Why the uprising in the Middle East? Nation building for the sake of oil. That's why.

There is an article in the Washington Post regarding a report stating without the USA miltitary and USA money Afghanistan's 'nation building' is unsustainable.  The reason the Middle East is going through these difficult times is because they don't want the military dictatorships that have ruled their lives for decades. 

The current stategy according to the USA military will have to be maintained in Afghanistan for at least ten more years in order to accomplish its goals.  The theory behind those statements is not really such a mystery.  Americans always believe that once given 'a chance' to achieve 'democracy' and 'capitalism' as we know it the people of Afghanistan will reach for it and it will take hold.  Supposedly the only 'element' preventing all that is the Taliban.

Perhaps.  But, when one looks to the Middle East to find a reason to believe in ten years a benevolent government will 'control' Afghanistan 'without' further worries, that is a flat out lie.  The nation building that occurred throughout the Middle East and sustained for decades is being removed today.  Will benevolent democraies replace them?  The honest answer is no one knows, except, the sincerely god fearing people of Egypt want peace.  Their answer currently is they don't appreciate Israel and Israel is in the way of peace.  That view is giving validity to the extremists that have caused the violence throughout the Middle East for the same amount of time there existed national building dominated by civilization rather than wars.

The topic in the Washington Post is about Afghanistan and withdrawing troops and sustainability of nation building.  But, in all sincerity the topic is much bigger than that and actually includes the triangulation of Pakistan with China.  The countries that accepted USA money seeking to 'create' a nation that is civilized and able to trade and exist in peace with global powers learn quickly if they are 'big and bad' like the USA, Russia and China they can have arsenals of weapons, carry clout in the world and build nukes. 

So, if the USA is entering a country in defense of its own people when the extremists of the Middle East cause tragedy, they have to ask why.  That why should never include nation building and providing the venue that Iraq has today in its ability to become a power in an unstable region of the world where the next elections can turn over incredibly destructive power to extremist.

What is occurring across the Middle East today is a religious rebellion and the Shi'ites are at the center of it. 

One of the pictures in The Washington Post article is a boy climbing a tree.  That seems great in that children can actually have a childhood in Afghaistan.  But, that isn't the truth about that picture.  The boy is climbing a tree in Afghanistan in the middle of a grave yard.  It is the only place where he can find a tree that is safe enough to climb.  In a sanctuary of dead people a tree grows nad a child finds a playground.  That is demented beyond any definition of nation buliding I am willing to participate in.

...The report describes (click title to article - thank you)  the use of aid money to stabilize areas the military has cleared of Taliban fighters — a key component of the administration’s counterinsurgency strategy — as a short-term fix that provides politically pleasing results. But it says that the enormous cash flows can overwhelm and distort local culture and economies, and that there is little evidence the positive results are sustainable....

If the Sunnis and the Shi'ites want to destroy each other that is their call, but, Israel has a right to its sovereignty and it is NOT the problem of the unrest and hatred.  The problem in the Middle East is about tolerance of each other and seeking peace as a method to that tolerance.  Until that is realized among all the nations of the region there is dearly little reason to continue a war started a decade ago to root out and find international terrorists.  We are finished in Afghanistan, they can get their nukes from Pakistan and Iran.  The USA can protect India and seek stabilization through them.

Pakistan reduces US military trainers  (click here)
A senior Pakistan military official said late Tuesday that 90 of an estimated 135 US trainers have left the country, the latest setback in the deeply troubled relationship between the United States and Pakistan’s military following the May 2 US raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin laden.
The 90 Americans had been training the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force made up mostly of tribesmen from the frontier areas, according to the military official, who asked not to be named in accordance with military practice.
The Frontier Corps is Pakistan’s front line force against militants in the tribal regions. The US military personnel were teaching members of the force to become trainers.
The US has confirmed it is reducing the number of its military personnel in Pakistan but has not given an exact figure....


8 June 2011 Last updated at 07:28 ET

Pakistan: US drone strike 'kills 15' people  (click here)

...Officials say the drone fired five missiles, destroying a fortress-like militant compound in Zoi village....

Get this one.  The editorial actually believes it is possible to change the stripes on a zebra.

