UAW AND AFSCM SCHEME TO UNIONIZE DAY CARE

Yesterday morning during my white knuckled drive through the blizzard, I turned on the radio to learn about the snow storm. I could not believe what I was hearing on the talk show.

The UAW in Michigan has forced Day Care providers that accept state vouchers to join their union. Whether they want to or not!

According to a 2008 state law, it does not matter if you are a woman that provides in home day care for a one child or a large day care with 100 rug rats. If you provide day care needs for any low income families that pay for the service through vouchers, a union rep will be visiting you to make certain you sign on the dotted line.

Not only is this the law in Michigan, it is the law in 14 other states including New Jersey and Ohio.


A year ago in December, 2008 more than 40,000 other home-based day care providers within Michigan were suddenly informed they were members of Child Care Providers Together Michigan—a union created in 2006 by the United Auto Workers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The union had won a certification election conducted by mail under the auspices of the Michigan Employment Relations Commission. In that election only 6,000 day-care providers voted. Most of the other 40,000 plus Day Care providers were unaware of any new referendum that was being voted into law.


When you consider many of the Day Cares employ anywhere from a handful of people and in some instances only one person and the staff is essentially working for the parents, who does one go to with their demands? After all is not the purpose of a union to provide better working conditions through collective bargaining?

So for a homemaker who is a sole proprietor and opens her home to watch four or five kids and finds herself a union member, who does she collectively bargain with?



Though I am not familiar with New Jersey’s situation, in Michigan and Ohio the States Department of Human Services broke the good news. Each State had separately established a union known as Child Providers Together.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland
in center looking gubenatorial

This public employees union has minimal staff, no control over the state funds and no supervision of rules for the day cares. In essence they are a shell union created for the purpose of funding itself. This was created through the states use of a ersatz employer and an ersatz collective bargaining agent to create and ersatz union for the sole purpose of organizing. By state law the providers must join the union or shut down.


In Michigan last year, $3.7 million was paid to the Department of Human Services as union dues paid by these Day Cares. However the Day Cares have no actual benefits.

Is this legal? Does it violate one’s Constitutional rights? The freedom of association clause within the Constituion prevents compulsory unionism. Courts have determined the only exeption is when unionism is necessary for labor peace due to rioting. The basis for the Day Care unions is to siphon off State provided money from vouchers to provide the UAW and AFSCM with money. Something just doesn’t ring true with this scheme. It is reminicent of the method Britain used several centuries past of recruiting sailors. I believe it was called Shanghaiing.

My doctor takes medicare and medicaid. There are attorneys that are paid through legal aide. Hospitals accept vouchers for low income patients, they will even provide a cab voucher to get a person there and back. Some apartment and property rental agents accept HUD funding to offset rent for low income families. Are these folks going to be roped into joining a union because they accept state funds?


I seriously doubt it.

Captain Phil Harris

One of my favorite TV shows is Deadliest Catch.  My wife and I both enjoy this show.  

We were saddened to learn that Captain Phil Harris, whose fishing adventures off the Alaska coast were captured by the Discovery Channel has died at the young age of 53.

It was reported that on January 29th, Captain Harris had a stroke while unloading his boat in the Alaskan port at St Paul Island.  Harris, who was based out of Seattle, suffered the stroke during an offload of crab. He was found unconscious in a stateroom and airlifted to Anchorage for 12 hours of surgery, then placed in a medically induced coma. He'd shown signs of improvement last week, squeezing hands and even telling his doctors and nurses, in his signature gruff style, to not screw things up.


Last year Harris was unable to pilot his boat after being diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism and told by his doctors to retire.


On the show's Web page, where updates on Harris' condition had been posted since his Jan. 30 stroke, sons Jake and Josh Harris gave notice of their father's passing;


"It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our dad -- Captain Phil Harris. Dad has always been a fighter and continued to be until the end. For us and the crew, he was someone who never backed down. We will remember and celebrate that strength. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers."


