Stop Calling It "Right to Work."

Proud Indiana union teacher here, enjoying a day off to celebrate the Man and his Mission. I am not acting in any kind of official capacity, however, with this post.

Last year, Indiana union teachers were specifically targeted by Governor Mitch "Big Jerk" Daniels in yet another effort to kneecap public employee unions, and public education in general. This unfortunately successful effort was aimed at taking the teachers out of teaching and education policy, and furthering Governor Big Jerk's "I hate public employee" credentials for a future Presidential run, possibly 2016.

Luckily, last year's attempt to push the so-called "Right to Work" legislation failed. But fear not, teacher-hating RepubliCons. Because this year, the horribly-named "Right to Work" legislation is back . . . and it's very likely to pass.

This brings me to my main thrust of this post. Nomenclature matters. Framing matters, and we really . . . . REALLY . . . need to stop calling this kind of union-busting legislation and/or law "Right to Work." This name implies that somehow, when no such law is in place, workers are going to be denied the ability to maintain or hold a job because big, mean, unions are barring the front door to the plant, or warehouse, or school, or whatever. It's as if the caricatured "union thugs" or the "Mittster's union stooges" are somehow preventing ANYONE from having a job. That's just not the case.

Let's review.

Current law in states that DON'T have what I call "Free Rider" laws - a.k.a "Right to Work - allows unions to collect dues from non-members, because under Federal law, all workers are covered by a union-negotiated contract, whether they are union members or not.

The point here is that if you want the benefits of membership - like higher wages, better benefits, more say in your work conditions and hours, due process in disciplinary and dismissal procedures, etc. - you're SHOULD to have to pay for them, because they come at a cost. If you're going to get the benefits of a union-negotiated contract, you will also have to pay the costs of it. That's how it is in Indiana right now . . . for now.

Proponents of "Free Rider" legislation say that workers should be able to get all the benefits of a union contract, and SHOULDN'T have to pay for it, if they choose not.
Think about it under "Free Rider" laws - there is basically NO ECONOMIC DOWNSIDE to refusing to join the union. Sure your coworkers may look at you a little funny, but basically, you get the benefits without a single dollar taken from your paycheck.

Is it any wonder unions are opposed to free rider laws?

The so-called "Right to Work" meme has been pretty darn powerful, and it makes sense. If people don't know the facts, or don't follow labor issues closely - I mean who WOULDN'T support a generic, un-nuanced "Right to Work?" Most of us would probably agree that everyone OUGHT to have the "right to work" in a generic, non-union busting sense.

It's not just RepubliCons and the entire mainstream media referring to these union-busting laws as "Right to Work." The Wrong Wing has so totally dominated the framing of this argument, that many progressive websites routinely refer to anti-union or "Free Rider" laws as "Right to Work."

We need to do better at policing ourselves and rejecting this ridiculous wrong-wing framing.

Everyone has a "right to work" as long as they are old enough and meet a few other requirements, depending on the situation. What everyone DOESN'T have is a right to union representation, for free.

I'm calling it "Free Rider" legislation. You can call it what you want.

SynchroniCity's 10th Annual Xmas Tree Burn!

SynchroniCity's
10th ANNUAL XMAS TREE BURN
Saturday, February 4th
All Day & Night
Bridgman, MI
$25 suggested donation if you use the van service to the Super 8 Motel
$15 if you don't

Our usual Bridgman, MI location is roughly an hour and a half from the city. Email downtowndave23 AT gmail DOT com for location details.

For ten years or so, and counting, your friends at Synchro have been happy to host the Annual Xmas Tree Burn!

After the last tree has been torched, we're encouraging everyone to join us at a local Super 8 motel in Sawyer, MI, and we'll provide a comprehensive local van service to and from it. We absolutely insist that you do not drink and drive, and the van service should help you in that. TIP THE DRIVER! The van service is for everyone who uses the hotel. Mention the Xmas Tree Burn to Prakash Patel or his employees at the Super 8 Motel, and you'll get a discount!

12850 Super Drive
I94 Exit 12 Sawyer Road
Sawyer, MI 49125 US
269-426-8300
"http://www.super8.com/Super8/control/Bookin/property_info?propertyId=13835"

THIS IS YOUR SURVIVAL GUIDE - SKIM AT YOUR OWN RISK:

COST
The expenses related to this event are considerable, including plenty of beer, porto-johns, truck rental for hauling LOADS of trees, transportation of said trees, and the van service to and from the Super 8. We won't be turning people away, but we are asking everyone to pitch-in $25, or whatever they can. Even if you don't think you'll be using the van service to and from the hotel, please consider donating $15. We REALLY NEED people to pony up something for this event - otherwise we won't be able to do it anymore!

If you haven't already, consider Paypalling the funds for all of your participants topocketbook@synchroni-city.org. (Don't forget the dash between 'Synchroni' and 'city.org!') Or you can just pay cash at the event.

FOOD& DRINK
Delicious beer will be provided. The rest is BYO.