Stabilize Afghanistan to prop up Pakistan  (click here)

President Obama has pledged to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan next month, with a goal of pulling all combat troops out by the end of 2014.
He hasn’t yet decided how many troops to pull this year. But since the killing of Osama bin Laden, domestic pressures have grown for him to front-load the drawdown.
If the point was to squash al-Qaida, people ask, why are we keeping thousands of troops in Afghanistan? After all, bin Laden was found in Pakistan. So was top al-Qaida military leader Ilyas Kashmiri, reportedly killed by a drone strike on Friday.
Having just returned from two weeks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where I talked to U.S., Afghan and Pakistani leaders, I’ve come to a different conclusion: The drawdown should proceed slowly, at least for this year....

That's right just long enough to put a facsimile George Bush back in office.

The truth is the current state of affairs of Afghanistan and Pakistan is that they are corrupt.  The Pakistani ISI is one of the most corrupt intelligence services in the world.  What makes anyone believe without rolling into Pakistan and taking over the country while killing millions of people that this will change?  Look at Iraq.  The reason there appears to be a similarity between Iraq and The West is because hundreds of thousands of people have died.  Why is the mean age of the men in the Middle East so young?  I said it before and I'll say it again, the REAL war after September 11, 2001 was with Afghanistan and AFTER we marched through Pakistan.  Bush and Rumsfeld blew it and they knew they did, so they went to Iraq after WMD to save face and but Cheney's indebtness to Halliburton at rest.

Now, between Afghanistan and Iraq we have put over 5000 USA military soldiers to rest. 

Enough of this charade.  Bring the troops home.

Their is a tropical wave in the eastern Pacific that has spawned two tropical storms in two days.

June 6, 2011
0330:15z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of the north and west hemisphere (click here for 12 hour loop)

#	Name	Date	Wind	Pres	Cat
1	Tropical Depression ONE_E	07-07 JUN	30	1005	-	Active
2	Tropical Storm ADRIAN	08-08 JUN	40	1001	-	Active

Tropical Depression Develops In Eastern Pacific  (click here)

By Mark Dunphy - Tue Jun 07, 9:23 am

A low pressure system off the coast of Mexico looks set to develop into the Eastern Pacific’s first tropical depression of the season.

Located about 425 miles south of Acapulco, Mexico, System 91E is in a good spot for development: warm sea surface temperatures and low wind shear. Those are two factors needed to help a tropical cyclone develop....

But, that isn't all.

Infrared imagery on June 5 at 19:47 UTC (3:47 p.m. EDT/12:47 PDT) from the AIRS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite showed strong convection (purple) and thunderstorms in System 91E, about 425 miles south of Acapulco, Mexico. Credit: NASA/JPL, Ed Olsen

Tropical Storm Brews In The Caribbean  (click title to entry - thank you)

By Mark Dunphy - Mon Jun 06, 8:32 pm

Some of those thunderstorm cloud tops that stretch from Jamaica east to the area south of Puerto Rico are very high and very cold. The strongest cloud top temperatures are as cold as or colder than -63 Fahrenheit / -52 Celsius, which is an indicator of a lot of energy building those high thunderstorms.

The AIRS imagery is about 1700 kilometres (1,056 miles) wide, and the showers and thunderstorms associated with System 94L fill up that track from west to east, making this a huge area of low pressure. Interestingly enough, the National Hurricane Center noted that today, June 6, the area of lowest pressure is located about 130 miles south of Grand Cayman, and separate from the strongest thunderstorms.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) noted that this system has a Medium chance of becoming the Atlantic Ocean season’s first tropical storm before the upper level winds start battering it. NHC is planning to send a hurricane hunter into the storm on Tuesday, June 7 to investigate....

 As these storms develop and it looks as though it is frequently, the temperatures over the terrestrial USA will come down a bit.  That does not thwart the threat of severe weather to continue, such as tornadoes and hail, but, it will not occur with as much ferocity.  Hopefully.  It is a very severe troposphere globally.  Currently there is a severe drought in China and water is a delicate commmodity.  Texas is also experiencing a sustained drought. 

Temperature Map
June 8, 2011
0345 gmt

Arizona fires: Evacuations in parts of Eagar  (click here)

by Connor Radnovich, Ofelia Madrid, William Hermann and Lindsey Collom - Jun. 7, 2011 08:16 PM
The Arizona Republic

Authorities moved to evacuate a major part of Eagar Tuesday afternoon, as winds fanned the mammoth Wallow Fire and threatened the eastern Arizona town.

By 7 p.m., residents in Eagar and nearby Springerville were experiencing rolling power outages and a few gas stations were out of fuel….

