Suz!

Hi Suzanne…. so glad to be back home

the waylon version

g’evening pups – how’s everyone doing tonight?

and a lot warmer i bet – tis 35 outside but we hit 43 today!

Suz!
This is cool!

You can Digg it right here!

hey neuro – how goes?

doing OK, Suz

thanks for opening the digg neuro

What the hell is the EFCA? Here is the best answer I can come up with.

For U.S. workers to win recognition of a union:

* 30% of them may sign and submit a petition requesting a secret-ballot election to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), or

* a majority of them may submit cards requesting union representation.

In case #2, however, the employer may insist on a secret-ballot election overseen by the NLRB. The proposed Employee Free Choice Act would recind that employer option.

Please let me know the extent to which I got that right or wrong.

thanks newton – i shudda played this thursday, which, iirc, was bob wills birthday

i’m bad

hey wigwam – i’m no expert but i think that is right – but i’m no expert

Hiya Pups!

suz!

I thought we had already established that, Suz :)

Dugg IT!

I’ve been so goddamn frustrated listening to people talk about it but never saying what exactly they were talking about. They probably all know, but that doesn’t help the rest of us. Tonight Rachel sent me over the edge, i.e., to the Wikipedia. The above was my best effort at distillation.

hey christine e

hey sunny

wicked evil laugh

that was the song i featured thurs – but yeah (more laughing)

how’s deadwood city nahant?

looks right to me, wigwam

Wiki

oh I see you are ahead of me

her explanations this week have been the most understandable

were the Stones in TX when that was recorded, Suz?

But, wow that entry take a lot of words to get to the point. I clicked through to “card check” and have tried to distill what I found there.

Chiliing out tonight how about you Suz??

i’m thinking maybe austin? don’t know but based on the crowd reaction….

Exactly. And I still couldn’t figure out the exact difference between the status quo and what the EFCA would give us and why it made a difference, except for their assurance that the status quo is bad and the alternative would be much better.

doing ok. putzed around today – my wood guy delivers a load tomorrow. supposed to warm up by the weekend when we are forecast to get rain.

I’m bothered by that myself. The unions have either done a poor job in explaining the contrasts and benefits, or there’s something they would rather not be transparent about (and I think I know what that is). Either way, it hurts them when countering opposing arguments.

I had a MAC guy as a Visitor today was fun! Of course he left with some goodies(:>)) We are cold down here also.. was only 34 this AM and supposed to be the same tonight… I sure would like all of ET’s cold air leave us the hell alone.

hahahaha

and that air from siberia hit us first and is still with us – heard it hasn’t left et yet either.

Of course, I had to walk through the OS decontamination gauntlet before I could get in the door. Once inside however, the chili was top-shelf.

Exactly. The other side says they believe in secret ballots. Rachel says that EFCA would give them the employees the choice, which raises the question of how they are going to choose between card check and secret ballot. Would they make that choice by card check or by a secret ballot? And so on into infinite regress.

This whole thing has made no sense, so the battle goes to the folks with the most money and the best PR people.

yanno what they say about opposites

Suz, does your local library provide free interlibrary loan?

Glad you liked Newt… is another of my good batches *g* Had the orange yet?

*head hanging in shame*

i haven’t checked out the tillamook library yet

Yep. If a shop of say, 75 people want a union, and they want to have a secret ballot, what is the mechanism? I would never tell someone how I would vote, or how I voted, just because it’s none of their fucking business – whether I was a loud and proud union supporter or not.

Again – what is the mechanism?

I had the pear. The orange soon.
Wadda you trying to make me pop?

One of the current problems is the employer has the “secret” ballot on the work premises while he and the management look over the shoulders as the workers go to vote. Which allows Him to influence all the workers through intimidation and threats!

pear chili? orange chili?

You tell me … you sure helped yourself today /s

Hi guys! What’s the story in late late, he asked Insomniacally?

hey nonplussed – the story is there is no story – insomnia sucks

At the same time offering up the chance to suggest that the union is engineering the vote is possibly more destructive.

I have been in two unions in my life, including the Teamsters, and they were tremendous. But they need to be transparent if they are going to demand transparency from the businesses they seek to organize in, or the Chamber’s of Commerce.

You be up late NPd. How ya doing?

Heading off to bed….. everyone have a nice evening……

The current system is all tilted towards management. The NLRB was/is staffed by pro business types.

g’nite katymine – enjoy sleeping on your sheets in your bed

nite Katie sleep well!

Well at least I get to see all the Left Coast folks when they are mellowed out! You guys would have loved it, the first guy the Republicans here brought up as their witness for the proposed State Voter ID Law was none other than the ever popular Hans A. von Spakovsky, presently on wingnut welfare over at the Heritage Foundation!

Our State Senate Dems had a field day!

