Murdoch, the SEIU and Wisconsin

There you have it, the arrogant power broker insisting he is innocent: denying the illegality of his actions while claiming ignorance of them.  No matter that innocent people have had their privacy invaded.  No matter that illegal acts have been committed.  No matter that the truth has been subverted, twisted, or simply ignored.  No matter that family, friends and coworkers have been threatened.  The important thing is that the organization is served, money is accrued and the leaders are obeyed. 

            No, I am not talking about Rupert Murdoch and his sleazy British operations; I am talking about the bully boys of our nation’s many unions, but specifically the SEIU.  It should not surprise you, by the way, that the ex-president of the SEIU is Andy Stern, friend, confidant and White House visitor to our current President.  This is an administration that grew up in the seedy, union corruption that Chicago has learned to run on the same way worms learn to live among volcanic vents under the sea.  This President neither understands nor loves private enterprise.  He has consistently appointed people to key positions that think, “power to the people” is more important than, “the business of America is business.” The tactics of SEIU leadership and the many unions that harassed the Wisconsin state government are all cut from the same cloth.   They want to use mob mentality to bring down good business and good government.  Unfortunately they manage to recruit rank and file members who have been brain washed into thinking that they are a privileged class, deserving money disproportionate to their worth on the open market.  These people make my teeth itch. 

            While I’ve already lost some of you to your keyboards where you are furiously typing out words like, “sweat shop,” “Triangle Factory Fire,” and, “Mother Jones” let me make a few things clear for the rest of you.  First, I was a member of a union, the National Education Association.  While they don’t like to hear me call them a union, I will tell you that if you look like a duck, quack like a duck, and hang out in the pond with other ducks, you are probably a duck.  While a member of that union I was building representative (shop steward), picket captain through three strikes and co-chair of our negotiation committee.  I know union crap from the top to the bottom of that particular sewer.  Second, I do know that most union workers are people who love their country, respect their job, and see the union as a way to counter the strength of the corporation with the strength of their numbers.  What they want is a safe job at an honest wage and benefits commensurate with life in the richest nation on earth.  Most of these people join unions for good reasons and are then shamelessly manipulated by their leadership.  Third, I know the history of unions in this country.  They were created in ferocious conflict to provide much needed relief for workers in need.  But that doesn’t justify what they do or how they do it in the 21^st century!  Fourth, I am positive that union upper management is made up of power hungry opportunists, socialists, communists, organized crime, or all of the above.  None of these leaders want a better, stronger America.  They don’t even want a better life for their workers.  If they did, they would want America’s businesses to succeed and her governments’ to thrive.  No, they promote chaos.  They encourage anarchy.  I’ve seen their play book.  I judge them by their actions.  They are guilty as charged.