Tag: UAW

Dec 11 2008

“The barnacles of unionism wrapped around their necks”

“What I want to do is make sure we have jobs for these workers and we have first-class American automobile companies — and we’re not going to do it with the barnacles of unionism wrapped around their necks.”

                                         – Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), All Things Considered, Dec. 10, 2008

In case anyone has any question what the fight over the bailout (I reject any euphemisms for it) of the Big 3 American automobile companies is about, Sen. Jim DeMint has done us the favor of explaining it to us precisely.  It is not about supporting or refusing to support the Big 3;  DeMint’s solution, to send them into bankruptcy court, might well save the companies and their management.  This would release the companies from their existing obligations — including union contracts.

That’s all this is about now: union busting.  Which side are you on?

Nov 25 2008

Capitalist Follies: Rancheros Visitadores, Citigroup, and the CIA

A posting the other day, quoting Chris Floyd on the machinations of the U.S. power elite, prompted a regular reader of mine to send a very interesting link to a story a friend of his worked on over the past few years.

As reported by Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Joel Connolly, Alejandro Tomas, a senior faculty member at Seattle Central Community College, has assembled a startling photo essay on one of the conclaves where the rich and privileged meet. The horse ride known as Rancheros Visitadores takes place every May in the Santa Ynez Valley near Santa Barbara, Calif. The event is one of those elite conclaves that take place annually. The best known is probably the Bohemian Grove gathering near the Russian River in Northern California.

Connolly describes the doings at Rancheros Visitadores, where no women are allowed (except maybe prostitutes):

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