UNIONS

I had the occasion over the past weekend to talk with a gentleman from Washington DC who represents companies owning senior care facilities such as independent living, assisted care and attended care living facilities. He had an interesting tale to tell. (Obviously, or why would I even tell you that we talked?)

It seems that this person focus right now is in helping this sector of our economy avoid unionization. Unions are, apparently, hot to organize senior living facilities. OK .. so there's no surprise there either. So what's the big deal here? Well, clearly the seniors that live in these facilities are no more anxious than the owners to see the workers form unions. But there is one particular class of residents of these senior living centers that are more opposed to unionization than almost any other. Can you guess who they might be?

Let's end the suspense quickly. The one group of residents in senior living facilities who are, according to this expert, more opposed to unionization than any other group are ...former union members. Who knows better the culture of unionized workers than a former union worker? While these people were out there drawing paychecks, unionization was one thing. Now the shoe is on another foot. Now they are more concerned about the quality of the work than they are the size of the paycheck. These are people who in the not-to-distant pass were dedicated to the union principal of less work for more pay. Now they find themselves in a position where they could be the victim, rather than the beneficiary of such a policy.

Actually ... and this is because I'm such a sorry human being ... there is something rather poetic about these people who pushed their union mentality on the public and their employers now having to suffer the consequences just as their employers and customers did. Just the same, there would be innocent (not former union) victims of a successful drive to unionize senior care centers ... so let's home my new friend is successful in staving them off.

TRIVIA

When was the last scheduled passenger flight of a four-engine piston-powered airliner in the US. No ... don't email me. I already know. Just see if you can figure this one out.

TRICK OR TREAT FOR UNICEF ... PLEASE DON'T

Yesterday we had a caller tell us that her government school was promoting a "Trick or Treat for UNICEF" program for Halloween. She asked me what I though. I told her that UNICEF was definitely NOT one of my favorite charities.

Now I'm certainly not an expert on charities, though there are several that I personally support. My wife, however, has made herself somewhat of an expert through her own tax-exempt charitable foundation. Not meaning to brag, but Donna is so serious about the ethics of charitable giving that she personally shoulders all of the expenses of her foundation, donating 100% of foundation funds to charitable institutions and causes.

Now, as for UNICEF. The reason that I so strongly oppose donations to UNICEF is that when that money is spent on children's programs, these children are told that the money comes from the United Nations, not the people of the United States.

When a hungry child in Africa receives a meal from UNICEF, it's the United Nations doing the giving. When a sick child in Central America gets medical treatment from UNICEF .. once again, it's the UN doing the giving, not the United States.

I consider the UN to be an avowed enemy of our country and our sovereignty. Since the formation of the United Nations in 1945 - with few exceptions - the UN has worked against the best interests of the free world in general and the United States in particular. I think that it is foolhardy at best to have our children out there wandering door to door in their little costumes asking for money that will end up benign used to build loyalty not to the country that did the giving, but to the entity that actually distributes the funds, the United Nations.

If you're going to give money to needy children around the world, at least try to see to it that your country gets the credit.

I promised the caller yesterday that I would try to come up with some alternatives for her if she wanted to do something for a children's charity. I turned Donna loose last night with the assignment to research some children's charities. Her standards are tough, and she recommends you start with a charity that gets an "A" from the American Institute of Philanthropy.

So .. if you're of a mind to give to some charitable groups that does nice and wonderful things for children ... here's a list. Every one of these organizations gets an "A". Some of them only work domestically, some internationally ... none will give credit to the insipid United Nations for the work that they do. The list is in no particular order.

1. Save the Children. This group is working right now with the American Red Cross to respond to the special needs of children who are victims of the California wild fires.
    
2. Doctors Without Borders. This group provides urgent medical care to hundreds of thousands of people, children included, in over 70 countries around the world every year. Now this is an international charity, so the U.S. isn't necessarily going to get the credit for the generosity of its citizens, but they do get an "A", they do good work, and they certainly aren't the United Nations.
    
3. America's Second Harvest . This organization feeds our country's hungry through a nationwide network of food banks. Charity begins at home, they say.
    
4. UNCF .. The United Negro College Fund. This is another "charity begins at home" suggestion. UNCH distributes more funds to help minorities attend school than any other entity outside government. It's hard to think of a more worthy cause. If you really want to fight poverty ... begin with education.
    
5. The Child Welfare League of America. Donna tells me that this organization has a vision that every child will grow up in a safe, loving and stable family. They are advocates for child protection, domestic violence prevention, adoption, solutions to baby abandonment and many more programs.

If you or your child is in a giving mood this Halloween ... there are certainly better options than funding our enemies.