Cities along Missouri River prepare for flooding  (click here)

By TONY RIZZO

The Kansas City Star

Just west of Yankton, S.D., about 350 miles from Kansas City, a swirling muddy problem is being unleashed our way at 130,000 cubic feet per second.

The practical result of that problem manifested itself Tuesday in Parkville, where hundreds of volunteers toiled in the steamy heat to fill thousands of sandbags. They hope to shield the community’s downtown area from the expected rise of the Missouri River.

Like residents of towns up and down the river, the workers in Parkville had their eyes on the menacing brown water nearby while their memories went back to 1993 and the record flood levels that in some places soon could be equaled or surpassed….

This is the Climate Crisis.  Deaths are occuring in astronomial numbers.  Last year alone, 50,000 people died from the Moscow fires.  China's population along the Yangtze River.  Some rains are predicted for that area, but, they are severe downpours that are expected.  That may create mudslides rather than relief from the drought.

Photo taken on June 5, 2011 shows rainwater permeating the fragmentary riverbed land after a heavy rainfall in Poyang Lake in Duchang County, east China's Jiangxi Province. The water level of Poyang Lake here had risen by 0.14 meters to 10.01 meters by 8 a.m. Sunday thanks to a heavy rainfall from 10 a.m. Saturday, but the level is still at the historical low and seven meters lower than the past year. (Xinhua/Fu Jianbin)

China adds 1.2 bln yuan to drought-hit regions (click here)

BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Tuesday said it had added 1.2 billion yuan (about 182.65 million U.S. dollars) to help five regions along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River make a success of disaster relief work.
"The emergency allocation is primarily meant to aid drought-stricken Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hunan provinces in restoring agricultural production and fishing," said the MOF in a statement posted at its website.
The additional funding came after the MOF had previously injected nearly 1.14 billion yuan to the five provinces for efforts to combat drought there....

Histopathology Colon --Hemorrhagic infarct

The lecturer's seeminly glib manner is due to trying to make the educational environment more acceptable to a serious condition. It could probably be done without, but, I am not the student necessarily or the professor teaching.


The important aspect of this video is that serious 'cell membrane' degradation is taking place. This is often noted in hemorrhagic colitis. It is called an infarct because the tissue is disrupted, the cell membranes are destroyed.


If these infarcts are occuring one week after infection that is what is causing higher mortality rates. With this current strain of bacteria these 'infarct' could be happening in the other organ's tissues due to the same process here. It is a complex picture both for the patient and for the investigators.

One full week of bacteria replication within the body before symptoms are known is a lot replication, that is why it is so difficult to beat this lousy bug out of existence in a treatment regime.  In addition, after a week laters it is a multi-organ involvement.  Kidneys.  There goes your filtration and increased blood pressure.  The patients are compromised severely.  Increased blood pressure CAUSES 'system degradation' and ultimately shock.  It is bad bacteria. 

The hemorrhagic eschericia coli outbreak in Germany is causing the farmers illegitimate harm due to fear.

This strain of E. coli has similar symptoms to that of "Hemorrhagic Colitis" bacteria.  The hemorrhagic E. Coli that causes Hemorrhagic Colitis is called e.coli 0157:H7.    E.coli 0157:H7 is a healthy intestinal bacteria in cattle, but, when humans are exposed to it in their intestine it becomes very dangerous.  The image above is of e.coli 0157:H7.

...European Union agriculture ministers (click title to entry - thank you) held emergency talks in Luxembourg yesterday to discuss aid for farmers who are unable to sell their vegetables due to growing consumer fears over the outbreak.

Advertisement: Story continues below

The EU health commissioner, John Dalli, said they were also due to review food safety alert systems to ensure warnings had ''scientific basis and proof'' before becoming public. That was requested by Spain, whose farmers were hit hard by the inaccurate warnings. Madrid has said it will demand full compensation from Germany for the losses, estimated at €225 million ($306 million) a week since the crisis began....

The financial stability of farmers that may or may not have problems is definately an effect of decisions to protect the public.  As noted in the article from The Sydney Morning Herald it is difficult to find the lousy little bacteria as it takes an entire week for the first symptoms to manifest and then back tracking to actually find the source is extremely difficult. The farmers cooperating in concern of the public should have the sympathies of the public to insure they are providing openness to that investigation.  Currently, all the tests of the suspected produce are coming up negative, but, the public remains fearful of these foods.

The quest to find this bacteria's source is important.  Intimidating the investigators or the potential sources isn't going solve anything. 