PARTICIPATE
Bring an Xmas tree to torch! Bring something to drink! If you want to bring food, contact me!

BRING YOUR BACK.
We've been saying for years that this event is based on your participation, and this year we mean it. EVERY PARTICIPANT will be asked to haul a tree or two from the front of our hostess's property to the backlot, where the magic happens.

SynchroniCity is officially BEGGING anyone and everyone to help us in creating our fiery sculpture. Show up early enough on Saturday, 2.4.12 to help with our build. We'll be there as soon as we can drag ourselves out there in the morning, probably before noon. Email me for details.

Synchronicity members will be providing some food. There may be some sort of "food theme" this year. Please hit me up if you're interested in bringing something!

We will also need some help with the cleanup the next day!

For licensing and weather-related reasons, camping is not an option for this event.

Please dress warmly and be safe at the Xmas Tree Burn. Plan for the worst. Covering your head, wearing long underwear, several layers of socks, and covering your neck are all absolute requirements. And HAVE GALOSHES READY TO GO!

If you have questions, I first suggest that you read the survival guide again. If your question is still unanswered, you can email me at downtowndave23 AT gmail DOT com.

Uh Oh!

From the fine folks at ThinkProgress.org

Gov. Walker Accused Of Over 1,000 Violations Of Campaign Finance Law, Could Face $557,500 Fine

By Scott Keyes on Jan 11, 2012 at 12:00 pm

"Wisconsin law requires gubernatorial campaigns to disclose information about contributors who give more than $100. Again and again, Walker appears to have skirted that requirement.

One Wisconsin Now examined the Walker for Governor’s finance records and found 1,115 instances where the campaign received contributions of more than $100 but did not properly disclose who gave the money. In total, “Walker has improperly reported well over $500,000 in contributions from inside and outside of Wisconsin,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director. According to the group, which has filed a complaint with the state Government Accountability Board, Walker’s violations could result in a fine of $557,500

(bold and italics mine)

Ooopsa daisy! It looks like Wisconsin Governor Scott "Scumbucket" Walker allegedly made a teeny little oversight in reporting his campaign contribution. Okay maybe twice, or three times.

Okay a thousand times.

Okay eleven hundred times.

Plus fifteen.

Luckily these teensy weensy little infractions are surely no big deal, right Governor Scumbucket? What?- YOU never forget to follow campaign law drafted in your home state once or twice a thousand or eleven hundred times? Sheesh!!!!

But so what, really, right Governor Scumbucket? It's just a little bit of unreported campaign income violating state law. So what if its . . . okay it's over half a million dollars.

Still no big deal in my opinion. Hell in the post-Citizens United America, half a million dollars really IS a pretty small amount of money.

Kidding aside, I have no idea if these allegations will "have legs," but if they turn out to be true, and are provable, Governor Scumbucket could be facing $557,000 in fines. YIKES!

No doubt this will make the upcoming recall election even MORE interesting than it already is!

This is House Music.

'Nuff said. This is Soul Cola.

Poor, Sad, Rick Perry, and His Poor, Sad, Leathery Jawline

Well, this is delicious:

Perry to return to Texas to reassess candidacy


By Ashley Killough, CNN

(CNN) -- Following a disappointing projected fifth place finish in the Iowa caucuses, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he'll return to Texas on Wednesday to reassess his candidacy.

"With the voters' decision tonight in Iowa, I decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus, determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race," he told supporters late Tuesday night at his Iowa headquarters in West Des Moines. . .

"We have been told to hold until we hear from Austin," said a Perry source in South Carolina, where the candidate was preparing to launch an aggressive statewide bus tour on Wednesday. "It looks like he is not coming this week. He has definitely canceled his plans."

(bold & italics mine)

UPDATE:
And of course, just like that, he appears to be back on! I can't wait for more!!

At the risk of engaging in Schadenfreude, HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! It couldn't happen to a bigger asshole. With all due respect to the many fine folks down in Texas, it's apparent that being elected the Mayor of HeeHaw is no longer an automatic elevator straight to the top of the RepubliCon ticket, not even in the far-right Iowa Caucuses.

Gub'ner Perry's decline in the GOoPer primary hasn't been sudden, but watching this charlatan waddle back to Texas with his prehensile tail hung between his legs, to "re-assess his candidacy," instead of making a planned trip to South Carolina, really was worth the long build up. I know, I know, I know; it's too soon to enjoy the Gub'ner's Pop-Shot - when he officially withdraws his candidacy. But usually, when pols announce re-assessment, it means they are trying to find a way to gracefully exit.

I don't know if Perry can do anything gracefully, other than his hair, but exit he most likely will.

If you can stomach it, watch the video on the CNN link above, and be disgusted. At around the 2.30 second mark, when he reads aloud a letter he'd recieved in which the writer - no doubt some inbred, hilljack, fuckmace moron - states:

"Today I saw you [Gub'nor Perry] for the first time in Perry, Iowa. I know you are a good man. But I never realized what a great man you were.

