It was Friday the 13th, and all the creeps came out. Actually, this whole week has been a little wacko, especially the national security "threat" in DC. And, of course, all the D's are whining about how poorly things were done as far as evacuations and the like. But what if they had shot the plane down? Well, then they would be bemoaning the loss of innocent life - hey, was it really necessary to blow a student pilot out of the sky? This national security is too restrictive and that Bush has a hair trigger. Sounds about right from the D's.
They ran my union story in the Federalist Patriot today, and I got an "attaboy!" from the editor for catching the story. Actually, he punched it up a bit, but it was pretty close to what I wrote. So I'll let you look it up on the Federalist website and I'll write it here as I submitted it. Not quite like making laws, but the sausage grinder of the editorial process does massage what I submit most times to some extent. This one ended up actually very much as I wrote it, which means I must be getting better at this.
For the first time since his 1995 election to the post, John Sweeney, socialist president of the AFL-CIO, may face opposition to his campaign for a fourth term as head of the large umbrella union.
Citing a lack of resources for organizing because of expenses incurred in the political arena, several leaders of unions under the AFL-CIO banner including the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union have openly encouraged a challenge to Sweeney’s election to another term. The millions of dollars of union dues spent on Democrat candidates have led to only modest success, with Bill Clinton’s 1996 reelection being the only large-scale union victory in a tide of defeat that has seen Republicans in Congress return to their 1994 levels. The 2002 and 2004 elections saw the end of a trend of Democrats eroding the GOP majority in the late 1990's.
Recently, in a move to shift more money to organization, the AFL-CIO laid off 1/4 of its Washington, D.C. headquarters staff and ceased publication of their "America at Work" magazine, which was issued 10 times a year. These and other changes were slated to add $10 million to their organizing fund, bringing it to $22.5 million a year. However, this yearly organizing figure is still dwarfed by the $35 million spent by the labor group back in 1996 to unseat House Republicans elected in the "Gingrich Revolution." The organizing number is further minimized by the more than $280 million spent on political contributions between 1989 and 2002. According to the campaign finance website opensecrets.org, 21 of the top 100 political contributors during those election cycles were the AFL-CIO and its member unions, with over 90% of those funds fattening the coffers of Democrat candidates.
It remains to be seen if this minor shift of money to organization will restore the union to its share of the workforce, down from 16 percent when Sweeney assumed the leadership of the AFL-CIO to its present 12.5%. With only the public employee sector is growing in union membership, the unions feel most threatened by moves from President Bush to privatize some areas of government.
But with the good comes the bad - they still didn't publish my Social Security letter. Bummer. I wrote this in reply to a letter to the editor in the Daily Times. I'd love to link to it but the paper has a lousy archiving system once they get past 7 days old. So bear with me on this one:
To the Editor of the Daily Times:
This regards the letter April 29th from Bill Whitmore, "Don’t let Bush sell out Social Security". I took it from a careful reading that he is an older gentleman, having lived in Chicago in the 1950's. That most likely makes him a Social Security recipient, or very close to the age for it.
As for myself, I just turned 40 and it’s apparent that feelings on Social Security private accounts are sharply divided on a generational basis. Those who "have" the benefits (backed by the AARP, which itself invests member dues in the stock market to get a good return) want the status quo, those who "have not" received them yet want revisions to a program that will be exhausted of money in the future unless some radical change is made. Some things to bear in mind: private accounts are completely voluntary, they will only cover a portion of one’s contribution with the remainder being placed with the traditional Social Security program, and a similar retirement plan is already in force for federal employees.
If I’m given a choice, I’m certainly going to have a private account, biased national polls notwithstanding. I’m familiar with the concept, as I invest through my employer in a 401.k account. I understand that it’s possible I could lose principal, but there’s no 20 year time period in the stock market’s history where it has a negative return.
Where Mr. Whitmore rails against 15 "cheating" floor traders out of the thousands on Wall Street, I have a problem with all of the 535 looters who work in the House and Senate. Those are the folks who have helped Social Security get into the trouble it’s in by spending Social Security taxes on general government instead of its intended purpose.
My take on reform is simple: let me do with my money what I want and keep it out of Washington’s hands. I’m certainly not in favor of changing Social Security for those who are getting it, their money should (and will) continue to be sent out every month. Remember, part of my Social Security contribution would continue to go into the program as it has been for the almost 20 years I’ve been working.
The Democrats have cried wolf about Republicans ending Social Security for ages. Yet the checks still show up as they have for decades and they don’t bounce. Who do you believe?
See, my usual letter. I propose a solution, I just don't complain shrilly that Bush is a liar/crook/slave to Big Oil/toadie to Dick Chaney. But I suppose I need to whine more to get ink.
Hey, I'm starting to get better at this blogging thing. I just learned about links within an entry, as you might have noticed. In the last couple days I also found out how to add links to my sidebar, and I installed a couple good ones, more than just the three my template came with. And I installed a counter to see if anyone is actually reading this besides me! If you are new and have never read through my little Eastern Shore conspiracy, please feel free to check out the archives (all 1 month of them). And welcome aboard! Glad to be of service. Hopefully I will link with other blogs both in-state and outside the Delmarva region.
And I have a public service announcement. I was reading in the Daily Times today about how Ocean City (just down the road from me) is hurting for tourists. So please, if you're someplace within a few hours' drive, come on down to the real "OC" and help us out. Hey, we managed to keep our foreign workers there, give them something to do. This way we make up for the money they send home by you tourists putting cash in our American coffers.
You know, the more I learn about this, the more I like it (as long as the links work). Keeps me on my toes, that's for sure.
