Unions

The recent developments in Wisconsin i think requires a bit of attention. Wisconsin is proposing a bill that will remove some of the collective bargaining ability of the Public Unions for the state.  Along with a change to Pensions which many are funded solely by the state government and a reduction in Health Benefits.  This is in response to closing a $167 million budget gap, and the estimate is quoted as being the equivalent to a 8% pay cut for government employees.  This is the solution brought forth as opposed to laying off 8% of Public Sector Employees to reach the same target savings.

Prior to this i haven't considered my own opinion on unions so i decided to do a little reading and research here at work on my lunch break.  I ended at the conclusion that unions had run their useful course in terms of winning the war of workers rights.  With the passage of Federal and State minimum wage laws, child labor laws and workers safety regulations.  But at this point the unions have become their own worse enemies with their stranglehold on many industries in the US.  Unionized employees on average earn 28% more then their nonunion counterparts, which is great but it begs the question if this wage disparity is forcing the non unionized workers wages lower because of this. 

From the business perspective on unions, they force the business into union contracts that limit the flexibility in response to market conditions.  Along with the higher average wages paid out to the unions the bossiness is then forced to raise costs of goods or face closing down completely.  It also leaves the Business in some instances to seek production facilities outside of the US Borders.

Knowing this i cant support Unions for their stranglehold on many business and state governments, but also on the hold it has on the employees that are forced into a union and to pay into the monthly union dues.  Over the next few years i think we will see more instances of state governments putting more pressure on public sector employees and unions in order to cut costs on their yearly budgets.

Patriot Act Extended

Recently the Patriot Act has been extended, and some even asking to make it permanent.  As court cases have shown in the past that this act is entirely unconstitutional and pokes holes in 6 of the Bill of Rights.  But one thing that i did notice over the last few weeks is the Government advising everyone through the media that the US Terror Threat Level is at the highest it has been since 9/11.  Seems to me as this is some classic scare tactics to convince people that this extension of this unconstitutional act is for their own good.

 I am sure later on it will be claimed that because it was extended it kept everyone safe, and i am not entirely sure that it has kept us safe for the almost past 10 years.  Seems that the recent statement by the FBI conducted searches of 40 individuals in its investigation of Anonymous's Internet sit-ins of corporate websites.  Many make the argument of "If you have nothing to hide then this doesn't hurt you".  But to me this is basically Rights "creep", meaning the incremental removal of Citizens Rights of the course of time. 

Ballot Question I Have Been Considering

"under democratic systems of checks and balances, no one should be left to judge him- or herself. The wide-ranging powers and discretion of law enforcement officers and their vital position as gatekeepers of the criminal justice system make it imperative that members of the public have a means of redress if officers abuse their powers and seek protection from scrutiny behind the so-called blue wall of silence. As such, bringing an external, community-based perspective to the problem of law enforcement review will promote positive behavior, ensure greater accountability, and deter malpractice." Source

This is one of the main ideas I have had for a little over a year now and have considered creating a petition and getting signatures to have it placed onto one of the Massachusetts ballot questions.  The idea is to create a oversight committee for each County that deals with reviewing complaints of police officers and misconduct, similar to internal review.  The problem with IR is similar to that of the Catholic Church, it gets hidden and the offender gets moved to somewhere else.  Now with this proposal it will hold police to a tougher standard then a normal citizen.  I am unsure as of yet as to how to choose the Committee members, either make it a new elected position or make it a assignable position, and have the members be chosen from various areas within the Counties.  Feedback or suggestions for more ideas would be greatly appreciated.

The Best Breakdown of What Happened to HBGary

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/02/how-one-security-firm-tracked-anonymousand-paid-a-heavy-price.ars

Many of the documents linked or screen captured in this article i have read prior to seeing them in this so i can vouch for the authenticity of them.  Also note that HBGary and Bank of America have tried to claim that some of the documents are faked you should take into account that the other two Firms have made official apologises.  Which guarantees that the data is not faked in a bit and it is just HBGary and Bank of America going into damage control, makes you wonder what are in those Wikileaks files that has Bank of America scared so shit less.

Anonymous uncovers more back door dealings within the Government

"According to e-mails obtained by ThinkProgress, the Chamber hired the lobbying firm Hunton and Williams to spearhead this effort. Hunton And Williams' attorney Richard Wyatt, who once represented Food Lion in its infamous lawsuit against ABC News, was hired by the Chamber in October of last year. To assist the Chamber, Wyatt and his associates, John Woods and Bob Quackenboss, hired a set of private security firms -- HB Gary Federal, Palantir, and Berico Technologies (collectively called Team Themis) -- to develop tactics for damaging progressive groups and labor unions, in particular ThinkProgress,"
 Source

More information has been discovered within the corporate emails copied from the HBGary Federal email servers.  On top of the Bank of America hiring the three firms involved in attempting to shut down or discredit Wikileaks, the same three security firms have now been linked to the US Chamber of Commerce through the same law firm.  The tactics seem to be similar gathering intel on the targets and in the The Chamber of Commerce's instance personal info including info on Union Leaders families and children.  But also i would like to point out how the mass media is ignoring this along with the data about Bank of America, maybe they are also in the back pocket of the same groups.

The hypocracy of US Government

The US government holds the ideal of nurturing democracy where ever it is wanted, but with the recent uprising and other throwing of the Autocratic regime in Egypt the US stance on it has been cautious for terrible and selfish reasons.  They wished to play it from both sides with passively supporting the protesters while also supporting Hosni.  This is solely do to the fear of losing a ally in the region and for the security of the US's access to oil supplies through the Suez Canal and from Egypt directly.  I am sure if this same event happened in Iran the US would put political pressure on Iran and on the rest of the UN to topple the Theocracy in Iran.