E. Coli confirmed in SWVA child that died, possible "outbreak" in NETN under investigation (click title to entry - thank you)

DRYDEN, Va. --

UPDATE:  5:16 pm
Lab results confirm the presence of E. coli in the child that died this weekend and the presence of the bacteria in a close contact of the child, Virginia Department of Health Public Information Officer Robert Parker said.
"The lab results confirm the presence of E. coli 0157:H7," Parker said. "That's a strain of E. coli that causes severe illness."...

E. coli outbreak strain seems unusually deadly

...According to China's BGI Shenzen, (click here) one of the world's largest gene sequencing labs, the outbreak bug is 93% identical genetically to an E. coli strain that has caused illness in AIDS patients in the Central African Republic. But the new bug appears to now sport genes that lead to both bloody diarrhea and kidney failure, as well as resistance to 14 kinds of antibiotics, instead of just one, tetracycline, like before. What's more, the bugs now lacks an "adhesin" gene (as in "adhesion") usually linked to the germ sticking to things. That may mean it has replaced that gene with an even nastier way to stick to your gut. Ain't evolution grand?

"This is a very bizarre bug, a fascinating organism," says Lutwick, who teaches at the SUNY-Downstate College of Medicine in Brooklyn and is a moderator on the widely-followed ProMed outbreak aler network, an emailed update service where doctors post new outbreak developments for each other. "But these things can happen. In biology they will happen"...

Attack of the Australian vineyards, who see this wine as a threat to their product price.

The 'floor price' for wine also disincentives alcoholism.  The alcohoic dollar won't go as far and begin to bring down dependency.

...The interim chief executive (click title to entry - thank you) of the agency, Rhonda Galbally, confirmed that the strategic plan included the concept of a uniform alcohol floor price.

Forbidding retailers from selling alcohol below a certain price per standard drink would allow them and manufacturers to share any extra profit.

The prices of most drinks, including beer, would be unaffected as they are already above the likely floor price. But cleanskin wines would be affected....


 

A moral ban on the sale of cattle to Indonesia by Australia due to inhumane treatment.

...The ban is the first such move since the the Howard government suspended sending live sheep to Egypt in February 2006 following television footage showing mistreatment of the animals.

The outcry leading to the suspension of cattle exports to Indonesia began on Monday last week when the ABC's Four Corners broadcast footage showing brutal slaughtering methods and mistreatment inside Indonesian abattoirs....

Weiner was set up. It is obvious he was set up.

There is no doubt he acted as a 'single man' rather than a newlywed, but, the other parites obviously asked him to continue with 'disclosure' of his person in relation to compromising content. His ? admirer ? not only asked to see skin and preformance, but, also insisted he provide identity of who it was to validate the compromise of his identity she was seeking.

There are a lot of questions here and I want a full investigation to the 'priority of intimidation' in regard to seeking power over a USA Congressman. Weiner was not solisticing this, he was being solicited from what I can see. The tactic is as old as the USA Constitution itself.

There really are more important aspects of life than the obsession the media is showing over all this. I won't comment again on something that needs clarification.

While President Obama is enjoying an increase in polls with rare exception, the 18 - 29 year olds are very disillusioned.

Brittney
Like many "millennials," Brittney, a 20-year-old student from Northridge, CA, dreams of a financially-stable future, "a house with a kitchen and lots of books," but she doesn't see a clear path toward achieving it. After having already moved 10 times during her life, Brittney is determined to "do it better than her parents." She skateboards between two jobs while juggling full time college classes and is forced to deal with short-term economic realities instead of focusing on her dream of becoming a book editor. Brittney wonders: will she be able to pay back debts and student loans? And should she stay in college as her debt rises?

The "Allstate / National Journal Heartland Monitor finds a decrease of 10% for the President since 2008.  There is a great deal of dispair in this age group and he sincerely needs to reach out to them and CONNECT to bring reason, direction and hope to their lives.  At the title to this entry worth watching and to click here is a graph of the President's Approval Rating its change from 2008 to 2010 to present.  It is an interesting poll that includes more depth than found in most polls where only numbers matter.

It is sad to realize our young people see themselves as floudering and without a clear path to a promising future. 

And, to start with, do you feel that THE COUNTRY, in general, is headed in the right direction, or do you think things are seriously off on the wrong track? (click here)


A full 31% of the people polled didn't know how to answer that question or refused to answer it. 

