On the Wrong Side of History

Media Matters caught Fox News in another one of those unfortunate mistakes that coincidentally favor their conservative worldview:

On Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade claimed, along with an on-screen graphic, that a recent USA Today/Gallup poll found that "61 percent" of Americans are in favor of taking away collective bargaining rights from public unions. In fact, Fox aired the results of the poll completely backward: the Gallup poll found that 61 percent of Americans are opposed to taking away collective bargaining rights.(emphasis added)

I think we're going to have to change all those old Pollock jokes into Teabagger jokes, because unlike the yahoos at Fox, the Poles know damn well which end is up.

Remember Solidarnosc, the Polish trade union federation that battled the totalitarian Soviet empire in the 1980s and won freedom for Poland? If anyone would have a hatred for BIG GUMINT, it would be these guys, right? Well guess who they're backing in the Madison melee:

Piotr Duda addressed a letter to the American trade union AFSCME supporting their struggle against the recent attempts to reduce workers’ and trade unions’ rights and cut down wages in the public sector in the State of Wisconsin by Governor Scott Walker.

The letter reads:

“Dear Sisters and Brothers,


On behalf of the 700,000 members of the Polish Trade Union NSZZ “Solidarnosc” (“Solidarity”) I wish to express our solidarity and support for your struggle against the recent assault on trade unions and trade union rights unleashed by Governor Scott Walker.


We are witnessing yet another attempt of transferring the costs of the economic crisis and of the failed financial policies to working people and their families. As much as some adjustments are necessary, we can not and must not agree that the austerity measures are synonymous with union busting practices, the elimination of bargaining rights and the reduction of social benefits and wages.


Dear Friends, please rest assured that our thoughts are with you during your protest, as we truly do hope that your just fight for decent working and living conditions, for the workers’ rights will be successful.


Your victory is our victory as well.
We will continue to watch the developments there and please keep us informed of any other ways, you think we could be of assistance.


In solidarity,


Piotr Duda
President
NSZZ “Solidarnosc"
(emphasis added)

As these courageous freedom fighters in Poland know, the protestors in Wisconsin aren't just fighting for their rights.  They are fighting for our rights.

A Class Act

Take ‘Em Down – The Dropkick Murphys stand with Wisconsin
Hey Everyone the Dropkick Murphys would like to take a moment to acknowledge the struggles of the working people of Wisconsin and to pledge our support and solidarity by releasing the song “Take Em Down” from our upcoming album. We think it’s appropriate at the moment and hope you like it.

We have also created a limited edition “Take ‘Em Down” t-shirt which will be available for sale shortly at www.dropkickmurphys.com/merch. Proceeds from the “Take ‘Em Down” t-shirt sales will benefit Workers’ Rights Emergency Response Fund (https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4002/wi-response).

We’ll see you in Wisconsin in a few days,

The Dropkick Murphys Stand With Wisconsin !!!!!

The new song is nice, listen to it at the DKM's website. 
The T-Shirt is wicked:

See DKMs live in Kansas City March 2 or Des Moines March4.
Tip 'o the scally to Bastard Rob.

Freeloaders

So Rush Limbaugh thinks teachers and other hard-working public employees, who have the gall to peacefully stand up for their rights, are nothing more than a bunch of bottom-feeding freeloaders.



Sadly no, Rush. This chart by Paul Rosenberg shows who the real freeloaders are:

Let's Do The Madison

As everyone should be aware by now, Wisconsin has this month become ground zero in America's ongoing class war.  I've been looking for a report that would adequately explain what is really going on there so that I wouldn't have to do much heavy lifting on this topic, and today I found it.  The following monologue by Rachel Maddow just blew me away.  As she explains, class warfare is an important part of Governor Scott Walker's union-busting budget plan, as he seeks to please his corporate masters donors by destroying, as Paul Krugman puts it, "one of the few remaining checks on oligarchic influence".  Equally important, weakening the unions will take away a major source of Democratic Party power and funding.  Busting the unions would be a big win/win for rich Republicans, and a big kick in the groin to what's left of democracy, and the middle class, in America.  let's watch:

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The thing I find really ironic about conservative union busting is the fact that unions are what has long kept the boogeyman SOCIALISM from gaining more than a toehold in America.  Let me explain.  Capitalism may be the best economic system we have discovered, but saner folks would agree that it has flaws.  One of those flaws is a tendency toward speculation, which leads to bubbles and economic calamity. Another flaw is inequity in compensation.  That is where unions provide a vital stopgap by not only keeping their members compensated fairly, but improving conditions for workers throughout the non-union economy as well.

It is not hard to see that as union influence has waned in America, wage inequity has risen.  Where companies once provided health care for their retirees due to the influence of unions, Medicare has now become essential.  As the wage gap widens, the middle class shrinks, and the gulf between rich and poor grows larger, the need for the government to redistribute wealth becomes ever more acute.

Some folks don't see wage inequity as a serious problem.  Their utopia is a nation without unions or any form of socialistic redistribution.  The more fortunate of these folks will hole up in their gated communities if their libertarian dream should come to pass, as chaos and misery once again grips this land.  The rest of them will have to fend for scraps with the rest of us.


Update:  Whenever I think about what a libertarian conservative utopia might look like, The movie Gangs of New York always comes to mind.  If you didn't quite get my gist in that last paragraph, do check it out.

Classic Fear-Mongering From the OWH

The Omaha World-Herald's wingnut cartoonist Jeff Koterba is still on vacation, so the editors decided to pull some old Koterba wingnuttery from the vaults.  Surprisingly, this cartoon was first published February 23, 2006, after America had overwhelmingly rejected President Bush's attempt to privatize Social Security.

