March 1, 2007 by mr_flood.

When it comes to voting everyone just naturally assumes that the most fair way to do it is by secret ballot, especially on the big decisions. Well, everyone except the fascists. From the Washington Times:

That window has taken the form of the cleverly worded Employee Free Choice Act, which strips workers of their right to a secret ballot in union recognition elections. Instead, it would force workers to submit to a “card check” — a process that places them at risk of intimidation, coercion and threats from labor bosses, all to get them to sign a card to demonstrate their “support” for unionization.

That’s right, you’ll be forced to march up to the front and sign your pledge to support the union. If you don’t, well, WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

As if this isn’t enough, marvel at the hypocrisy:

What’s truly amazing about the Big Labor and congressional Democratic push for the card check bill is the absolute hypocrisy of it all. The labor bosses behind the effort to strip workers of their rights to a private ballot in union organization elections are the very same people who have argued passionately for such rights in union decertification elections. In fact, using quite stirring language, Big Labor once told the National Labor Relations Board that the secret ballot election is a “solemn” occasion, imperative to preserving “privacy and independence.”
But Big Labor doesn’t have a monopoly on hypocrisy in this debate. Congressional Democrats are giving them a run for their money. Consider this: Writing to Mexican — yes, Mexican — officials in August 2001 in advance of an election between two competing labor unions in that country, 16 House Democrats — 11 of whom remain in the House and sponsor the card-check bill, including the bill’s lead sponsor himself, Rep. George Miller of California — plainly stated: “We understand that the secret ballot is allowed for, but not required by Mexican labor law. We feel that the secret ballot is absolutely necessary in order to ensure workers are not intimidated into voting for a union they may otherwise not choose.” Not only do Democratic card-check proponents seem to support rights for Mexican workers that they aren’t even willing to protect for their own constituents, but they also have admitted that the process is deeply flawed and prone to intimidation.

Fascism:

2 : a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control

Posted in Fascism Watch | 1 Comment »

March 1, 2007 by mr_flood.

Read:

For more than 20 years, satellite records of low-altitude clouds have closely followed variations in cosmic rays. Just how cosmic rays take part in cloud-making appeared in the SKY experiment, conducted in the basement of the Danish National Space Center. Electrons set free in the air by passing cosmic rays help to assemble the building blocks for cloud condensation nuclei on which water vapour condenses to make clouds.

Cosmic ray intensities – and therefore cloudiness – keep changing because the Sun’s magnetic field varies in its ability to repel cosmic rays coming from the Galaxy, before they can reach the Earth. Radioactive carbon-14 and other unusual atoms made in the atmosphere by cosmic rays provide a record of how cosmic-ray intensities have varied in the past.  They explain repeated alternations between cold and warm periods during the past 12,000 years. Whenever the Sun was feeble and cosmic-ray intensities were high, cold conditions ensued, most recently in the Little Ace Age that climaxed 300 years ago.

There’s more.  Via Junk Science 

Posted in Climate | 1 Comment »

March 1, 2007 by mr_flood.

These days, conventional wisdom states that as a society we are becoming more and more isolated and that this is a problem. I agree with both points. But the reasons that are offered up as to why this is happening are mostly bunk.

Here’s my reason why: What is isolating us is the losing of our national and local identities. These identities give us a sense of community, that we belong to something larger than ourselves that includes everyone around us, each striving for a common purpose: the success of our community and with it our nation. We are no longer taught to think of ourselves as Americans or New Yorkers, instead we are taught to think of ourselves as separate entities divided by race or class or politics, at odds with those different than us. Isolation is the fruit of multiculturalism, class consciousness, and blind partisanship.

Posted in Philosophical Musings | 1 Comment »

March 1, 2007 by mr_flood.

There’s something else to be garnered from the Kos article I wrote about yesterday. That would be his glaring hypocrisy. How so? Let me explain.

When it comes to illegal immigrants Kos is willing to accept a few raped women and dead children because the illegals bring up wages. In Kos’ world a certain amount of crime is ok as long as it’s a small percentage when compared to other population types and a benefit, however small, can be gained by it. A trade-off of sorts.

Now, does he carry this belief in trade-offs over to other areas? Lets take a look at the Iraq war for example. When compared to other wars, the number of American casualties is very low, a fraction of a percentage and yet a there can be a great benefit gained from it’s success. A fantastic trade-off by any standard. So isn’t this something that he should support? If he were intellectually honest, why yes, he would.

Posted in Current Events | 1 Comment »