31%. 

The President needs to connect with the nation without the interference of the Right Wing Media that never tells the truth.  If their propaganda lies aren't obvious in their 'star performer' in Palin, than I don't know what is. 

The country is confused more than it is not and that is due to confused signals and understandings of the return of the American Dream.

Jounalists unable to find civilian casualties in NATO airstrikes of Libya.

There is the issue of Gadaffi's son and two grandchildren.  If nothing else the grandchildren are definately civilians.  The USA under Reagan did the same thing.  I don't know if that is the price a tyrant pays for keeping his family within a military intelligence complex, though.

...“This is a case of road traffic accident,” it said in English.   “This is the trouth [sic].” (TRUTH) (click title to entry - thank you)

Nearly three months into NATO’s bombing campaign, Moammar Gaddafi’s government churns out daily propaganda about the alliance supposedly inflicting civilian casualties. Last week, it said that 718 people had died from mid-March to late May and that 4,067 had suffered significant injuries.

But it has failed to show foreign journalists more than a handful of dead or wounded people. Indeed, when reporters are taken on official trips, what they see suggests that NATO is being accurate and careful.

In the past week alone, up to a dozen loud explosions have been heard in Tripoli every night, but reporters are allowed to see only a fraction of the bombed sites.
On Sunday, journalists were taken to look at some broken windows in a church but were not allowed to visit a nearby military site that had been destroyed. Then they were taken to a farm and shown a dead dog and dead chickens.
A man there said no humans had been injured, but that story changed by the time the journalists reached the Sharia al-Zawiyah hospital.
As the baby slept, a man arrived at the bedside and was introduced first as a Health Ministry spokesman, and then as a neighbor of the family.
“Killing our children, this is what NATO does,” he said, giving his name as Imad Gheith. Prompted by an official at his side, he repeated the regime’s slogan. “God, Moammar, Libya, that’s all we need.”...


Libya: Gaddafi’s son, three grandchildren killed in NATO air strike (click here)

Sunday 01 May 2011

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi survived a NATO air strike on a Tripoli house that killed his youngest son and three grandchildren, a government spokesman said on Sunday.
Libyan officials took journalists to the house, which had been hit by at least three missiles. The roof had completely caved in inplaces, leaving mangled rods of reinforcing steel hanging down among splintered chunks of concrete....

Five American Soldiers are dead in East Baghdad at Camp Loyalty. Bring them home.

In Iraq, the USA never knows who their enemy is and who their ally is as they leave Iraq to take care of itself. 

The 'jihad' culture of the Middle East is a problem for their governments, but, that does mean the USA is going to be picking up the bill for policing the country while our soldiers die.  That is something the Iraqi government is going to have to do for itself from now on. 

When I read the article and it sickened me, it also made me wonder whom exactly was behind these attacks.  See, the current Iraqi government wants the USA to stay and a reasonable person has to wonder if there is a faux impetus at work to make that happen.  Regardless, this IS the Middle East and there are all sorts of issues similar to this everywhere, so the idea the USA is going to quell this is hideous.

Take for instance, the recent rocket launch into Israel.  Very similar sort of thing, but, without the soldier casualities, but, a young man, a civilian instead.  It just never seems to stop regardless of the OLD USA regime of Bush and Cheney that stated it was necessary to make that happen in Iraq.  I don't thinK so.  The picture above is from "Anti-War.com" where the link is at the title to the entry.  Thank you.


...Attacks on American (click here) troops have risen dramatically in recent months. Monday's deaths brought to 18 the number of Americans killed by hostile fire so far this year, nearly as many as the 22 who died from enemy fire in all of last year, according to the iCasualties website, which tracks casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That pace, however, is still far below the rate of 2007, when 767 Americans were killed in combat, the peak year for U.S. fatalities in Iraq, or 2009, when 75 American troops died as a result of enemy fire.

The last time so many U.S. soldiers died from hostile fire in a single day in Iraq was April 10, 2009, when five were killed when a suicide truck bomb exploded in Mosul, in Nineveh province, according to iCasualties....

When the USA House Ethics Committee discusses the so called "Sex Scandal" of Rep. Anthony Weiner, they also...

...need to find out how long Breitbart had the 'leaker' of the personal exchange of photos ON STAFF and what he paid her to extort and coerce a United States Congressman.

Britbart is desperately trying to be the next great tabloid capable of destroying anything in his path. 

