More Union Thuggery

That's right. The evidence is at www.first-draft.com at Scout's Madison Vids. No one ever expects---the Polish polkas. Unions dragooned a Polish Polka band to play Roll in the Barrels at the Wisconsin capital. Not since Al Shanker dropped the A-bomb have unions resorted to such low tactics. With the snow storms in Wisconsin, the unions only managed to get out between 70-100,000 demonstrators. Even Peter Yarrow showed up with winter clothes to sing "Which Side Are You On?"

Nationwide rallies for public sector unions across 50 states numbered in the 100s of thousands. Yes, you can become an honorary union member by signing up at the AFL-CIO website.

At the Tea Party Convention in racially tolerant Arizona, everytime Scott Walker's name was mentioned he received a standing ovation. Word from Wisconsin is that Walker is not backing down on the law to bust the unions. Michelle Bachmann likened Walker to Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.

Teabagger Governor Le Page of Maine suddenly decided that he should try to pass a right-to-work law for the state. He admits it may be an uphill battle since he never thought of it before. Could he sense some funding coming his way? The same day he opined that climnate change was not man-made--a position he never expressed before. We all know the number one climate change deniers are the Koch Brothers, who actually fund every American think tank which counters climate change science. They fund this at a greater level than Exxon-Mobil.

Still waiting for the end in Libya. Appearing for his record breaking appearance on the Sunday Talk Shows, McCain urges Obama to get tough with Libya. I guess John was in a coma for the last few days. The only thing Obama hasn't done is invade--at least overtly. Press reports have American, French and British special forces there already. In the past I have always been sympathetic to humanitarian interventions to prevent further crimes against humanity. Having been bit a couple times during the Bush-Cheney regime I am more hesitant. Libya is basically heading rather rapidly to a civil war and with a decentralized power structure direct American intervention might just exacerbate things further.

I agree with Tom Friedman of the New York Times that the unrest in the Middle East will be with us for years to come. Demonstrators still press for the resignation of Yemen's dictator and now are aiming at Oman. Apparently Facebook has been instrumental in new uprisings in Mauretania. In case you missed it--100s of thousands of Iranians are protesting throughout Iran's major cities.

Bob Gates, speaking at West Point, seemed to slap down Rummy and Dick Cheney saying that any future Secretary of Defense who advocated a ground war in the Middle East should have his head examined.

Bing West, a 70-year old military historian, has just written a book on Afghanistan where he concludes it's the wrong war, in the wrong time and in the wrong way. He embedded himself with our troops and went out on operations to evaluate the enemy. He contacted cholera and had to be airlifted out of country. A good read.

Anonymous promises to target the Koch Brothers and their holdings. They are currently looking for vulnerabilities in their various businesses. Boycotts are beginning against Koch products. You can look them up on line.

Some people think I was too rough in pointing out some of Koch's more unsavory relatives. For balance, Harry Reid always refers to one ancestor as a champion horse breeder. That person was actually arrested for horse rustling and hung. I know that isn't quite the same as someone making lampshades out of skin. But we all have our crosses to bear.


MY OSCAR PICK: Randy Newman for the song for Toy Story 3.