For those  unfamiliar with the Deadliest Catch, it follows several crews working the Bering Sea during the area's crab fishing seasons.  This may not sound interesting, however every show is an adventure.


The crew is on the deck of an 80 foot boat traversing the icy sea in sub-zero weather. They withstand the elements, are perputually soaked from the waves and risk their lives to harvest Alaskan King and Snow Crab.


The words hard work do not even begin to describe what these men do for a living. However for a few months work, the rewards can be incredible, depending upon how much crab is caught.

The Cornelia Marie is one of four boats in the permanent fleet.  The other boats are the Northwestern, with Captain Sig Hansen,  Captains Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand piloting the Time Bandit, and the Wizard, with Keith and Monte Colburn as Co-Captains. 

When the crab are running, the crew members work day and night, up to 40 hours at a stretch. They haul 800-pound pots in 30-foot waves and 60-knot winds, with seas cresting over the deck.  The crew must bait and toss the pots overboard into the sea and mark them with a bouy.  They then return to port in Dutch Harbor Alaska, hopefully with a large catch.


While in high school it was suggested by a friend to take a job on a crab fishing boat.  The guy told Phil that he had made enough money to pay off his car. 

Harris stated that on his first trip on the crab boat, he worked for two months without pay, just to prove himself. " A guy got hurt on the boat and I took his place and I made $135,000 in a month."  After that Harris was hooked.

The show has lived up to its name. In its first season one of the featured boats, the Big Valley, sank, drowning all but one of its crew. The rescue by the Coast Guard and the search by the other boats and Captain were dramatic and touching.

Captain Harris joined the search. His rescue efforts brought him to the attention of the show’s producers.

Captain Harris fit the profile of a sea captain. He was husky, six feet tall, with hair down to his collar and tattoos from his shoulders to his elbows. One arm showed grizzled pirate on and the other bore a Harley-Davidson emblem.

Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel, is watched by about three million viewers a week, making it one of the top-rated programs on basic cable.

The show’s theme is the sometimes monotonous, extremely physical and always dangerous job of fishing the icy waters of the Bering Sea and how the boat's pilots, the Captains, face the intense and extremely stressful job of protecting their crew from the dangers of life on the Northern Sea in the course of doing their job. 

The show likewise deals with the way the crew handles a job in which they are continually living on the edge in a brutal enviroment.

Captain Harris will definitely be missed by all of us. May God bless him and his family.

Haiti is Awash in Christian Aid, Evangelism

I cannot imagine the sheer horror and strife of living in Haiti after the earthquake. (This is a link to the MSNBC story by Kari Haus ) 

An old friend, Brenda Gillfin works for a missionary organization called Youth With A Mission. Gilly lived in Haiti for over a year in the 1990’s before moving to the shanties in Brazil to work with the poor and minister. She told me of the time she spent living in Haiti and described the deplorable conditions within within the country during that era. Now with so much of the infrastructure gone, it has to be beyond the pale.


An estimated 1700 Christian missionaries were living in Haiti at the time of the earthquake.

The controversial arrest of 10 missionaries from an Idaho church has taken the emphasis off earthquake news and placed these unfortunate and naïve folks as the center of attention.


I realize my opinion of the situation isn’t worth a tinker’s dam, however I am of the opinion the government of Haiti is corrupt and a few greased palms would be all it would take to put this story behind us. I also believe these missionaries acted with good intentions, but unfortunately did subvert the law. As my wife is fond of saying, “No good deed will go unpunished.”

Aside from that story...
MSNBC’s headline that ran on Monday, 02/08 and Tuesday 02/09 screamed;

“Haiti Is Awash in Christian Aid, Evangelism." 



The news article bemoans the fact that Haiti is plagued with heaping great multitudes of Christians of all denominations running amuck, attempting to feed and clothe the poor and minister to their needs. After all Jesus said we gotta’ do that.

Some of these groups have been involved with missionary support for years and years.




The article disparages the Catholic Church for sending support and aid, since Haiti threw off the chains of Catholicism in 1804 when they showed the French the exit door.