As if to say, "See? See? This guy says I'm not just good but GREAT!!!!" Oh it's kinda disgusting, but it tickled my Schadenfreude nerve just a little, to be sure, watching this ignorant hick-turned-slimebag pol try to save face in front of his family and campaign staff.

Perry's campaign was filled with low-lights, including this despicable video, a high-volume, high-pitched homophobic dog-whistle, which received over 733,000 dislikes on YouTube, compared to just 24,000 likes . . . . because this moron's campaign staff didn't know you could turn off like/dislike on YouTube. And, as much as we might like to, who can forget this rambling, half-cocked, possibly drunken speech in New Hampshire, or the infamous Ooops! moment, when the Gub'nor couldn't remember one of the Federal Departments he was absolutely certain he wanted to abolish . . . out of three. Priceless!

I don't know what it says about America that this man actually had a shot at the Presidency, or that he's the longest-serving Governor in the country, in charge of one of our largest states. But perhaps there is a glimmer of sanity in this nation somewhere, after all . . . even in the GOoP's Iowa Caucuses.

Obama = GOP?

Obama has been corporatist, but I wouldn't go that far as saying Barry-0 is just as bad as a RepubliCon.

I still contend that there is a meaningful difference between having a very modestly progressive President (or a Congress) as opposed to full-on neo-fascist, neo-feudal theocracy embodied by the truly insane Right Wing in this country. It will continue to be very difficult to convince me that Obama = GOP. In fact, with the way the GOoPers havebeen trending lately in their blithe march towards theo-fascist neo-feudalism, I think the importance of having a "side of the coin that faces reality" active in the System has been absolutely critical.

Jesus! Somebody in SOME kind of position of power has to be able to at least slow things down in the ill-fated buffalo towards Annihilation Falls! I would suggest that Obama has at least tried in some areas.

Now whether Obama has had any success in this?- reasonable people might quibble. But we've withdrawn from Iraq, the President has at least talked about drawing down in Afghanistan, and some DISCUSSIONS about the economy.

Has he in any way really tackled the whole: "will there be methane-free, breathable air in 1,000 years, or won't there be-" question? No.

The fact is these horrors have a built-in momentum that doesn't just stop on a dime. It took years for Hitler to rise as a political figure and engage in WWII and the accompanying Holocaust. I agree that Obama's shortcomings may well be more defining, in the long run. But I also wonder what, exactly, this one guy, about four years out of being a state senator was supposed to do, exactly?

As a small and tasty little morsel, I give you House Speaker John Boehner, just a couple of hours ago, referring to his caucus's decision to block a tax cut on the middle class for reasons of sheer obstinacy:

"It may not have been politically the smartest thing in the world."

No shit, Speaker Boner, really?

SynchroniCity's 10th Annual SantaKong Whiskey Santa Rampage - 12.17

Ho Ho Ho Santa!

It's that time of year again! SynchroniCity's annual SantaKong is December 17th, 2011!!!

WHO: You.

WHAT: SantaKong is Chicago's oldest and most heralded Whiskey Santa Rampage. Although you do not need to be Santa, you are required to have a costume that represents your holiday spirit. Examples from the past are; santa, reindeer, trees, winter pagans, winter vikings, presents, dreidels, elves (both evil and nice), etc., etc. You will get a long bus tour with drinks on the bus included in your payment. We will be making many stops around town spreading are special brand of cheer through out. These stops will include Quencher's, the Santa's Village at the Daley Plaza, Macy's, Small Bar, the ABC News filming window, the Billy Goat Tavern, and more!

WHEN: Saturday, December 17th.

WHERE: We are slated to start at Quencher's Bar, located at 2401 N. Western Avenue, as we have in year's past.

WHY: Whiskey, Beer, Xmas Cheer, Friends, Mayhem, and FUN FUN FUN!

HOW DO I PARTICIPATE? Tickets for this event typically are $30. You must Paypal pocketbook@synchroni-city.org to guarantee your participation. Some cash participants will likely be allowed on our buses the day of the event, but once we're filled up, we will have to start sending people away.

SCHEDULE?
4:00 P.M. - 5:00 P.M. Quenchers - 2401 N. Western Ave - Check in and pictures OVER Santas Lap at
5:15 P.M. - 6:15 P.M. Small Bar on Fullerton - 1415 W. Fullerton
6:45 P.M. - 8:30 P.M. Karaoke - location TBA - STAY TUNED
8:30 P.M. - 10:00 PM. Maceys & Santa's Village @ Daley Plaza Downtown
10:00 P.M. - NEWS FLASH - RAMPAGING SANTAS OUTSIDE ABC STUDIOS!
10:15 P.M. - 11:30 P.M. Billy Goat Tavern - 430 N Michigan Ave # 1
11:30 P.M. - Back to Quenchers for DJ Music and Fun!

Some FAQ's will also be forthcoming shortly! If you have questions please feel free to contact me at this email address! downtowndave23 AT gmail DOT com.

In all good hoishness,

Downtown the Disco Elf
http://www.facebook.com/groups/synchoni.city/