Yep. No argument.
Just saying that if Obama’s guys got them in a room and said all cards on the table and we’re gonna settle this right now, they would all have their proverbial “Come to Jeebus” moment.

having hans as a witness immediately tells me to grab popcorn

I’m hanging, my friend. I do it strictly out of spite, in order to ensure I collect every last cent I can wring out of the VA! It’s a matter of principle. By my calculations, if I live to be 374 years old, I will have extracted fair value and I figure we will be close to even. *G*

How about you and yours? Everything cool out in sunny CA?

I have no faith or trust in big management/business they have always tried to take as much advantage of workers as they could get away with. And they have been trying to reverse the new deal which included workers rights, which they could care less about.
Just look at history and you will see when the owners have free reign they always always take advantage of the workers and working conditions. Just think of Mine safety and all the workers who have been lost just in Shrubs reign… Ya owners on the mine safety boards.. Ya think they could give a flying fuck about workers or the bottom line and their pockets.

The Republican witnesses all showed up in matching red shirts. The Democrats had no dress code specified in their appeal. I think I may load up on the pain pills and roll that way tomorrow, it sounds like too much fun to miss. I really enjoy the admonitions from the speaker for the spontaneous outbursts from the gallery.

They are going all night, apparently. They were on the fourth Republican witness at last report. There is one Republican who claims he has solid evidence of 3,000 illegal voters. The attorney general refuses to testify about the results of his multi million dollar three year investigation into the dreaded “Voter Fraud”.

He did prosecute three old Hispanic ladies for mailing their disabled neighbors absentee ballots. He got an activist for the same heinous crime. Of course this wasn’t a crime in the tony neighborhood W. & Ms. Laura moved to, where the Republicans openly offer to provide this service.

I agree. But when Obama gets this on track, he needs to begin from a status point of blamelessness. He is The President – it will do no one any good to pound on business to the exclusion of transparency within the unions.

Doing alright! Just playing the waiting game for me. Give me a call and I will explain… I to am ready to raise some hell at the VA as my primary Doc is just not doing his job for me. I see him at the end of the month and plan to demand what I want and need for him to do. If he balks I will make a lot of noise and contact the former head Chaplin for the right upper management types to talk to.

Here’s a link on ILL policies. Appears it can be free via courier.

Prolly worth checking out – evanovich.

Ooh, I kinda like this band. Who are they again? lol

Oh I do agree with that! OH and I was in local 25 of the Teamsters and yes they are good… a bit corrupt at times but got the best for the workers!

i’m so glad i don’t live in texas

Don’t know who Bob Wills is, but I like the song.

13!

and thank you so very much

ya probably heard of this one

I don’t understand all of the subtle ramifications of secret ballot vs majority signup. Per Rachel, there are currently serious pre-election abuse and intimidation of workers by employers, and I believe her. However, there is opportunity for bullying by unions, if it is publicly known who has and hasn’t signed up. I’ve not yet heard that potential problem addresses.

BTW, I think more unionization would be a very good thing.

That’s why they love the South-Right to Work Laws. Look at Dell, who got he cheese? Do you think he even split up a matching $18 Billion between the rank and file employees in the years that they made him that money? He was a pioneer in outsourcing our asses and also quick to grasp that laying people off wasn’t the way to go, you had to get rid of them “Through attrition”.

Put them on Third shift, give them telephone support with the least desirable clients, reevaluation of one’s pay rate since they were no longer filling their last position, they were now demoted to filling some menial spot and no longer merited the pay afforded the previous posting. If you are not close to being vested, there is no reason to tolerate it, if you are it really sux, he said knowledgably. If they lay you off they have to pay into unemployment, not so if you quit. They are greedy pigs. Lie, cheat and steal.

Exactly. Exactly. The unions are hoping for some ObamaLove IMO, and the ‘leveling of the playing field’ is being used to obscure a bit of policy fuckery. I am not sure I blame them, but it will ultimately hurt whatever strides they make.

Start with good faith and do not swerve.

Nope. Apparently, I need to get out more.

Unions created the middle class after WWII.. Maybe we need to go back to taxing Corporations so they once pay 47% of the tax burden and the rich at 90%. That way we would have a solvent government and universal Health care.
In the past health care was part of the work package now you are lucky to have what passes for it!

here is a cover of one his most famous tunes that ya might have heard

Start with good faith and do not swerve.

Agreed. In the long run, it does no good to be screwed by both unions and management.

Great day…warm sunny…worked garden… worked on car brakes… rowed the Bay and did not need naps like yesterday…cooked black, red and pinto beans for future soups.
How’s tricks? Galgraith and Grayson were great. Grayson is without a doubt a man for all progessives he was sensationally honest.

I would like to clarify this, though – if the interests concerned would be compelled to sit down and, in the case of the unions, actually describe the levers and pulleys of EFCA, and the specific provisions of ‘cardcheck’ versus secret balloting, they could do themselves some good; conversely, the Chamber could be forced to elaborate its stance.

