The American Spectator

frost| 12.22.08 @ 8:46AM

Remember, back in the Northeast some years ago, Connecticut, I think -- the painters were NOT permitted to use rollers, just brushes; those pesky rollers were just so much more efficient, and so much faster... union rules.
That some union workers aren't allowed to change a lightbulb because they're in the 'wrong' union? Can't plug in a tool either...?
But, in another area today, Eric Peters slams management of the car companies, with plenty of justification -- they caved to the UAW and gave 'em 'most all they wanted. So few legitimate excuses for ineptitude, kinda like the White House, 'ay?

Appleby| 12.22.08 @ 9:53AM

To Generation Whine and their GrabbyBaby offspring: if any of you could read, I would recommend that you look up an old story called The Monkey's Paw (or perhaps Ursula K. LeGuinn's story "The Lathe of Heaven") -- as you cannot, or worse still, will not, I decree that soon you'll see the denoument printed in big glowing letters above your head and on the screens of your blinking Binkies.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR -- YOU MAY GET IT.

You got what you asked for. Hope you enjoy it. For the rest of you, see you at Galt's Gulch.

Marc Jeric| 12.22.08 @ 10:59AM

Mr. Jay Molineaux is so right. The most reactionary part of our nation are not the rightwingers - it is the unions. After the diesel engines replaced steam locomotives the union insisted that the jobs of those shoving coal into the steam locomotives be preserved; and so, for the next 50 years several thousand union workers rode diesel locomotives doing nothing - just nodding off for hours on their chairs. When containerships replaced old breakbulk cargo ships, in a similar fashion thousands of longshoremen with nothing to do sat in union halls for 40 years, being paid by shipping companies. That was the price extorted by unions to avoid interminable strikes and deadly violence. They could have instead embraced the technological progress by re-educating their members to new ways of doing business - but no; the "strong" unions are destroyers of industries in which they work.

Greg| 12.23.08 @ 3:56PM

Unions do worse than make work and guaranteeing jobs. They openly defy the all the other laws the leftist force everyone else to abide.

I was in Las Vegas once and walked into the restroom to find blood and broken glass all over the floor. It was a hazard and clearly violated several OSHA laws (if not health department laws). I asked the guy cleaning the sink if he was going to mop that up or call someone and I got the usual Union worker answer, "that's not my job" and he walked away.

I felt like shoving his worthless face into the broken glass and blood.

I also worked for two summers in a union shop in Ft. Smith, Ar (Whirlpool) and saw the workers cheat, steal, lie, walk off the job (to then come back and claim they weren't asked first, by rule, to work overtime so they filed a greivance and got paid anyway), gamble, drink, do drugs, commit sabotage to stop the line, etc.

I also noticed most of them were the dregs of society with low IQ's. But they thought they were gods. Funny, Whirlpool finally even closed that factory and moved it to Mexico. I guess that was before they had access to so much local Mexican labor (wink, wink).