Ex-girlfriends do vindictive things when they 'don't get their man.'  The woman is as much the issue as anyone, considering she has been lying as well.

I don't like to 'blame the victim' either, but, in this case she sincerely doesn't appear to be a victim so much as a conversationalist interested in a "booty call." 

Weiner lied about the photo? Why did he believe he needed a 'Sarah Palin" attention getting moment?

Everyone should do the math.  This is a non-issue and the House ethics committee will probably see it that way.  I don't know how he defines inappropriate, but, that picture is tame in 'Single-ville' compared to others.  Unless there was some kind of campaign promise attached to this mess, I don't really see anything that is strange or worrisome. 

Representative Weiner and his wife need to continue to bring Democratic values forward to the people. 

I believe his wife did the best thing.  This wasn't adultery and quite frankly the 'stand by your man' scenario is 'old hat.'  A Wife have a right to be hurt and disapproving of any 'roaming.'  Those moments should not have to be public.

Case closed.

New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, 46, (click title to entry - thank you) held a press conference confirming that he had inappropriate conversations with six women over the past three years through social networking, and also sent a photo of himself in his underwear to a young woman in Seattle. Weiner married Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's aide Huma Abedin last year. She was not at the press conference. Weiner tearfully apologized to his wife and said they did not plan to split up. "We will weather this," he said. "I love her very much and she loves me." He said he will not resign from Congress. (Dimitrios Kambouris/VF11/Getty Images)

I believe he was worried about losing his new bride. You know people do strange things when they are single. I hope all his wild ideas of 'getting a date' are over now that he has a stable and happy relationship. I suppose his constituents will have to decide about all this later, but, it probably sounds more normal than not. Unfortunate he lied, but, with a pretty wife like that it is understandable.

I'll end it here. There is no anticipation in looking at a moon several hours old.

My family have been union folks and company people.  We enjoyed the life each provided, though different, no doubt.  If it weren't for strong unions of which we belonged there would not be great management jobs to step into.

Unions are vital to the life of the USA and they have taken a beating in recent years.  It is not good for the USA and its citizens to be proved a weak position for union bargaining.  It is victimization of the Middle Class and the family in the USA to attack and destroy unions. 

Unions can help a company.  The one I belonged to was important to the company it held dear to its existance.  We helped qualify workers for longevity.  We helped expertise and loyalty.  None of that is bad, but, it is certainly under appreciated.

I love my country and I where a UNION label on my life.

Good night.

Obama Could Use Executive Order to Stop Union Busting

I don't know if the President realizes how comprehensive the Wall Street mess has impacted the unions in the USA, but, it has.  There have been government ridicule of the unions in a way that disincentives their virtues and incentivizes company profits.  The outsourcing of American jobs is devastating enough, but, to realize the de-evolution that has resulted in the past two decades and especially the past decade to unions be they public or private puts them on a path to demise.

The President has a wonderful and dedicated Secretary of Labor, but, they both need to concentrate an effort into understanding what has happened to the USA's great unions, the vital role the play in securing the Middle Class and therefore the health of our economy and the global economy.  The USA and its unions are members of a global economy that counts on that economic engine.  If American workers are not earning, then are economy suffers.  They are the greatest engine for economic growth and stability.  If unions are good partners with companies then they deserve a sincere effort by the Labor Department to sto their slide into extinction.

Then off course there are the unionized auto industries that can't seem to get their act together because they are unionized.

So they get loans to pay back to make the unions realize how difficult it is to run a company with a union.  So, the union gives concessions rather than stating the OBVIOUS.  What is the obvious?  That the company didn't listen to them and the consumer when they were pumping out cars while outsourcing jobs and shrinking the new car market.  Those sort of things.  Oddly, though the CEOs never stop to realize they earn more than the UAW could ever hope to collect in dues per year.  That isn't exactly an accurate statement but not far from the truth.

Methodology:  (click here)Compensation rank is based on total compensation for latest fiscal year. Efficiency rank is based on our chief executive's performance/pay score. Ranks are given only to chief executives who have a six-year tenure and six-year compensation history. The most efficient rank is 1 and least efficient is 189.

It it is estimated annual union dues nationally per member is about $377 and the membership as of 2008 dropped below a half of million people.  So, that would put about $18 million in the hands of the UAW from dues alone.  So, other than the $1 per year token salary during tough times (not complaining, it was a real sacrifice, but, stock options remained) the CEOs are pulling down about a full tenth of that amount.