But neither seems to want close scrutiny of what this actually means. Tweety got a huge helping of talking points from both sides today.

hey bb – the chats were great – and i’m looking forward to the rest of this week’s visiting guests

Spot on NPd.. Just look at history they always find ways to screw the workers no matter what it takes!
It all comes down to pure unadulterated GREED! Thank you Ronnie Raygun.

I’m embarrassed to admit, but I’ve never heard this one before. Looks like it’s been covered by a number of people, including Patsy Cline.

patsy does a fine version of it. my dad liked country music – my mom rock so i got exposed to both growing up.

My parents had some old country tunes when I was growing up, but I’m pretty sure Bob Wills’ weren’t among them. I mostly exposed myself to rock, to my parents’ displeasure.

My favorite version is the Willie Nelson one.

my father h-a-t-e-d the innagoddadavida album i had – the drum solo was guaranteed to have him yelling ‘turn that crap down’

For me, it was Deep Purple.

I like the instrumentals in that one, and they do a good job of it. I have to admit I have a soft spot for Patsy, though.

smoke on the water with that heavy bass beat would usually get my dad riled – but not as much as the drum solo.

i could usually make that muscle in his jaw pulse with just about every cut from the morrison hotel/hard rock cafe album by the doors.

my favorite patsy

Didn’t have that one when I was a boy. I bet my dad would have hated it. He heard Melissa Etheridge once, and thought she was terrible. ME’s way better at carrying a tune than Jim Morrison ever was.

Lovely. Seems to be a big favorite among YouTube producers, too. The whole “related” section is different versions of Patsy singing that song.

i’d never heard her sing this. What a great song.

my dad would push my buttons with hank senior and buck owens stuff

oh margot, ya gotta watch that patsy cline movie… its like a greatest hits album – and so forking sad too

Clearly, the man was cruel. My parents had a Hank Williams single. I played it once, and that was enough. Williams was a good songwriter, but I couldn’t get past the voice.

he did have a hard streak – it mellowed when i became an adult and we became much closer than i wudda imagined when i was a teen

That’s all for me.

G’nite all.

g’nite wigwam

Goodnight, Wigwam.

The funny thing is that Bob Dylan’s voice never bothered me. Yet Williams’ weaknesses as a vocalist are similar. I suppose it was because Dylan’s music was more cerebral, it was more like he was telling you something.

not having the music make that twang at the same time the voice was twanging helped – and besides, dylan was cool.

Suz, you’ve got a bookmobile! Can’t link to it but it’s there. You may not have to go to Tillamook. Haven’t seen one of those since grade school.

i saw the bookmobile when i went into town last week. or was it the week before (laughing) – stephanie has been doing most of the town runs since she has been here.

I’ve only ever seen one in a museum.

there is the light from a crab boat out on the ocean on the other side of the spit visible and looks like a full moon tonight. some clouds but some stars too. i gotta figure out how to take nighttime photographs with my camera. it is forking gorgeous (but 33 forking degrees)outside.

Brrrrr

yup – is why i’m enjoying it from inside the living room instead of walking out on the deck. wood stove has it a warm and toasty 70 inside. fleece clothing has become my only fashion statement.

Hey Suz you seem to have that wood visit often… something we need to know about /s I know you need to stay warm but daym.. I only see my guy twice a year…..

i heat entirely with wood nahant. its a lot forking colder up here than it was at the cottage on the mt where i had a gas wall heater.

i aint got a lotta meat on me yanno – i get colder faster since i lost all that weight.

and i’m a wuss who has the stove going if i am awake. even during the day to get the warm started – as i said, a cold wuss :)

That is that I heat my place with… Well at downstairs.. we have an electric one in our room… reason we went solar… electric was bankrupting us in the winter… But all that is in the past now. But still he must be giving softwoods and not good hardwoods…

I do know that one Suz me and cold have a deal I stay away from it and ity kinda stays away from me.
But you do know my stove has been running constantly since that first cold snap in October…

there is insulation above me and below me but nothing in the side walls – place is old and there is none and no place to add it. the window frames are original and leak air too. tis an old drafty house but… the views and eye candy around me is worth it.

and i’m a wuss when it comes to cold. seriously.

Just another wasteful gov’t service. Why should folks read when they can watch fox?

ok pups, time for me to grab some body heat from token – who puts out a surprisingly amount for such a little guy.

g’nite all and thanks for hanging out with me tognight.

nahant, he always tells me what kinda wood it is and i tend to forget – i try to remember to ask him and let ya know tomorrow night.

nite suz. i’m bailing out too

me too Suz I am not kidding about that one… why do you think I left Maine 30+ years ago! Seriously though I AM allergic to the cold and have problems with blood to my hands and feet in the cold… main reason
I left the part of the country with 6 to 8 months of winter!!

Well nite Suz and Newt I am outta here also… nite pups!!

Nite all.

Attaturk is upstairs!
Celebrity Blogger Nightmare

Hey Suz, I remember when the promotions director at KNEW/KSAN made me shut the hell up. I was a hypsmotized by this great Buck song.

oh dayam, that’s a trip down memory lane jacqrat.