer and respond in a derogatory tone “Union?” Yeah, I dealt with that kind of stuff all the time, and I’m sure many people reading this have had the same experience. These people would stare down their noses at you as if you were a thief and they weren’t always well to do people either. Pretty much the only argument against Organized Labor as it always had been is money; this is hollow and superficial reasoning. We don’t want the whole pie, just a slice, and to give our families a good life. So what’s wrong with that? Absolutely not a damn thing!

“It’s bad for business”, is a common phrase thrown around by some against the movement. The problem with that statement is that we have history on our side, and they don’t. Go back into American economic history and you will see that our nation’s economy was the strongest when Organized Labor was at the forefront. Also the past holds a very dark period in Labor, from child labor to men and women working sixteen to twenty grueling hours a day for a wage that could barely feed their families. The history books don’t really touch on that, it’s been swept under the rug. They also don’t talk about the atrocities that company thugs, militias, and even some police have committed toward men, women and children. Why was fighting for a better life punishable by death?

It seems to be in our country the thought process is that if you don’t go to college, you don’t deserve to make a living wage with benefits to provide for your family. Why? College isn’t for everyone and why should anyone be punished for that? As Union members, we are educated; in my Union (SMWIA) we serve a four and a half year apprenticeship. I’d bet money that our math skills are better than the average college graduate. We are not brutes, or second class citizens, we are proud of what we do for a living. We raise families, pay taxes, teach your children, bag your groceries, police your street, save your house from burning down, pick up your trash; take care of you when you’re sick, we built America. What we don’t have to do, is take anymore SHIT!

The American Crossroad

Yesterday I'm aimlessly walking the aisles of Costco, which I tend to do while my wife is off looking at produce or the book section. And I start to examine the products to find where they're manufactured. So it takes me two and a half aisles and dozens of products before I find one made in America, a Wahl Clipper set. My wife and I own one, they are superior to their Chinese counterparts produced by other companies. Now this begs the question, why do people buy inferior products that costs only slightly less than one made in America? Think about that question. Now for every dollar put out, we only get back roughly .61 cents, that's not good ladies and gents. Our economy is losing money every day, and most don't seem to notice....or care.

I've said this before, but I'm saying it again; we're at a crossroad in our history , things can change for the better for our nation, we just have to work together. I believe the first way to truly start in this endeavor, is to make people aware. I'm not saying plaster it up on a billboard or take out an ad in the paper. Have a conversation with a friend or relative, instill in your child the value of buying an American made product. It could also be a simple click of the mouse, you see an article on the subject, share it on Facebook, just get the word out. If everyone was aware, that would certainly be a step in the right direction.

Someone once said to me, "If we didn't send most of our manufacturing overseas, we would never be able to afford anything." That is a bold faced lie that big corporations have spread for decades. Yes, things would probably cost a little more, but if there are a large number of good paying manufacturing jobs with benefits, then people would be able to afford these products. And on top of that, when people make a higher wage, more money is taken out in taxes, which in turn is put into our own communities. For fixing roads and bridges, larger budgets for local Police and Fire Companies, public parks and recreation centers. This is something that a lot of people don't understand, if we make less money; that's less money for our community. So our town has busted roads, rusting and cracking bridges, our Police and Fire Departments have less than adequate equipment, and because the recreation center closed, the park turned into a haven for drug dealers and punk kids with nothing better to do than cause trouble. Awesome...

How do we fix this problem? How about giving tax breaks to companies that create or bring jobs back to the U.S., I don't think that's a bad idea. Impose tariffs on cheap imported goods to make them cost as much or more than American products. Give American companies a shot to compete in the market. Place more regulations on free trade agreements to make them fair trade agreements. The only ones who benefit from a free trade agreement are company executives with their multi-million dollar bonuses, and we all love hearing about those, right?

Right now, we have the largest economy in the world, but China is knocking on the door. If something is not done soon, we will be left behind. And we Americans hate not being number one! A strong working middle class is the foundation of a strong economy, period. I still believe that our nation is the greatest in the world, with a strong diverse, people that strive to make a better life. It's not too late.