This news article implies that Haitians are all anti-Catholic. What do I know? They may all be anti-Catholic, however if I was in a similar situation I would be glad for any assistance.

MSNBC's reporter also addresses Voodoo and Christian effort to win converts from this superstitious and preposterous practice. It seems that attempting to disuade Haitians from that practice is politically incorrect as this would be eliminating an indigenous culture and tradition that has been handed down and adapted from their ancestors.

In the early days of the United States, medical doctors commonly used leeches and blood letting as a course of treatment to eliminate the bad humors that caused disease for our ancestors.

I for one am delighted that my doctor has never advised me, "Marc, I think if we have three courses of leeches and one course of blood letting, this would cure all your ailments." 

Thank God, this is one indigenous practice that has been eliminated.  It's just my opinion, but I think Haiti would be just fine without the voodoo that they do.

The article mentions UNICEF and aid from U.N. workers, which are two non-Christian groups that do good work. But the piece also gets its digs in regarding two missionaries from a Colorado church that were implicated in child molestation as a point that some missionaries are bad

But you know what, two bad apples don’t spoil the whole bunch, especially when the article states there were approximately 1700 permanent missionaries there when the earthquake hit.


The article laments the fact that different church groups plant different churches according to the dogma of each church.

In all fairness the article implies that the better mission groups express their faith through deeds such as digging wells, medical and dental programs and teaching soil conservation techniques to farmers.


They point out one church that send people to install water filtration systems and build cafeterias for school children, create playgrounds and clinics.

It also acknowledges that 15% of children in Haiti are orphaned or abandoned. Some of these children are susceptible to abuse, slavery and the sex trade. Many of these become restaveks, a Haitian word that means slaves of the lowest order. Perhaps this is one of the reasons the 10 missionaries attempted to get thirty-three children out of Haiti and move them to an orphanage in Santo Domingo.  Heck, the Haitian government has allowed this form of child slavery to go on for years and years.

The article mentions the Peace Corp, but fails to mention the Red Cross. Neither does it mention the Mormons. Although I do not agree with Mormon belief, I acknowledge they are always at the forefront of any disaster to provide aid.




I might have overlooked it, but to my knowledge it has not been reported by any news agency that disaster assistance coming from any Middle Eastern charities or providers. I also have failed to hear any information about Atheist organizations banding together to send food, shelter and  relief. Neither do I find any news about Wicca or any occult groups lending their support.

So why must you folks at MSNBC knock the Christians??!!

Moody's Investor Service Threaten to Lower US Bond Ratings

In the investment world the bond credit rating assesses the credit worthiness of a corporation's or a nation’s debt issues.

It is analogous to credit ratings for individuals.

Businesses are assigned by credit rating agencies such as Moody's, Standard & Poor's, and Fitch.  The organizations use letter designations (such as AAA, B, CC) which represent the quality of a bond. Bond ratings below BBB/Baa are called junk bonds. Depending upon what ratings system a bond uses, the classifications and determining factors are slightly different. The credit rating is a financial indicator to potential investors of debt securities such as bonds.

On Wednesday Moody’s issued a press release announcing the United States triple A (AAA) rated bonds would be reduced unless the nation’s leaders did not take more stringent efforts to take action on the country’s budget deficit.
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The Financial Times Newspaper (FT) reported that Steven Hess, senior credit officer at Moody’s said the deficits projected in the budget outlook presented by the Obama administration outlook this week did not stabilize debt levels in relation to gross domestic product.  Mr. Hess added;

“Unless further measures are taken to reduce the budget deficit further or the economy rebounds more vigorously than expected, the federal financial picture as presented in the projections for the next decade will at some point put pressure on the triple A government bond rating,”

This is due to “intensified” concern among investor that the trajectory of debt growth is “clearly, continuously” spiraling upward

Although Moody's Investor Service has issued this threat in past years, particularly during the Carter presidency when inflation was out of control, this is the first time the threat has been worded so strongly.

GROUNDHOG DAY IS COMING AND PETA DOES NOT LIKE IT

Groundhog Day is coming soon on this upcoming February the Twooth and PETA is not liking it one bit. No sir!