OK .. WHERE THE HELL WERE ALL THE HURRICANES

In 2007, for the second year in a row, the climate "experts" warned us of a deadly hurricane season in the United States. In April of this year the Colorado State University hurricane forecasting team's predictions for the 2007 hurricane season were well reported in the American media. William Gray said that the Atlantic basin would see a "very active hurricane season" this year. More specifically, they forecast 17 named storms of which nine would become hurricanes. Five of those hurricanes were expected to develop into major storms. The reason for these major storms was, of course (all together now) .... GLOBAL WARMING!

Well, how did they do? Just about as well as they did for the 2006 hurricane season. A complete forecasting flop. There have been 14 named tropical storms in the Atlantic. Four of them developed into hurricanes. Only one of them was categorized as major. Very few of the storms ever reached this country. Tropical depression Humberto caused a bit of rain in mid-September. Felix reached category 4, but struck Central America. Tropical depression Erin hit Texas around August 15th with big-time 40 mph winds. In June tropical depression Barry went up the Eastern coast with sustained winds of about 35-40 mph.

That's pretty much it, folks.

So .. for the second year in a row the hurricane forecasting experts missed ... by a long shot. Thus far 2007 has seen the lowest tropical cyclone activity since 1977. For those of you who went to government schools ... that's 30 years. The North Atlantic hurricane season is currently 30% below normal. That's below ... as in "less than."

So .. all you global warming alarmists who were warning us of catastrophe brought on by global warming ... time to change your tune. Maybe global warming can be blamed for the lack of hurricanes? Hell, give it a try! Let us know how that one works out for you.

But then ... we still have a month left in hurricane season .. so anything could happen, I guess.

SAUDIS UPSET WITH THE UK

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah is visiting the UK this week. This is the first visit by a Saudi monarch in over 20 years. But before coming, King Abdullah wanted to make sure to insult Great Britain by accusing them of not doing enough to fight international terrorism. He says that Great Britain is not taking the issue of terrorism seriously.

The Saudi King says that he passed information to Britain, which could have averted the 2005 London terrorist attacks ... and now he is upset that the British failed to act on the information. Investigations by the Parliament's Intelligence Security Committee say that there was no intelligence from the Saudis.

King Abdullah says that fighting terrorism requires a huge efforts from countries like Britain, and then goes on to complain that al Qaeda is a big problem in his own country. King Abdullah is also annoyed that other countries have not acted on his proposal for a UN clearing house for information about terrorism.

Now ... please correct me if I'm wrong. Isn't this Abdullah guy the leader of the country that hatched all but about two of the Muslim goons who brought us 9-11? Isn't he the heard weird-beard what's in charge of the country with those madrassa schools where Muslim children are taught that Jews are apes and pigs? Just where does he get the room to criticize England on the issue of fighting terrorism?

MUSLIM INMATE SUES

Convicted murderer Abdus-Shahid M.S. Ali is suing prison officials for confiscating two of his copies of the Quran and a prayer rug. The case has made it all the way to the Supreme Court where the Bush administration is now urging the Court to bar Ali from suing the prison officials. Bush says that the Muslim inmate should be limited to filing an administrative complaint ... just like thousands of other prisoners have to do every year.

Ali says that his copies of the Quran and his rug have been missing since 2003, when he was moved from a federal penitentiary in Atlanta to a facility in Kentucky. Ali is serving a sentence of 20 years to life in prison for committing first-degree murder in DC.

The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether to expand prisoners' rights to sue their jailers under the Federal Tort Claims Act for lost or damaged property. The question is whether federal prison officials qualify as "law enforcement" and are therefore exempt from suit. Ali argued that in context the phrase "other law enforcement officer" referred only to officers working in customs and related activities, thus permitting him to sue the prison officer who confiscated his property.

But Mr. Ali also takes the time to note that Muslim prisoners around the country are regularly mistreated because of their religious faith. He says that inmates have been subjected to "very hard times and bad treatment" because of September 11th. Well, isn't that just a damned shame. This Muslim murderer is upset over the way other criminal Muslims are treated ... this after his Muslim buddies murdered 3000 people on 9/11.

This Islamic bastard is lucky he's still alive and hasn't been executed for the murder he committed in the nation's capital.

Oh .. I sound angry? Damned right I'm angry. I sick of these Islamic goons threatening our country on the one hand, and then on the other hand using our legal system to harass and exploit us.

THWARTED U.S. EMBASSY ATTACK

The U.S. and British embassies suspended operation yesterday in Azerbaijan. The government says that it avoided a radical Islamic group's plot to employ a "large-scale, horrifying terror attack."

The Azerbaijani National Security Ministry says that one suspect has been killed and several others detained over the weekend, in a sweep of a village outside the country's capital. The Islamic group included an army lieutenant who had stolen 20 hand grenades, a machine gun, four assault rifle and ammunition from his own military unit, and planned to use them in the attack.

I would much rather hear from the Azerbaijani Security ministry that several Muslim suspects had been killed, and one was kept alive so that he could be tortured to within a half-inch of his worthless life in an attempt to find out what other little goodies him and his Muslim goon friends have planned for us.

Oops ... sounding angry again.

