Moe Lane

(H/T: @davidhauptmann) There’s a saying: If you’re playing poker and you haven’t figured out within the first half-hour who the sucker is, you’re the sucker.  Private sector union leadership is not quite yet at the point of realizing this: their comments and complaints about the White House’s decision to ‘delay’ the Keystone ethical oil pipeline give off the unmistakable aroma of what is really a quite shocking naivete.  Not to mention a darkly humorous naivete, as well: these poor people think that they matter.

But let me rip off the bandage.  Union leadership is going to stay solidly Democratic this election cycle, which means money is going to continue to flow to the Democrats.  That’s all that matters.  Luddite Greenies are significantly more shaky in their support this go-round: that makes them more important to this administration.  That is likewise the end of the story.  And since we already know that Obama’s planning to write off working class white voters, the question now becomes: why is anybody really surprised that this is happening? (more…)

That he doesn’t really believe it?

I try not to pat myself too much on the back, but this administration has done more in terms of the security of the state of Israel than any previous administration.

Or that he does?

…Either way, I believe that the appropriate Yiddish phrase to use here is Oy gevalt.

I got a problem with this, and all of you know what it is:

The accessories.  You do not take down zombies with a bazooka.  You do not take down zombies with grenades.  And you DO. NOT. ISSUE. ANTI. ZOMBIE. BODY. ARMOR. THAT. DOES. NOT. HAVE. ADEQUATE. NECK. AND. FACIAL. PROTECTION.  The rifle is fine, but a .22 Olympic target pistol is arguably better for head shots; and while both melee weapons are very reasonable choices I would personally argue in favor of a good boar spear with crossbar. (more…)

Before you ask: I was raised in a union household.  I know precisely what that word means, and I am using it precisely as my late father the local union president would have used it if he had lived to read this Wall Street Journal article by former SEIU boss Andy Stern.  Let me summarize said article: I, Andy Stern, am a cheap date* who can be easily persuaded to publicly abandon support for the most successful economic/fiscal system in human history in exchange to a free trip to the Great Wall of China.  But ignore for right now Stern’s unfortunate (for him) timing in writing a remarkably servile paean to the planned Chinese economy at precisely (I’m fond of that word this morning, it seems) the moment when the Chinese economy is looking alarmingly fragile to the rest of the world.  Let’s instead talk about the state of organized labor in the People’s Republic of China, shall we?

Well, in at least one way you can certainly say that labor’s organized in the PRC: the ChiComs haven’t been shy about instituting absolute and exclusive control over trade unions.  There’s precisely one trade union in China – the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, which is, as CNN helpfully notes, “a government-sanctioned organization whose primary mission is to support Communist party policies and seek basic compensation for workers.”  If you don’t like that union?  Suffer.  Want to start your own?  Here comes the cops.  Want to do collective bargaining?  Oh, you poor, naive so-and-so – hey, wait: isn’t Andy Stern in favor of collective bargaining?  Why, yes, so he is. So why is Stern supporting a country where they routinely oppress the workers (including children)  in ways that go beyond even the most fetid fever-swamp agitprop of the American labor movement?  Particularly when labor unrest in China just keeps increasing?

Oh, right.  Because Andy Stern’s a scab that got bought off by a Center for American Progress-sponsored trip to China.  I’m embarrassed on behalf of my old man; Stern didn’t even have the decency to be expensive to buy.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*I originally had a different noun there.  But I decided that it  was too insulting to sex workers.

Should be a fun afternoon, really. Let me get the PayPal link out now and save valuable time:

I figure that five bucks is a reasonable price to charge Lefties who want to yell at me, yes? I’m very excited about this experiment, in fact: if it works, my dream of monetizing my hate mail will finally come true.