 Membership in the United Auto Workers union has dropped below 500,000, hitting its lowest level since World War Two in a downturn that reflects the wrenching restructuring by U.S. automakers  (click here)

"Table 1 - Average [Annual] Dues and Due Growth  (click here)

But, the point is that the MAJOR auto companies in the USA are not subsidized, yet they employee important workers to our country's economy.  Congratulations to Chrysler.   We are proud and pleased the company is still within our borders and doing well.

If one notes, the auto industry didn't need loans until Wall Street did.  They didn't abandon the people of this country either.  Wall Street took their enormous checks, dealt the game their way, then abandoned the USA and paid back the money after causing the collapse of a global economy.  GM and Chrysler didn't even come close.

Obama praises inspirational automakers (click title to entry - thank you)

Jim Kuhnhenn

From: AP

June 06, 2011 12:00AM

...As inspiration for a broader recovery, he's citing the American auto industry's resurgence.
"We're a people who don't give up, who do big things, who shape our own destiny," the president said in his weekly radio and Internet address on Saturday.

The message, taped on Friday during Obama's visit to a Chrysler plant in Toledo, Ohio, was hardly different than the remarks he offered to about 350 Chrysler workers....

The industries such as the car companies and airline companies that seek monies to continue to operate only receive loans and not subsidies.  I guess it is bad politics to offer subsidies to a company that flies from JFK to the Carribean frequently.  Oh, well, such is the plight of the companies that hire the Middle Class.

Commodities are most frequently and regularly subsidized. (click title of Wall Street commodity firm and the products they trade)

Oil, gas, agricultural goods such as crops and livestock and sugar plantations in Florida.


Stuff like that.  Other than Southern California I don't know of any farmers that employ union workers.

 

United Farm Workers fight dwindling membership in California (click here)

April 20, 2011

Gosia Wozniacka

A dozen farmworkers sat in a circle of plastic chairs in a modest living room, listening as a union organizer talked about a bill she said would allow people to organize without fear, rebuild the union and improve conditions in the fields.
The United Farm Workers of America drew national attention when workers led by Cesar Chavez inspired a boycott of table grapes in the 1960s and then forced vineyard owners to sign hundreds of contracts providing better pay and working conditions....

The union in southern California is vital to the well being of these workers.  Workers are exposed to all kinds of chemicals and harsh environment, so it is vital the union protect them, their income and the quality of life.  The children of these workers are also taken care of differently.  If it is decided for whatever reason it is that they are needed in the fields rather than in school, the public school system accommodates that need so the children don't leave school and still receive their education with age appropriate grade advancement.  It works.

...Cesar Chavez (click here) was one of the most important leaders of the 20th Century. His legacy of workers' rights, civil rights, environmental justice, equality for all, peace, non-violence, as well as children and women's rights deserves national recognition. He inspired millions of people across the country of all race and nationalities to engage in social and economic justice for farm workers. His life's work to empower the poor and disenfranchised is a model for all....


Most farm operations throughout the USA are rarely family farms and if they are they are highly dependent on sophisticated equipment costing incredible amounts of money in order to 'make ends meet' for the prices they receive for their products.  The people that farm do not do it for the money, they do it because they love it.  Seriously. 

You what I miss?

The USDA used to publish it.  It was an annual yearbook of the agricultural sector.  A yearbook.  It had all kinds of pictures and observations including that of county fairs and the culture and the people.  I haven't seen one in a very long time.  It was a great publication, libraries used to collect them and put them on their shelves. I don't know if the government simply does not do that anymore for the rest of us that like to appreciate the farm community of our country or if the family farm is such a rarity that there is nothing to put in the annual USDA yearbook.  Most USA commodities are subsidized by the federal govenment and there is absolutely no reimbursement for wind fall profits when those commodities out perform any imagination. 

Any studies on exactly what USA industries receive subsidies vs loans for repayment? And where do unions fall into that scheme of things?

Louisiana - Oil Field Services Companies (click title to CONTRACT - independent contract - information)

While the oil from "BP's Deepwater Horizon" spewed endlessly off the LOUISIANA Gulf Coast having killed eleven people and caused the injuries of others and destroyed livelihoods along an entire coast line, Bobby Jindal ranted and raved he was doing more for THE SERVICE workers to the oil industry to save American jobs more than anyone else on the planet.

