I’m writing for tomorrow and feeling slightly improved from yesterday.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 4:42 (average 6:35). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Upworthy: Here’s an amazing video that clearly explains why welfare doesn’t work how you think it works. At 6:38, we find out the obvious about who the biggest welfare user in the country is.
I was correct in my estimation of who America’s biggest welfare user is, and I fully agree with the premise of this video.
From The New Yorker: Citing the scandals embroiling Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the Republican Governors Association today ordered its members to discontinue the use of e-mail, “effective immediately.”
According to a memo sent to all Republican governors, “Any plots, schemes, conspiracies, or violations of campaign-finance laws should be conducted using pay phones or easily disposable cell phones such as the ones used on ‘The Wire.’ ” The governors were instructed to read the memo once and then either burn or eat it.
LOL Andy!! I bet PIGnocchio ate his!!
From Reuters (H/T Daily Kos): Volkswagen’s top labor representative threatened on Wednesday to try to block further investments by the German carmaker in the southern United States if its workers there are not unionized.
Workers at VW’s factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, last Friday voted against representation by the United Auto Workers union (UAW), rejecting efforts by VW representatives to set up a German-style works council at the plant.
German workers enjoy considerable influence over company decisions under the legally enshrined "co-determination" principle which is anathema to many politicians in the U.S. who see organized labor as a threat to profits and job growth.
Chattanooga is VW’s only factory in the U.S. and one of the company’s few in the world without a works council.
"I can imagine fairly well that another VW factory in the United States, provided that one more should still be set up there, does not necessarily have to be assigned to the south again," said Bernd Osterloh, head of VW’s works council.
"If co-determination isn’t guaranteed in the first place, we as workers will hardly be able to vote in favor" of potentially building another plant in the U.S. south, Osterloh, who is also on VW’s supervisory board, said.
Kudos to VW’s works council. If Republicans insist on blocking the way the company wants to deal fairly with workers, those jobs should go to states that Republicans do not control.
Cartoon:
14 Responses to “Open Thread–2/22/2014”
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Andy is spot on funny as always….
That cartoon has horrible elements of truth to it….nothing a lot of people would like better, only this time I don't think they care if the slaves are black or white…
6:42 Too much hunting and not enough finding.
Upworthy – You can't solve ANY problem if you believe in lies about it. All of us here understand this and are aware of the truth. But how do we get over the natural human resistance to finding out (and coming to believe) one has been factually wrong? Pace Josephine Tey, truth is not the daughter of time, but of constant efforts to correct lies (actually she does recognize this since she refers to constant water and its effect of stone. To which the response is "Right now I feel like an awfully feeble little trickle.")
Andy – Ethics aside, do we really want to be governed by people who are so stupid they have not even grasped that NOTHING ever vanishes from the internet?
Reuters – Yep, TC, you said it. Amen.
Cartoon – Arielle is right on. Any color will do.
4:40 I snuck right by that tricky old TomCat today.
5:41 I never have been much of a hunter.
4:13 The hunt was good with my camera!
Upworthy ~ The professor gave an excelent speech. I wasn't at all surprised at ther revelation of Wal-Fart as the biggest Welfare Queen of all though. I was a little shocked to hear her talk about her ddefinition of "public housing" though. I never thought about it that way. The middle class home owner wouldn't have to do that if we had a fairer taxation system.
It is time for Wal-Mart, and companies like them, to start paying the full cost of their labor. Why should the taxpayer, you and me, pick up the tab while the Waltons pocket the porfits?
Next car, we'll definitely be looking at a VW of some kind. It's not been the right car for us. We're very fond of our Priuses.
Puzzle — 4:13 The hunt was good with my camera!
Upworthy — I figured it was a corporation or corporations. Then thinking about it, if it were one corporation, WalFart, because they under pay employees so that they need SNAP and other social benefits just to survive . . . makers of the working poor. Of course then there are the other tax benefits that they reap. When I got to that point in the video, I found I was right.
The New Yorker — Agreed, AB sure hits the mark! I wonder if Scott Walker and PIGnocchio got the message.
Reuters — It seems that those rejecting efforts by VW representatives to set up a German-style works council at the plant have total disregard for the 1st amendment to the consitution and the right of peaceful assembly. But of course Republicanus/Teabaggers only uphold the word and spirit of the constitution when it suits their purposes! And in Chattanooga, workers that voted against the council really know how to drop a car on their feet! . . . totally against their own best interest! I don't wish unemployment on anyone, but I hope that VW moves the plant in Chattanooga to a friendlier location.
Cartoon — Slavery might have been officially abolished in 1865, but it is easier to change the law than change peoples minds. There is still a form of slavery alive today . . . hatemongering which applies to blacks, hispanics etc, the LGBT community, women, the poor etc.
Personal — A thankyou for your prayers and thoughts for Jeff. I told him that there were many thinking about he and his family. Turns out his mother passed away. Also, it is snowing here in Metro Vancouver . . . about 4 – 5 centimetres so far. So look out Portland . . . I understand that this storm is heading your way. We were told that rain would take over mid afternoon. It's 4:30 pm and not sight of rain yet.
Upworthy: Of course Wal Mart is the welfare queen, but we alsohave lots of princes and princesses in other corporations who pay no federal income tax and get huge subsidies from the American tax payers.
The New Yorker: Republican governors should really heed Andy's advice.
Reuters: Tennessee is bragging that VW wants to build another plant there. This sounds just the opposite. The workers at the plant were obviously intimidated by the Tenn. government. sad
Cartoon: Tennessee and North Carolina both want it back, evidently.
Thanks everyone.
Cherished beliefs fall hard.
Amen Jerry!
Condolences to Lynn's friend.
Sorry TC,. am very poorly again so have missed a lot – very glad you are getting better though! You have mentioned before that lots of the giant corporations in America (headed by Walmart) take around 7 BILLION dollars a year in subsidies as their workers cannot earn enough to live on – it is disgusting when you think of the profits they rake in.
Good for VW – they are good employers (though not as Green as they might be).
Love Andy's column – mind you it might even be a little close to home!
Sorry – I did mention I'm extra not well, didn't I? – …."a little close to home" should have continued "for the Repuglicons" – back to bed for me!
Just as I suspected…
6:35 – Puzzle