The animal rights group wants the organizers of the Pennsylvania Groundhog Day Festival to replace Punxsutawney Phil, the Groundhog-in-Chief and official predictor of winters length to be replaced by a robotic groundhog. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals claim it is not ethical to keep a groundhog captive, feed him, pet and groom him and give him human love, then drag his little groundhog ass in front of crowds and news crews making a humilitating spectacle of the wee beastie.



PETA suggests that Phil be turned loose to romp and play with fellow groundhogs and possibly be eaten by a coyote.



The group would like the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club to purchase a robot groundhog.

The president and member of the clubs' secret Inner Circle tell the press, "The animal is "being treated better than the average child in Pennsylvania. The groundhog is kept in a climate-controlled environment and is inspected annually by the state Department of Agriculture."





He goes on to say that PETA is not actually interested in groudhog welfair, but looking for publicity.






We will see what happens if PETA shows up in Punxsutawney with their obligatory neck'id ladies group members shouting;

"Hell no, Phil Must Go!"





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Why Soft Drinks Do Not Contain Sugar

I was at the supermarket yesterday and I saw a display of Mountain Dew Throw-back, which turns out to be Mountain Dew made with real sugar.

This made me think of why most companies no longer use sugar in producing soft drinks, a fact which may have been forgotten through the years .

Since 1951 my Dad owned a grocery store. And since he owned a store, the pantry in my home was seldom empty and we always had plenty of Pop. In this part of the country most people use the term Soft Drinks, rather than Pop.


As a child Pop/Soft Drinks were made with sugar. Good ol' cane sugar, which gave your young self lots of energy and the bonus of a marvelous sugar buzz.

This era was the days of the Cold War. A time in history when angry threats, veiled political remarks and inuendo between the United States and the United Socialist Soviet Republic aka Russia were made on a daily basis.



Nikita Krushchev promised to bury us by pounding his shoe on the U.N. podium. We all learned how to Duck and Cover when the Nukes hit and declared it was better to be dead, than red. Our elementary school was declared a Fall-Out shelter, a fact we were reminded of this fact every school day as we walked to the cafeteria and saw the large yellow sign with black letters announcing Fall Out Shelter. We kids all had visions of scurrying the family 3 blocks to the school when Walt Cronkite announced the commies were dropping bombs on Cincinnati.

I learned there was an Iron Curtain, which was an allegory. At five years of age, no one had explained to me what was an allegory.


I'm certain if someone used the word in a sentence I would have assumed they were refering to a small alligator. I was certain there was an actual Iron Curtain. I wanted to see it. I was very curious why no one showed any pictures of it on TV. Even if it was a black and white image on the old Zenith, I would have enjoyed seeing this Iron Curtain. Someday I'll tell you about my childhood thoughts on Human Beans.





So to quit digressing and get to the point allow me to continue.

Fidel Castro had appointed himself President for life of Cuba.

He had fought off the evil people that wanted a democracy in Cuba and as a reward for turning Cuba into a Communistic nation with downtrodden masses and government run industry Castro was appointed Dictator in Chief forever.


Leading up to those years, Cuba had been controlled by the U.S. Mafia who ran many casinoes. So Cuba was a nation funded by gambling. Unfortunately for the Mafia, Castro took control of all the casinoes, shutting down the organization's source of revenue and eliminating many jobs.

Cuba was also one of the largest sugar producing nations in the world.



Castro, being a commie, sided with Russia and launched an attempte to allow the Soviets to store nuclear missles in Cuba. I don't know if I mentioned that Cuba is a mere 90 miles away from the United States. Life in the early 1960's became pretty nasty. A debacle arose between the United States and Cuba. President Kennedy was ready to drop the Big One. Check it out by Googling Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missle Crisis.

