Today the big story is that it's September 9th. Whoop di diddly doo. Also, there was an alert which caused Washing Tundy Sea and New Dork to be, how shall I say it, under no-rights martial law. And they got at least one FumDuck to say "I don't mind as long as it keeps people safe". The tip on which they were operating has still so far yielded no identification of the three terrorists who are allegedly right now allegedly stalking the streets of America waiting to blow people up. This sounds like a case of "If we can't get a REAL terror threat, we'll invent one and hope enough Americans are too stupid to catch on." While a real threat manifested itself, the Terrorist Hunt over the past decade has bankrupted America chasing shadows and allowed the infrastructure to rot and Corporations to poison, break down and just basically destroy America in the pursuit of their god the Dollar Bill. They even call it "The Almighty". To the point that a simple error blacked out San Diego and a few other choice locations for 12 hours. So, where are all these Right Wing FumDucks standing on the issue of Government Measures Which Actually Protected America? Like OSHA and the EPA and maintaining safe roads, waterways and levees? Oh, yeah, "Nanny State" and they shall have exactly none of it. Wonder if the Moron who told the NBC News reporter that "as long as it keeps people safe" can be persuaded to say how he feels about that? Something on the lines of "Well, the Nanny State protections didn't prevent the Massey Energy mine explosion or the BP disaster from killing workers, now did it? Proof that it doesn't work!" which is the standard Right Wing Rant. Never mind that their party has steadily sabotaged worker and environmental protections for 3 decades. Hey, where's all those good paying jobs that Deregulation was supposed to bring us? Probably jammed up Ronald Reagans dead rotted arse with the rest of his stupid shit. The "Texas Miracle" was mostly from new FEDERAL jobs in Texas and the rest, well... Jobs that are temporary, pay minimum wage and are so unsafe that 5 construction workers die each week in Texas in preventable accidents. Thank you deregulation Anti-Nanny State activist Freaks. They're still pressing forward with building new McMansions in a town where about 10 percent of the available real estate is VACANT, building them on top of a Toxic Waste Dump. That's right across three roads and a creek from me. al Qa'eda doesn't have to dump poison into America's water, the Corporate Masters do it by the hundreds of tons every day. But, hey, as long as it "keeps us safe". Moron.
Tag: workplace safety
Can’t Trust Goobers, part 2: Lettuce Spray
Another outbreak of e-coli in lettuce traced so far back to farms in Arizona. This is very nearly the scenario from summer before last, with tomatoes and Jalapeño peppers. That was blamed on Illegal Aliens pooping in the fields. Had to be "illegals" you know, because American Citizens, not only doesn't our shit stink, it's impossible for it to be toxic as well. Which segues neatly into the Other, More Likely, scenario: in the dry southwest most of the arable land and with irrigation, is near the cities, for one reason only. Several in fact, but WATER is king in the desert. Since every available supply of water has more human habitations around it than it can adequately support, the cause of e-coli and other Intestinal Nasties probably would be the Deregulated, Privatized, "free" Market Sewage Treatment measures in the neighboring townships. Naaahhhh... couldn't be thousands or hundreds of thousands of people pooping through a really shoddy sewage treatment system, it has to be maybe a hundred seasonal farm workers pooping in the fields. Even though the "treated and sanitized" water would be sold to the highest bidder. As to do the farms treat "their" workers like a big stinky pile of poo, and don't provide facilities or adequate drinking water, well, some do and some don't. I mean, how DARE those Washing Tundy Sea liberals tell us how to run our farms and treat OUR wetbacks?
Obama breaks truth to widows: Miners died as Corporate Slaves, get used to it
Not really. He said they died in pursuit of a better life. But since the Coal Companies and other Corporate owners of West Virginia aren't going to actually invest anything in developing some other way for the people who live there to survive, and the people have not nearly enough opportunity to build their own enterprises, it IS a cycle of corporate slavery. The Horatio Alger and Ragged Dick rags-to-riches stories were Bullshit when they were first published, and still are today. The Mine Workers union song popularized by "Tennessee" Ernie Ford, 16 Tons, says it more realistically. "you load 16 tons what do ya get? Another day older and deeper in debt St Peter don'cha call me cause I can't go I owe my soul to the Company Store." The same people who lobby hard against Unions and fair wages, lobby for "Tort Reform" meaning a Landlord's Lien not only on your possessions, should you default on your lease, but a period of bond-service, debt slavery, should you default. The Mining corporations, in particular, used this as a way of keeping the workers docile. The Company Store, just that, the only way you could get groceries or clothing or any other necessities of life was to purchase them from a commissary owned by the Company. Your lodgings were also owned by the Company. A rigged system where you always owed the Boss for the privilege of working for him. Paid less than you're forced to spend to survive. Try to leave and you get a warrant for your arrest under the Fugitive Laws, have the equivalent of Dog the Bounty Hunter chasing you down, putting you into the County Prison to work out your debt. In a county that's owned by, you guessed it, your Loving Employer. America is sliding backward into that quagmire of Corporate Dictatorship. The saddest part, many of the miners and their families actually eat that crap up with a spoon, the Corporate Lies that they're working for a better future and for their freedom, and that of their children. It's a shameful thing for ONE political party to pay homage to that Blatant Lie. For ALL of the three largest political parties in America, Democratic, Republican, and Tea Parties, to pander to that meaningless CRAP is beyond shameful. Maybe he simply misspoke, and was off by one letter, they were working for a bItter life.