Author Topic: Thug at Work  (Read 5663 times)

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Offline Libertas

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Online Pandora

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Re: Thug at Work
« Reply #21 on: February 24, 2011, 12:41:26 PM »
...There may have been a time when "we" could afford the extravagances that the unions demand, but no more....

I would argue that there never was a time when we could afford it, and my reasoning is the debt accumulation. I wouldn't suggest that plush entitlement packages for government workers are solely to blame for the debt, but since the debt exists, and government employees by the nature of their compensation are paid directly via taxpayer dollars, their salaries and benefits comes from the exact same pool of resources that every other government expenditure comes from, and if government is in debt, by definition it does not have enough money to cover its expenditures.

There was a time when we could pretend that we could afford the extravagances the unions demanded. There was a time when politicians could get away with purchasing the votes of union members by keeping their coffers filled at taxpayer expense, all the while our national debt accumulating until it exploded.

But thanks to that explosion, and thanks to the revelation of the nature of the Leftists who are responsible for it, the jig is up. We never could afford it.

Who are all these "government workers"?  Painting with a broad brush, they are the bureaucracy hired to enforce the government's mandates on us, so we taxpayers are paying the salaries of our oppressors and obstructors, with medical insurance and retirement accounts far more generous than many of us have. Government passes a law instructing us what we must or may not do now and its well-paid army goes to work making sure we're properly herded.  They are responsible for little creation or productive output, they're a horde 'eating out our substance', a net drain on the economy and our personal pocketbooks.

At one time, I would have exempted teachers from that generality, but from what goes on in the schools today re:  zero tolerance engendering criminal records for kids and the lockstop, leftist propaganda willfully imposed on students, I'll no longer do so.

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And really, the union people scrambling in Wisconsin now, trying to offer financial concessions while retaining their collective bargaining privileges, are trying to perpetuate the notion that we could afford it before, and we can afford it again. They want to give up short term cash in the face of a public relations tsunami against them, but retain their ability to reinstate the same entitlement regime and accumulation of debt at some point in the future when the heat is off.

The lynchpin of eliminating the incestuous relationship between the Democrats and the unions is eliminating collective bargaining privileges for public employee unions, period. We never could afford it, and we will never be able to afford it.

Bargain for what, then?  As they've conceded on "benefits", and they'll be allowed to negotiate on pay within a certain parameter, what is it they so desperately want to retain the privilege for which to bargain as a collective?

What I suspect is the entire show over pay and benefits and "collective bargaining" is staged as cover for the issue of members being able to opt out at an annual vote.  It is this they wish to deny to people because they know if this particular issue of "choice" is granted the individual, the jig WILL be up.
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Offline Predator Don

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Re: Thug at Work
« Reply #22 on: February 24, 2011, 01:24:06 PM »
I'm too old to casually take a beating and I'm definitely not a martyr. I'll keep my powder dry for when it counts.

I'm not getting younger. But given the fact that most folks do not keep in shape...and that I can crank out 50 push-ups and run 8 to 10 miles @ a clip...usually makes me the fittest guy in any cross-section of men I encounter. Even a mixed martial arts bud of mine says he'd have nothing to do with me, fight-wise...& he's 5 years my junior.

I haven't been in a fight in 20 years. It'd have to be swift & powerful & then...vanish...but scenes where someone else is getting bullied infuriate me. A frontal kick to the knee, rabbit punch to the throat, open palm under the nose or a marathon groin kick would take this a-hole down in a flash. Then kick him in the head...and get the hell outta' there.

It's nearly inevitable with tempers this high.


One of the advantages of my son not reenlisting are the holds he is teaching me in case a liberal decides to test his mettle. Choke holds, pressure points, throws, dehibilitating moves...cool stuff.
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Offline warpmine

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Re: Thug at Work
« Reply #23 on: February 24, 2011, 02:16:06 PM »
Ironic isn't it. An entire population revolts on the premise of individual liberty and these asshats are diehards for collectivization. This whole mindset is in direct opposition to the constitution with everything it stands for. If we aren't successful in breaking these union thugs then we're heading for war against socialists that have basically have been living and breeding from the table we set for them at our expense. If the American people are so apathetic toward their cause then why aren't they in the unions themselves? Just asking. Ignorance is bliss
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Offline Glock32

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Re: Thug at Work
« Reply #24 on: February 24, 2011, 02:55:57 PM »
I think we should deny them the "romanticism" of their vernacular, and start referring to them as counterrevolutionaries. Because they are indeed the enemies of the American Revolution. They're the reactionary advocates of Old World statism.
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Offline Alphabet Soup

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Re: Thug at Work
« Reply #25 on: February 24, 2011, 03:19:03 PM »
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At one time, I would have exempted teachers from that generality, but from what goes on in the schools today re:  zero tolerance engendering criminal records for kids and the lockstop, leftist propaganda willfully imposed on students, I'll no longer do so.

Living in the belly of the beast so long, my recognition of the innate malevolence of the "teachers" union is perhaps a bit more keen. At any rate I've seen them go from merely scapegoating their personal and professional failures onto the kids to using them as the rhetoric equivalent of human shields. At the rate they are devolving I expect them to start using them literally any day now.

I don't necessarily have anything against any union members but I loathe the unions with every fiber of my being. I hope and pray that what we are witnessing is the crash & fall of the evil empire.

Good riddance to bad trash!

Online IronDioPriest

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Re: Thug at Work
« Reply #26 on: February 24, 2011, 04:03:13 PM »
...I don't necessarily have anything against any union members but I loathe the unions with every fiber of my being....

A lot of union members are just good hard-working folks who joined the union because it was prevalent in their field, and a lot of them support their union because it carries a force of numbers that brings them more money and more benefits. I get that. I don't blame any individual for using what is available to them to better their circumstances. It's kinda like how I don't blame people for doing everything they can to take advantage of the tax code. You use what mechanisms are available to increase your available money.

But the union entity is a force for evil. It uses corruption to bully and extort on behalf of those members until the offenses are so egregious that it becomes very hard to separate the actions of the union entity from the working people that support it. Even though most union people are just decent working people, they support an evil entity that uses evil to get them what they want for themselves. At some point, there's complicity and accountability, even among people you'd consider otherwise decent. I think we're seeing that accountability take root now.
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charlesoakwood

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Re: Thug at Work
« Reply #27 on: February 24, 2011, 04:18:10 PM »

[Red Shirts]
With chants of "solidarity" and "hey, hey, ho, ho--union busting's got to go," about 500 people gathered inside the Rhode Island Statehouse Tuesday in a labor union-led show of support for Wisconsin' embattled public employees.
...
"We're here to stand in support of and in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Wisconsin,"
...
[Roland Rivet of Glocester, R.I.]
"I'm here in solidarity with the Wisconsin workers — they're in hell right now," said Rivet, 69. "And if it can happen there, it can happen anywhere."


Online IronDioPriest

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Re: Thug at Work
« Reply #28 on: February 24, 2011, 04:22:38 PM »
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..."And if it can happen there, it can happen anywhere."

You got that right Bucko. And there are millions of Americans who intend to make sure that's exactly what happens.
"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law, would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."

- Thomas Jefferson