Bits and Pieces

Those of you who know this writer are aware that he is not, nor has ever been doctrinaire anti-union. Both his grandparents on the maternal side were union members (in one case the Garment Workers' Union and in the second of the Teamsters) and that he was involved in the attempted unionization of a machine shop some twenty years ago. He was also, at one time, a member of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World). This writer sees the value of unions in certain cases. Those cases have to do with fair wages, safe work places and the representation of the worker, as a whole, when dealing with management and the shop owner.


But, since the days of your faithful correspondent's union activism it has turned out that several unions have decided to become unofficial arms of the government instead of representatives of the worker. A case in point is the SEIU. To be honest, the SEIU is a union that represents people who, if they had any damn sense, would use their jobs as janitors, hotel workers and maids, as a way to work themselves up into something better. In other words, they have made permanent jobs of jobs that were once performed by men and women attending college and working the jobs to pay their way through college or between high school and entering the military.


Now, in the administration of The One, we find that the SEIU has become an unofficial arm of Obamaism by acting as enforcers against the free speech of citizens at Town Hall Meetings who oppose the various permutations of ObamaCare.


Now the SEIU has taken to violence in an attempt to silence those who oppose the various forms of socialized health care while raising the image of mine workers in Matawon fighting Pinkertons; a silly comparison. But many unions have become silly. They worry more about the wealth of the union leaders than the well-being of the members. Also note, many members of the SEIU are unable to speak English, meaning that they are illegal aliens and are easily led with the promise of another few tortillas in the bento box.

If this writer were a young man he would not consider becoming a member of the CIA. The reason is not because he has a prejudice against spycraft, but because it has turned out that, from one presidential administration to another, one is never quite sure whether one will be awarded a medal or charged with criminal activity. The Justice Department of the Obama administration seems to have decided that it will prosecute CIA interrogators of Al-Queda and Taliban operatives using waterboarding as a method. There has been not beatings, no electrical shock, no starving. There has been the placing of soaked towels over the faces of the questioned. It is not unusual for members of the American military to have undergone such treatment. Waterboarding is not torture in the same sense that beatings or electric shock are. But The One and his DOJ seems to have decided that it is.

If you're a CIA agent it's probably a good time to get out.

Here's the story: Criminal investigation into CIA treatment of detainees expected - Los Angeles Times