Labor Day #4--Remember to thank a union

As you get ready for Labor Day weekend, remember to thank a union.

— AFL-CIO (@aflcio.org) August 29, 2025 at 4:57 PM

 Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Who would serve a country actively working to fuck you over?

Terminating the union contracts of 400,000 workers at the VA, many of whom are veterans themselves, is union-busting, plain and simple. VA Secretary Doug Collins: taking away your workers’ union contracts isn’t putting veterans first—it’s putting them at risk.

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— AFL-CIO (@aflcio.org) August 8, 2025 at 3:07 PM

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

 

Real champions for stronger unions

Labor Day isn’t just a day off; it’s a reminder of the power of collective action. With #HarrisWalz2024 we’ll have real champions for stronger unions, equal pay, and economic justice. This Labor Day, let’s commit to the work that lies ahead. 💪🇺🇸 #ForThePeople @AFLCIO @SEIU… pic.twitter.com/n7hkFNDJX2

— John Mason (@JohnMasonMN) August 30, 2024

 Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Voters beware...

In a recent talk with reporters, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called on Democrats to present a more populist message, especially in talking about economic fairness.  He's right, but more important was his caveat to American voters--republicans shut up about issues that are not popular (outlawing abortion, birth control, right to work), but once elected, shove their unpopular agenda down their citizens' throats.

We've seen it here in Michigan where Rick Snyder swore up and down in 2010 that he was neither interested in destroying unions or getting involved in the abortion debate.  Four years later we have a right to work for less law and our women having to buy rape insurance.  And I will guarantee that at least the ones in blue and purple states (e.g. Joni Ernst in Iowa or Cory Gardner in Colorado) are following the same playbook.

Swear to God, every ad we run for the next month should be blunt and simple:  republicans are a) fucking nuts, and b) do not have America's best interests at heart.

At least, unlike republicans, we'd at least be honest with the voters.

Peace,
emaycee

Future shock

Like many Democrats, I greatly appreciated the solidarity our party showed in the face of republican intransigence on both the government shutdown and the raising of the debt ceiling--which culminated in the greatest victory our party has had since the passage of Obamacare.

But--and mark these words--if future negotiations (considering the insanity of the tea party caucus they still might not happen regardless of the ass kicking they took in popularity this time around) result in any cuts to Social Security, any cuts to Medicare, or any raising of the age limits for either, it will all have been for naught.

Social Security and Medicare are as important to the core social fabric of our party's philosophy as legs are important to running.  To cut them would be akin to republicans asking for the tax rates to be raised on the wealthy and corporations back to 1950s levels (roughly 91% and 50%, though not many actually paid those rates).

Today the AFL-CIO made it perfectly clear that any Democrat voting for any cuts to either program could essentially go fuck themselves--they would receive no support from the union (another reason to love unions).

The rest of us should do the same.

Peace,
emaycee

Workers of the world, rejoice!

A big victory for working men and women last night--SB5, the Ohio bill which stripped public workers of their collective bargaining rights was soundly rejected by voters.  Why is this important?

Because this is your wages without unions:

Any questions?

Peace,
emaycee

Waiting for a Superman

Have to say that AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has been a beacon of light for liberals and our values over the past couple of years, and his speech yesterday skewering republicans and warning Democrats of the union's independence was much needed.  There should be consequences for the Ben Nelson's, Mary Landrieu's, and Heath Shuler's of our party. 

Still, Digby has a nice piece on what it could mean, and Joan McCarter says a lot of the same things in the piece cited above.  If labor unions are going to continue to financially and physically support Dems just because they're Dems they're going to continue to dilute their influence.  Need to save the cash and time for those that support the Liberal/Progressive values.  And spending more time and money on the grass roots candidates in cities and counties can pay big dividends down the road.

Peace,
emaycee

Power to the People, Right on!