Ahh, the classics.  Here's another classic comedy bit from that era(emphasis added by me):

Mary Mornin: Okay, I'm a divorced, single mother with three grown, adult children. I have one child, Robbie, who is mentally challenged, and I have two daughters.

President George W. Bush: Fantastic. First of all, you've got the hardest job in America, being a single mom...You don't have to worry.

Mornin: That's good, because I work three jobs and I feel like I contribute.

Bush: You work three jobs?

Mornin: Three jobs, yes.

Bush: Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that. (Applause.) Get any sleep? (Laughter.)

Mornin: Not much. Not much.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Social Security has been a prime target of the class warriors for decades, and their ceaseless onslaught of false propaganda against America's greatest and most successful social benefit program is starting to pay off. I frequently hear younger people worrying that Social Security won't be there when they retire. It is a fear based mostly on lies. The system will always be funded because Social Security benefits for retirees are paid for by the payroll taxes of those currently working.

These are the only ways Social Security won't be there when our young people retire:
a)The U.S. Government ceases to exist in its current form
b)Top-down class warriors succeed in "reforming" the program out of existence.
c)People stop making babies a la "Children of Men"

The retirement of baby-boomers does present a challenge to the system, and that is why the Social Security Trust Fund was established.  This is a collection of U.S. Treasury securities that the class warriors like to dismiss as nothing but "worthless IOUs" and "money we owe ourselves".  If one is to believe that the Trust Fund is worthless, as the class warriors claim, one must also believe that every Treasury bond held by a U.S. taxpayer is also worthless.

It is more accurate to say that the Trust Fund is money owed by rich Americans to working class Americans.  Why is this so?  The money that makes up the Trust Fund is collected through payroll taxes. The payroll tax is a regressive tax, meaning it is slanted toward lower income workers. The income tax, on the other hand, is a progressive tax. The higher your income, the more income tax you supposedly pay. At the same time the government was increasing payroll taxes to create the trust fund, it was lowering income taxes, primarily for the wealthy. These cuts to the income tax, enacted over the last 30 years, are the primary reason for our massive national debt. Americans are now paying the lowest taxes they have since 1950. The reason wealthy class warriors like the Koch Brothers would like to pretend the Trust Fund does not exist is that they know they owe you that money, and they just don't want to pay it back.

The primary way class warriors are now attacking Social Security is to lump it in with Medicare and Medicaid as an all-encompassing "entitlement crisis". Here is a video of The Nation's Chris Hayes ably debunking that nonsense:

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Unlike Social Security, which should remain financially sound for at least the next twenty years, Medicare and Medicaid do have huge funding problems due entirely to the outrageous price of health care in America. Any "deficit hawk" who is not working for a major overhaul of our dysfunctional health care "system" is either not serious about reducing deficits, or they simply don't care if sick and elderly people suffer.

Limbaugh Lays It Bare

This excerpt from Rush Limbaugh's Radio Show, featuring a call from blogger/troublemaker Mike Stark, is highly revealing of the right wing's aims with regards to labor unions. First we hear Limbaugh trying to stir resentment in his listeners against unionized public employees by listing many of the ways unions bargain with employers to increase the standard of living of their members.

Now let me ask you, those of you who are not members of a union, are you allowed to negotiate the length of your shift?  Are you allowed to negotiate when you start and when you finish each... Are you allowed to negotiate your vacation schedule and time..and length?  Are you allowed to negotiate your sick days?  Are you allowed to participate in whatever the disciplinary priocess at your company is?

I think Rush makes a very good case why everyone should join a union, don't you?  Of course the average dittohead, being trained to accept subservience to his or her master employer, is supposed to think "Why should they have what I can't have?". A progressive like me, on the other hand, might start to think "What can I do to get what those guys have got?" So who are the ones peddling resentment, despair and jealousy? Right-wingers like Limbaugh. Who is inspiring hope for a better life? Progressives.

For me, the most interesting and revealing part is Rush's Orwellian rant against the word "worker" later in the video. Limbaugh's claim that usage of the term is some kind of communist plot is patently absurd of course, so what's really going on here? Rush is training his listeners to accept the notion, gleaned from the philosophical ramblings of twisted sociopath Ayn Rand, that business owners are the only true workers. This philosophy is authoritarian to the core.  Employment is not a contract between equals but an act of charity bestowed upon you by the sole creators of wealth, the bosses.  Worker benefits such as insurance and retirement security are not the right of everyone who works, but a reward to be meted out or taken away by employers at their own discretion.

This is what conservatism is all about, folks: Making sure the unwashed masses know their place.  Judging by some of the comments I've read about the happenings in Wisconsin, they appear to be learning quite well.

Welcome

This is my second attempt at a political blog.  The first attempt failed because I found that I did not have the time to research and write lengthy posts, so I'm going to try to be a little lazier in my approach this time.

This blog is primarily about class warfare.  The term "class warfare" is used almost exclusively by our media institutions to describe the act of a politician trying to gin up popular resentment towards the wealthy for his own political advantage. Rarely is the term used to describe actual acts of warfare perpetrated every day by the wealthy and powerful against those of us in the middle and lower classes of society.   My goal is to point out as many instances of this top-down warfare as I can, so that people can see the wide breadth of  the class war and the powerful negative effect it is having on our daily lives.

I am not a politician, nor is partisan political gain my purpose.  While there are a few politicians in our nation that I greatly respect, it is only through collective grassroots action, the banding together of ordinary citizens, that this decades-long, ever-worsening class war will be thwarted.