Friday, March 27, 2009

Don't Let Her Steal Your Heart Away


A reporter and photographer sign up for the 4-day, 52-mile Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program’s Paddle Bayou Lafourche canoe trip. You can track their progress here and here...

Nate Silver has the real Republican road to recovery here. RFB, they want to eliminate Idaho...

When the fetid stench of horse manure rose from the Seattle Times editorial page, I knew immediately to check George Will's column as the source. Sure enough, there he was, waxing indignant about workers' rights:
A leading Democrat trying to abolish the right of workers to secret ballots in unionization elections is California's Rep. George Miller who, with 15 other Democrats, in 2001 admonished Mexico: "The secret ballot is absolutely necessary in order to ensure that workers are not intimidated into voting for a union they might not otherwise choose." Last year, Mexico's highest court unanimously affirmed for Mexicans the right that Democrats want to strip from Americans.
Now, George Will standing up for the rights of labor has about much credibility as Josef Stalin arguing for an open society. Will refers, of course, to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would facilitate the organizing of unions by loosening the restrictions on a process known as card checking. I wrote about EFCA at length here, so I'll keep my points brief:
  1. No one is talking about getting rid of the secret ballot;
  2. EFCA does not violate anyone's rights: The Supreme Court has upheld card checking as constitutional;
  3. Workers have a right to organize that has been violated by open displays of intimidation by employers.
Another typical example of conservative intellectual dishonesty: Will's real agenda is that he opposes making it easier for workers to organize, but of course he can't come out and say that. So, he cloaks in a feigned concern for "rights"... 

Friday's Choice: The Rolling Stones perform "Carol," my favorite cover of my favorite Chuck Berry song (the video starts about 25 seconds in):



Here's Chuck:


7 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi K:

That would be par for the course for the Nat'l GOP as I know it-- take one of your big supporters & kick 'em in the teeth (or some part of the anatomy), while convincing them the action is saving them from the pinko socilaists. I think that plan would raise a major stink around these parts, however.

Roy said...

Huh! I remember that Stones version from the Get Yer Ya-Yas Out album, and I thought it was pretty hot back then. But next to the real thing with Chuck, that Stones version is downright boring! Heh, heh! I guess perspective is everything.

K. said...

I'm not knocking the Stones' version -- I always liked it. Don't miss this. The expression on the pianist's face is priceless.

Frank Partisan said...

George Will has always been one of the more insightful conservatives. If that EFCA attack came from him, imagine the rest.

K. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
K. said...

I guess -- it's hard to tell since Will usually writes in Latin and not English. I overheard this guy telling his wife that he liked George Will even though he couldn't understand anything Will wrote.

? said...

Great videos. I love the stones.