It's Labor Day--my personal thanks to all Unions for all they have done for us, as summed up well by Laura Clawson. The AFL-CIO is running some excellent holiday spots. Laurence Lewis sums up well the differences between the best of the Democratic Party and the usual corporate fellating that is the republican party. Michael Moore penned a "fucking" hilarious letter to Rahm Emmanuel (Prick with a capital "P") concerning his "Fuck the UAW" comment. Even President Obama weighed in, surmising that he, too, would join a union (though it would be nice if he'd actually throw some of his weight toward supporting them, e.g., the EFCA). As for myself, I'd like to take a moment of today to thank all of those laborers who have labored for me over the past 28 years, none of whom have had the privilege of joining a union, but who have, despite piss poor leadership, lousy pay, and bullshit benefits, managed to maintain their dignity, their commitment to doing an excellent job, and are, as ever, the true straws that stir the drink. The people who run the companies I work/worked for should hit their knees every night and thank God for these people: they're the reason the companies were or are in business, they're the reason the stores work. God knows if we had to depend on whatever bozo was going to lead us to the promised land we'd have starved in the desert long ago. As the late, great John Lennon once opined, "Power to the people, right on!" Thank you to all those who have done their best for me despite the circumstances.... 

Peace,

emaycee

How can a poor man stand such times and live?

It was the worst of times, it was the best of times...

So the Senate failed to pass another extension for unemployment, helping to guarantee a probable double-dip recession with the usual suspects (Repuglicans, Conservadems) feeling they are practicing some tough love--you know, because taking a $7.00 an hour job for 10 hours a week is a sacrifice the working class has to make. But keeping six figure salary doctors Medicaid payouts? Hell, yes, we're there.

And to no one's surprise, who's jumped on this crusade? None other than fresh from the psycho ward unit in Kentucky, Rand Paul. Of course the little people have to sacrifice--but not Mr. Paul, the optometrist who receives between 300k and 500k of his income from Medicaid payouts. He can't take a 21% hit, but the unemployed are supposed to take a cut from $300 a week to $100 a week? Five little words: Fuck you, next idiot please!

Chris Hayes from The Nation had an excellent piece this week on corporate accountability and individual accountability and the path we've been snookered down. We're always being asked to forgive corporate failures, but expected to take a hard line on individual failings. What the fuck? I suppose part of this (at least to my thinking) stems from the sheer power of corporations and our inability to defeat them which leads to apathy, but eventually you'd think we'd say enough is enough and fight back for Christ's sake. Of course, it doesn't help, either, that the average American is always being fed some bugaboo (gay marriage, the war on terror, socialism, illegal immigration) which is supposedly destroying our country but is really only a diversion to make us forget how much we're being screwed by the corporate interests and the wealthy.

Courage? For fuck's sake, that's what they're calling selling out your core constituency and sticking a knife in the back of working people? (Frankly, anyone who thinks teachers are overpaid or have overly generous benefits is a flat out fucking idiot). The truly heinous part of this is that the Free Press actually has people writing its editorials who believe for one minute that somehow this is going to cause Repuglicans to take a look at tax reform. Repuglicans have never acted in the best interests of the people, and never will act in the interest of the people. As stated so eloquently by Mr. Lewis of the Daily Kos, "Republicans are not on your side." The word that best describes these 16 Democrats (so-called): saps.

The best of times--we did have a few good ones this week....

Bob King was elected President of the UAW, and judging from his acceptance speech (though union leaders often do become members of the elite), appears to be taking the union leftward with calls for social justice, fighting for workers around the globe, and taking on anti-union forces. A quote: "We will never ever have success where our membership is concerned if we are not part of a large, broader social movement." Preach it, brother.

Even better was President of the AFL-CIO Richard Trumka's speech on illegal immigration, calling on union members to support them and reminding us (yet again) that we are a nation of immigrants. From both of these I see unions trending farther left, and while their influence has waned in recent years, if past history is any precedent (think the thirties), when the unions turn leftward, things get a whole hell of a lot better for the working class. Bravo!

Digby on why we still need to support the Democratic Party: she is exactly right, things could get much worse, and for right now, it's the only option liberals have. We have to keep fighting.

Or, in the words of Samuel Beckett: "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." Amen.

Peace,
emaycee

You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You

Oh, Molly, Molly, will I be the one...