Missle site in Cuba circa 1962
An embargo was put in place and trade with Cuba was halted. This stopped the importation raw cane sugar from that country. The Pepsi-cola and Coca-cola and all the other pop companies panicked. The five cent Coke or Pepsi doubled in price. Sugar producing states could not cover the need and besides, these states mostly produced beet sugar rather than the preferable cane sugar. The result was sugar prices skyrocketing. Dropping the Big One seemed like a good idea, since sugar was in short supply.


There were no sugar substitutes until 1965 when some scientist came up with aspertame. It was sold in a bottle as a colorless liquid and it just tasted awful.

So the Soft Drink industry needed to come up with a solution and come up with it quickly. They settled on Corn Syrup. Corn was plentiful and could be turned into a sweet tasting syrup. Infants of the day were raised on Karo syrup as a part of homemade baby formula.



Thus begun our dependency on corn. And even now that raw cane sugar is plentiful in the U.S. and from other nations, the Soft Drink companies continues to rely on corn syrup as a basis for sweetening, due to its low cost for soft drinks.



Some folks say High Fructose Corn Syrup is bad for us and that it makes us fat. I do not know.

I AIN'T 'FRAID OF NO GHOSTS!

So what is the deal with all these paranormal shows on the TV? We all had a great laugh when Ackroyd, Murray, Ramis and Weaver came out with Ghostbusters, because it was so absurd.






But now we have several cable TV shows with the investigators that act sillier than the Ghostbusters. They hear a noise in a dark old building and jump about 10 feet in the air.


The most recent is Paranormal State on A&E. It’s a show about a group of fraidy cats that visit supposedly haunted sites, and then ask for dry pants.

By the way, A&E is the station that continually runs documentaries on Biblical topics in which experts of dubious credibility make stuff up.


There was another show on a few years back called The Psi Factor. Unexplained Mysteries wasted some viewers time. So did Psychic Witness and Scariest Places on Earth. Even National Geographic had a series called Paranormal.


The SyFy channel has Ghost Hunter. This is about a bunch of mishugginah mamzers running free in old buildings looking for spooks.

I'd rather watch Count Floyd on Monster, Chiller, Horror Theater. At least he had some "Spooky stuff kids."











The fact is, Ghost TV shows are experiencing a wave of popularity. I have some theories on this:

1. People want to believe in something, just not the Bible.
2. We like to see other people become scared.
3. Law and Order is becoming Trite and Hackneyed.
4. Even the lowest common denominator deserves to be entertained.
5. The folks that produce these shows spent too much of their childhood watching reruns of Scooby-Doo.

How to Drive a Customer Service Representative Crazy

In an effort to make you more knowledgeable, I present these useful tips that are guaranteed to work:

1. Use the toilet while talking to the customer service rep. They will be able to hear all your body noises and flushing sound. This is an excellent way to repulse those representatives.

2. Eat potato chips while talking on the phone. The constant crunching drives them crazy.

3. Do your dishes while talking to the service representative. The clanking of the plates and running water is amplified on the representatives phone.

4. Two words - Crying Babies

5. Turn the TV or Radio up real loud.

6. Make certain you have a house full of people that talk very loud when you call your service representative.


7. When making important decisions on your insurance or retirement plans and investments or when speaking with your doctor or lawyer's office, do this on a cell phone while driving on the Interstate. Let the representative know that you are unable to take any notes or phone numbers since you are busy driving.

8. Call the representative requesting information on your spouse, relative or friend. Explain that your spouse, relative or friend is just too $%&* stupid to understand information so you take care of all their affairs and be sure to say "no" when they ask you for power of attorney since you don't need that nonsense.

9. While on the phone, excuse yourself, then scream at your spouse, kids or relative.

10. Ask them continually to repeat what they have just said. This works great if the representative is from an outsourced call center and speak English as a second language.

11. Excuse yourself and in a loud voice scream, "Honey, what did you do with my underwear?" This will burn a lasting visual image in the reps mind of you talking to them in your "all-together" with your love-handles, pot-belly and stretch marks being exposed.

12. When the representative answers the phone, immediately demand to speak with their manager. When they ask what are you calling about, reply, "You know what I am calling about! I want to talk with your manager!"