That might have been ture because all everyone wanted to do was to stop the destruction and all Jindal could do was pick up the pieces and be the drama queen rather than a Governor READY for a disaster of this magnitude that could stop the leak in a heart beat by well prepared plans that would have required the oil indsutry to drill mandatory 'relief wells' along with the exploratory well.  WAS THAT IN PLACE AND READY? 

Besides that, what happened to the oil workers that were once unionized under the OCAW?  Where were they now? 

Ready for the disaster to save their own lives in compliance with strict government reglations supervised by COMPETENT inspectors?

Nope.

So where were they?

Cleaning up beaches that their oil industry was destroying? 

Nope.

Compensating, through fund drives of their own people, a Gulf Economy for the all the money they made as oil service workers? 

Nope.

They were screaming and yellling at their Governor in order to 'get back to work' because they were barely making subsistence income as a PRIVATE CONTRACTOR to the oil business.

Oh, is that where they went?  To their share of 'the spoils of war.'  I see.  No more unions, but, lucrative PRIVATE contracts that had to compete for next to nothing compensation, but, after they had sunk all their money into equipment the companies no longer provided, they were cast into poverty through vicious draconian bidding wars.  I'll be darn.  I wonder if any of them ever reflect on what they LOST when they became independent contractors rather than union workers employed by the companies and paid well with all kinds of safety inspections of qualified and competent inspectors with health and life insurance benefits, etc., etc., etc.  Ah, but, this the the USA south where poverty is spiritually demanding and people are grateful for a nickle left over at the end of the week as independent business people.

Funny.  That 'culture' of impoverishment never seemed to lose its grip on the south, huh?  But, what diffferenc does that make when publically paid Governors can scream at the federal government for all their hardship cases.  Who needs insurance when poverty is a breath away seeking rescue from 'the feds?'  Right?  So much for 'autonomous wealth' that scoffs at high government spending.  Anyone ever figure out how much federal monies go into Louisiana that if spent before and differently would never result in tragedy and economic losses?

The oil service workers that were once unionized thought they would become millionaires as soon as they could run their own business.  That's where they went, whether they realize it or not.

Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union

Karen Silkwood was a member of the union.  (click title to a page about her death).  The Atomic Workers became a greater concern when the federal government finally recognized the fact that the industry was not doing enough to protect their employees.

But, it is not the atomic ENERGY sector I am referring to.  Not at all.  As a matter of fact, when the indsutry's feet were held to the fire, they got their act together under the mentoring of the USA government.  Tight controls and regulations, but, the industry does comply.  Something that can't be said for the coal industry. 

It isn't the coal industry either that I am referring to; it is the oil industry which is not unionized anymore. 

The OCAW was formed in 1918 I believe.  It under went many mergers and transformation and today oil is not a part of that union at all.  Today, it represents over 800,000 workers under the name of Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE).

So what came of the people once unionized under the OCAW? 

Karen Silkwood was murdered.  No one will convince me otherwise.

The greatest hurdle for building a strong and benevolent union was the victimization of oppression. Fear by the workers themselves of loss of income.

The AFL's Union Label Trades Department publicized union made goods, early 1900s

Is there MORALITY in that statement regarding the demand to support union produced goods rather than oppression of human labor?

IS THERE A MORAL STATEMENT IN THAT?

I defy anyone to say no.

...The AFL and American Exceptionalism (click title to entry - thank you)

By 1914, unions outside the United States had found that broad organization reduced the availability of strike breakers, advanced labor's political goals, and could lead to state intervention on behalf of the unions. The United States was becoming exceptional, the only advanced capitalist country without a strong, united labor movement. The collapse of the Knights of Labor cleared the way for the AFL. Formed in 1881 as the Federation of Trade and Labor Unions, the AFL was organized to uphold the narrow interests of craft workers against the general interests of common laborers in the KOL. In practice, AFL-craft unions were little labor monopolies, able to win concessions because of their control over uncommon skills and because their narrow strategy did not frighten state officials. Many early AFL leaders, notably the AFL's founding president Samuel Gompers and P. J. McGuire of the Carpenters, had been active in radical political movements. But after 1886, they learned to reject political involvements for fear that radicalism might antagonize state officials or employers and provoke repression....

I want to talk about that.  About oppression.  It is definately within the labor of the USA.  How did a once great union end in destruction while people surrendered their lives to oppression?  It happened.  We all witnessed its character and fear.  Recent history and I am not referring to construction unions either.  Made front page political news.  Where?  I know where.  No clues?