I had a few other things I wanted to post about, but sometimes something so pitiful comes along that you really can't ignore it. This is absolutely pitiful--a White House aide celebrating that labor spent $10 million on a candidate (Bill Halter) who lost to a candidate (Blanche Lincoln) who has no chance of winning the election in November. Um, whose side are these guys on? If we didn't know before, we certainly know now. (Those shots of Lincoln saying her vote isn't for sale--really, Blanche? I wonder what the Chamber of Commerce thinks about that?--were enough to make one vomit).

I really can't add much more to what Mr. Lewison wrote (or Digby) but I can honestly say that whatever hope I had for the Obama administration is gone. They have failed us on jobs, failed us on healthcare, failed us on Wall Street reform--and now they're dissing the very folks who played a major role in getting them to the heights they've reached? The private sector is not going to get us out of this economic mess, and now, apparently, neither is the Obama administration.

And all this bullshit talk about ordinary people having to tighten their belts--until we start talking about higher taxes on the wealthy, cuts in executive pay, an end to golden parachutes, and massive cuts in defense spending--in short, fuck you, next idiot please!

Peace,
emaycee

More Reasons I'll Never Be a Conservative, Vol. 867,000

So much time, so little to do...stop, reverse that.... Apparently, the Catholic Church doesn't have its hands full enough with the massive priests and pedophiles tour, they need to be evaluating a group of nuns who appear to have more class in their habits than Pope Bendict has in the entire Vatican. It's like the Vatican's leadership is trying to destroy itself much like the Republican Par...oh, wait a minute, they are one and the same. I particularly like the quote from the lunatic who says the compassionate nuns are being encouraged to do some serious "re-evaluation." Over what? Whether or not the Church is worth their efforts? In light of our troubles with teaching kids how to read (am I the only one who finds it horrible that Massachusetts--gotta love those bluer than blue states--is number one in the nation and still 53% of their fourth graders can't read proficiently?), the failure of the White House and Congress to act on Sen. Harkin's amendment to save 100,000 teacher's jobs is unconscionable. Without solid education for our youngsters, our future as a nation is bleak, bleaker, and bleakest. This is just pathetic--stupid is as stupid does and our leaders seem bent on proving Forrest Gump correct. *ASIDE* I never paid much attention to Sen. Harkin before this year, but he's rapidly becoming one of my favorites. His push on healthcare, fight for the public option, and his teacher's amendment make him aces.... So if Republicans truly believe the auto safety bill is too tough on auto manufacturers, essentially what they're saying is that corporate profits are more important than American lives. Can someone of importance please point out their callousness to the American public? Please? A turd (a.k.a. Karl Rove) visited our great state this week, and said, "I don't need to tell you that the president of the United States has been an absolute disaster when it comes to spending...." Which is especially rich coming from the man who helped elect the idiot who turned a surplus into the largest deficit in U. S. history. Note to the imcompetent reporter (Kathleen Gray of the Free Press) who failed to point this out: you ought to head to the Beltway--your complete and utter cluelessness would fit in perfectly with the other Beltway reporters. Rove also said, "Why is it that special interests are always business, but not unions?" Though I would question his assessment--conservative media points out unions as special interests regularly--uh, I think the short answer would be because UNIONS ARE PROTECTING THE WORKING PEOPLE OF THIS GREAT COUNTRY AND BUSINESSES ARE OUT TO FUCK US OVER. See how simple that was? Thank you AFL-CIO--it's about time somebody stood up to weak-kneed Republican lite Democrats and told them to go fuck themselves when they're not standing up for workers. "Threatening," said Rep. Melton, a "Democrat", "that's the old way of doing things." No, sir, that's how you keep chickenshits such as yourself in line. Between Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, I've seen more than enough of "New" Democrats. Give me an old mother fucking Democrat like Teddy Kennedy anyday--somebody who's going to fight for workers, the poor, the middle class, and not spend most of his time supporting conservative policies and kissing Republican ass. Note to ESPN on the Indy 500--unless Danica Patrick wins the mother fucker, don't wake me up. It isn't newsworthy, and I couldn't care less. Peace, emaycee