The American Spectator

I was a union member my entire life. It is something to think back and see where they went wrong and that is to save a drunk’s job time and time again while the true problems persisted into the honest, hard working peoples’ work life, I can’t imagine a single person trying to negotiate with the big boys of industry the work standards and the pay, the reason unions were formed, if you have forgotten, is total disregard for the worker and his family. From paying in script to paying wages that a dog could not live, on the companies have no one to blame but themselves. The auto industry is the greediest of them all: they spend money like there is no tomorrow and it is not all on wages and benefits it is in producing a $150,000 motorcycle or some fancy car that will never be sold for a CEO to drive on the week ends. I think we need to look at the overall picture as Unions are getting a bad rap out of this, just in the last few years we have two and three tier wages new hires come on board at 12 bucks an hour and the other parts sometimes it is as low as 7 bucks an hour. They paid the retirees to quit early, who would not take them up on that?

There are always two sides to every story. At one meeting on wages a GM executive told the union, “we will give you anything you want we will just raise the price to cover it.” The union wanted to maintain what they had and did not ask for a raise. Back in the sixties we had a decent living and prices were not that bad, but when the companies started just handing over the money is when things got out of control.
— Ken Roberts
Lebanon, Ohio

Enjoyed the article on union members’ support for Democrat candidates. However, I would love to see an examination of the influence of media unions like the Writers Guild and AFTRA on what stories do or do not get covered. It is my impression that the media regularly attacks our soldiers in the military but seldom does an expose on employee corruption and wrong doing in, say, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the Department of Energy, or OSHA, EPA, HUD. Could this be because the military is non-union and the employees of these other agencies — including the attorneys at the EEOC — are members of the 600,000 member federal employee’s union? In short, is there an unspoken rule that union brothers and sisters in the media/entertainment unions do NOT make their brothers and sisters in the government unions look bad in any way. Especially when it comes to exposing the duplication of work otherwise known as featherbedding! And I wonder how the public would react if they knew that they pay for more than 2000 full time union reps who do nothing but troll the Social Security bureaucracy for grievances, full time? Do the story — I dare you!
— Don
Knoxville, Tennessee

OH WON’T YOU PLEASE TAKE ME DOWN!
Re: Daniel J. Flynn’s Paradise City Lost:

Chinese Democracy to me compares to Brian Wilson’s SMiLE. Axl is brilliant and is looked at as doing his own thing when he wants to. I hate to say it but maybe you should listen to Rolling Stone for once. They got it right. He is the only original member left and has basically already sold more than Velvet Revolver has. If the band got back together they would dominate and in the past they have and are still regarded as one of the last classic bands. Read your own facts. As for Democracy it’s a very heavy and personal album that kicks ass. Take Pink Floyd’s The Final Cut. It’s considered classic now and was torn apart when it came out. Sometimes I guess appreciation takes time. Give me any artist who does not do anything for 14 years with no videos or promotion to do as well and enter the top 5 and number one global album in the world. What a disappointment!!! Top 5 in U.S., a country and #1 European album, a continent. Global rock charts dominated and Itunes chart topper. Best Buy pre-order record breaker and MySpace record breaker. I’m sure Axl gets a kick out of getting so many panties in a wad in one day. People are quick to hate. Sorry is about all critics and naysayers and negative people. He’s Sorry for you. Not Sorry for himself. He’s a legend who is wealthy (he earned it) and will go down in History with Chinese Democracy and “The Biggest Selling Debut of All Time,” as well as the record-breaking Use Your Illusion 1 and 2. The Legacy is already there so just try to stop Him and Them (New and Original Band) Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame eventually but, like the Pistols, will they really care!?!
— Chris Kelly

Not that anyone with a clear, drug free mind might ponder — but for the remaining gray beards who remember G ‘n R from their better days — the reference made about Elvis after he fell from grace and collapsed off his commode at Graceland might be applied (later) to the recent demise of Axel and company: “Good Career Move.”

OK, it may be tragic — but in the long run, the old rock band’s recent plunge will probably help keep their repackaged Greatest Hits c.d.’s movin’ briskly across the checkout scanner at your local Wal-Mart. And after all - it’s still about the Benjamins. Isn’t it?

But, that’s just me. And just so you’ll know… I really liked Elvis; just not the later version. 

“Thankuverrymush.”
— Dave
California  

SHADES OF GRAY
Re: Ron Schoenberg’s letter (under “Loss of Respect”) in Reader Mail’s GM: Generally Mismanaged:

Whenever a Liberal approaches Conservatives with a bouquet of roses, we know a brickbat is not far behind. There is a principle or virtue shared among Conservatives that he has always admired. Unfortunately, he is sorely disappointed and dismayed that we have failed to live up to what he once admired. Lo and behold, our inner fascism pops up like an embarrassing facial blemish on prom night. (Although, they may grant, a fascism more of the Franco rather than the Hitler variety.)

So it is with Ron Schoenberg responding to Brett Joshpe’s “The Real Threat to Democracy.” By Mr. Schoenberg’s reading, long have Conservatives and he stood in solidarity against the evils and dangers of a tyrannical government. But it appears we’ve let him down. Conservatives have sold their souls to a President who spies on our fellow countrymen and throws them into the dungeon days and days on end without so much as a chance to darken a courtroom’s doorway.

There is too much to detoxify in about all of this. We’ve been over this again and again. It is one thing to have honest disagreements; what is annoying is the Liberal propensity to refuse to acknowledge those disagreements exist accounting for Conservative behavior by asserting rightwing malice or rank hypocrisy.

What escapes many Liberals is that Conservatives find themselves dealing with paradoxes (Liberals aren’t the only ones whose thoughts are nuanced). One such paradox is Conservatives in general seek limited government on the one hand but advocate a strong and sizable military on the other. In spite of the fact that a large military seems at odds with the idea of limited government, the reality is freedom has been an all too rare certainty throughout history nor is it a given in the natural order of things. Thus having extensive military power, the ability to project it, and the will to use it are deemed necessary to preserve our liberties.

It is in the same fashion Conservatives in principle support measures in counter-espionage. It because persons are carrying out warfare against the United States we deem that they do not share our civil rights nor have claim to speedy trials. It is because those engaged in espionage should have no expectation of privacy that Conservatives favor listening in on their transnational telephone calls.