Michael Winship In Salon

The Beer:  The Saison and Liberty came out quite well.  I will add that I had a PBR today that was actually quite good.


The Bicycle:  20 miles today.  A little slow and a little cold, but it beats rain anytime.


The VRWC:  No, dude...really...you're killin' me here.


Winship sounds so reasonable right out of the box:


The fact remains that labor is nowhere near the nefarious force of iniquity they would have you think it is. And I say this not only as the mild-mannered president of an AFL-CIO affiliated union but also as someone who regularly attends labor-management negotiations that by comparison would make the deliberations of the Bureau of Weights and Measures seem like Chicago in the Roaring Twenties.


He's not nearly so mild mannered and reasonable here.  Clearly an committed Leftist with all that entails, he believes there is a "war on unions".  There's not.  And certainly not on private sector unions.  I work as management in a UAW shop.  I have great respect for those who work for me.  We do not always see eye to eye, but we are respectful.  Contrast that with recent events in Wisconsin and you can see where the war really is.


The war is on taxpayers.  Taxpayers are gang-raped by public-sector unions, and especially teachers on a routine basis.  "Give us more money or schools will get crappy".  Not that more money has made any difference.


While complaining about unions being cast as bogeymen, Winship lays out two of his own.


In Michigan, a conservative think tank, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, funded in part by the Walton Family (as in Wal-Mart) and the ubiquitous Koch brothers,....


It is widely understood unions do  not and have never cared for WalMart.  They have been unable to infiltrate the workforce adequately to drive unionization.  I'd argue that after this many years of trying, it is more likely the employees just don't want union representation.


Then there is the issue of Koch Industries.  Easier to spell than Halliburton, they have been targeted as the newest bogeyman by the Left.  That it's a Big Lie is of no concern to the Left.  It continues to be perpetuated without shame.


Another Big Lie? This one...


...while continuing to tout bigger corporate tax breaks and looking the other way as Wall Street profiteers rake it in, ...


Pot, Kettle...Black.  Wall Street is giving at least as much to Democrats as they do Republicans.  "Wall Street Fat Cats in bed with the GOP" just doesn't stand up to any kind of scrutiny.  And speaking of Fat Cats, have you seen the salaries of union officials lately?


Winship continues to blather about EFCA, union-busting and some crazy relationship to Sharia Law.  He seems to think Sharia is some kind of benign "suggestion"?  His support of gay lifestyles would surely put Winship  in the cross-hairs (literally) of Sharia.


At any rate, the issue is public-sector unions.  Winship's other concerns are strictly red herrings.