L'Union fait la Force

Just wanted to add these two great quotes;

You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free.

- Clarence Darrow

Only a fool would try to deprive working men and working women of their right to join the union of their choice.

- Dwight D. Eisenhower:

Brothers and Sisters Are You Ready?*

I posted a comment in the TJ today to freelancing reporter Charles W. Moore. In his opinion piece Autoworkers' 'concessions' are a bad joke . He goes on a rant and rave on how the Canadian Auto Workers union could have taken so many more cuts to help save the auto industry. What Moore doesn’t understand is that CAW does not want to set a precedent. It’s too easy for companies of this magnitude to simply cut into workers wages. It’s the fastest way also. Unfortunately, once these cuts are made, workers never get them back no matter how successful the company gets afterwards.

What CAW is trying to insure is that close to 97,000 auto workers remain part of Ontario’s economy. CAW represents unionized autoworkers at plants in Windsor, Oshawa, St. Catherine’s and Woodstock. We are talking about roughly over $5.3 billion in salaries. Now I am not sure what kind of economic windfall these salaries generate but it’s pretty safe to say approximately over $12 billion. How’s that for reality?

What a lot of people don’t understand is that if people make $50,000 a year they usually end up with bills to match it. Cut their salaries but their debts are still there. It also means, no paved driveways, no patios built, no houses renovated, no pools installed, no travelling vacations, no lawn care etc... That affects a lot of small businesses too, get the picture? Union workers put the survival of their communities before the survival of their employers.

I’ve had one moron answer me with this;

“It also means, no paved driveways, no patios built, no houses renovated, no pools installed, no travelling vacations, no lawn care etc . . ."
S. Renkosovich. you have clearly shown that you are as far out of touch as Lewenza. A lot of Canadians can't afford the things you list off. And yet, you sound like you are entitled to these things because you are a union member?

GET REAL!
Freddy Rose, Saint John on 12/03/09 10:50:37 AM ADT

I'd love to meet Freddy Rose in a dark alley so I could give him a good dose of reality.

I have no patience for these bleeding heart slackers who believe everyone is entitled to a free ride. I’d love to see these pen-pushers try working in their offices while chlorine is passed through their air conditioners and there’s a corroded acid line running above their heads.
Too many people don’t realize that if it wasn’t for unions, non-unionized workers would be working for even less today.

Anyway, I am too pissed off to continue.

*taken from a Gordie Johnson/Big Sugar song

Has The Time Come?

This picture is what I want to believe is happening in Afghanistan. Our troops doing good.

I have much respect our troops and their work towards the subjugated people of Afghanistan. I feel that a withdrawal from this place would be, for lack of a better word, unjust to all who have already paid the ultimate price. But I also do not want to read that we have lost more Canadians in a hopeless cause. The question remains; do the heads of our military believe our soldiers are making a difference?

I dearly hope our leaders, both political and military, have the best interests of our soldiers and the oppressed people of Afghanistan at heart. I am grief stricken at the latest news and confused in my beliefs as to why our soldiers are still there.

I have never considered myself a racist, sometimes misinformed maybe, in younger times I could be ignorant but I have learned to educate myself before I rightfully form an opinion. I hope that's part of getting wise with age.

But the more I learn about the Taliban the less I like them. It's too far from my safe zone here in Canada that I find it impossible to even come close to understanding their way of life.

More to come on this subject.

Christie Blatchford wrote a sobering piece last week concerning the people our soldiers are dealing with.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090210.wxblatch10/BNStory/International/home

O Canada!

Now, who wouldn't stand up to sing our national anthem with this little patriotic beauty.

We have so much to be thankful for...and then some.

Have a good weekend

Peace

Liberalism is Alive and Well

I have added a new site to my favourite blogs. It’s called The Agitator by Radley Balko. I found it very interesting as that it appeases my liberalism appetite. I have never been in terms, a big "L" liberal, but I do believe in our rights as citizens of the world and as human beings.

Reading The Agitator really opened up a lot more sites I basically heard of but never really read. One of these is the Free State Project (FSP) based in New Hampshire. If you’re interested you can read about this idea here; Free State Project.
In short, this is part of their idea;

The Free State Project is an agreement among 20,000 pro-liberty activists to move to New Hampshire, where they will exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of government is the protection of life, liberty, and property. The success of the Project would likely entail reductions in taxation and regulation, reforms at all levels of government, to expand individual rights and free markets, and a restoration of constitutional federalism, demonstrating the benefits of liberty to the rest of the nation and the world.

Another great site I found is the Hittman Chronicles by Dave Hitt

http://www.davehitt.com/

Unfortunately, the last thing he wrote was dated May 2008.

In one article, he mentioned the FSP site and finished with this;

“Change on a national level is impossible. Congress is a wholly owned subsidiary of corporations and well funded special interests, and there's no way to change that. There needs to be at least one place left in the world where freedom loving people can go without being constantly stomped on by Big Brother.
Will it (the Free State Project) work? Yes, because I really want to move somewhere where I can go to a bar and light up a cigar without being guilty of a felony.”

Now I realize there’s more to this whole thing than that last phrase, but it brings to mind, when we think of it, that we are constantly being corralled somewhere whether we like it or not by a group or an organization wielding some powerful influence on our governments.

I don't know about you but I am fed up of being spoon fed ideals that I don't believe in.

But that's only my opinion.

Peace