FEARING FEAR ITSELF

Paul Krugman had an enlightening little op-ed in the New York Times this weekend. How about a little taste.

"For one thing, there isn't actually any such thing as Islamofascism - it's not an ideology; it's a figment of the neocon imagination."

Do you hear that? Neocon ... now if you see radical Islam as an imminent threat, you are considered a neocon.

Read Krugman's column. You'll come away with the idea that this man doesn't think that Islamic radicalism presents any meaningful threat to this country at all. Typical, I guess, for the peace-at-any-price left.

Krugman has clearly been educated past his ability to comprehend.

S-CHIP DEBATES CONTINUES

President Bush and Democrats are still going at it when it comes to the spending increase for children's health insurance. Bush has now agreed to support the expansion of coverage to families of four making up to $62,000 a year, but he wants to limit states' ability to increase that level.

So .. there you go. George Bush supporting yet another huge spending increase on yet another expanded government entitlement program.

Right now about three dozen states ignore selected income when determining who is eligible for government-subsidized health coverage. Many states exclude child support payments while some deduct for child care expenses.

Rep. Joe Barton of Texas says, "You leave it up to the states to say you can't have an income level over 300 percent (of poverty), but you can deduct $20,000 for a housing allowance or you can deduct $15,000 for shelter or whatever ... So, what you've got here is the classic bait and switch."

Right now the Health and Human Services Secretary is saying that at least $10 billion could be trimmed from the bill, and the administration said that it could support policies that require more money than previously recommended. But Bush maintains that he won't support a tobacco tax increase to pay for the expansion. Instead, he wants Congress to pick from $96 billion worth of new fees or spending cuts that are included in the president's budget. That proposal got little support from Congress. Golly ... I wonder why.

THE TOP TEN REASONS I PROCRASTINATE

1.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

I briefly mentioned this yesterday, but Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has now been quoted as saying that marijuana is not a drug. His spokesman was quick to say that the governor was only joking.

When it comes to the lamestream media, Clinton and Obama are getting the most coverage. But on talk radio, Hillary Clinton gets 86% negative coverage.

Mike Huckabee .. proud of his record in Arkansas. This is the guy I would vote for if the election were held today.

A former director of Bush's National Economic Council says that under Charlie Rangel's grand tax scheme, "We would actually have for more people higher tax rates than what we had under Jimmy Carter."

Senator James Inhofe spent two hours on the Senate floor yesterday denouncing Leo DiCaprio and Hollywood for promoting unfounded climate fears to children.

One out of every ten government schools in America is considered a "dropout factory," where no more than 60% make it to graduation. Wow. What a surprise.

A new Cleveland imam quits before he even began, and he says it is because of bloggers. Maybe it's because bloggers happened to stumble upon a little video him calling on Muslims to kill the Jews.

An influential Islamic youth leader in Australia has warned that Australia faces a "London-type bombing" if relations do not improve between Muslims and police authorities.

Harry Reid is criticizing President Bush for not yet choosing a nominee to run the Department of Veterans Affairs. This criticism is in response to White House criticism of the Democrats for not yet acting on the nomination of Michael Mukasey to the post of attorney general.

Radical Latin American leaders are plunging their countries into poverty all for the sake of maintaining "anti-US policies."

The Russians must be getting their tips from FEMA ... Russian authorities have helped stage pro-Putin rallies.

The US has signed a partnership with nine US states to fight global warming by spurring international carbon trading. I'm tellin' ya folks; this carbon trading nonsense is going to turn into a giant international welfare program. Just watch.

A report released yesterday says that children are especially vulnerable to the "adverse health effects of global warming." Oh yeah ... we have to fight global warming for the children. I'm surprised it took them so long to roll that one out.

In Australia, they are now blaming heart attacks, strokes and respiratory disease on global warming. Oh and not to mention instances of obesity, food poisoning, and mosquito-borne diseases ... obesity?? Question: Is there anything out there that is NOT caused by global warming?

According to Hollywood, it looks like G.I. Joe can no longer be an "American hero," and he must be a part of an international force based in Brussels. God help us ... we just can't have an American military hero out there. That would be so terribly politically incorrect. Why, everyone knows that our servicemen aren't heroes .. they're cold-blooded killers! Just ask Jack Murtha!

A top pediatrician group recommended that all children in the U.S. should be formally screened for autism twice by the age of 2.

A team of Swiss and German researchers found that young men speed in cars because speed is inherently male. Damn right.

OK .. you have to watch this video to believe it. Trinity College is on it's own 39 yard line. Two seconds to go in the game. The snap .. a completed pass .. and then 15 laterals .. that's right ... 15 ... to score a touchdown and win the game.

Since we know you're not doing any work, I mean, you're reading this aren't you, you might as well go off and make this cool articulated paper skull for your desk.

This has got to be the most unfortunate inflatable moonwalk entrance ever. Hey, at least it isn't at the back.

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