Saturday, January 17, 2009

Constituent Service?

As my Junior Senator from Tennessee spirals off into the land of unbridled conservative ideology, I am a bit amazed at his ability to remain in his alternate universe where he works against the best interests of his own constituents.

After we dutifully paid our taxes for the billions of dollars spent to rebuild New Orleans, Mississippi, Texas, and Florida, Goldman Sachs, AIG, etc. etc. etc., Senator Corker wants us to pay for our own damages from an entirely preventable disaster that was an act, not of god, but of his own chosen conservative ideology. Corker seems to applaud the cronyism of the Bush Administration's packing of the TVA Board of Directors (including a director whose qualification is that he is Chairman of the Republican National Committee...Isn't that a bit obvious, guys? Where's the finesse?) which led us in a straight line to the devastating event of 12:20 am, December 22, 2008. Cut costs, increase profits, increase bonuses, blame someone else and get out of town when disaster strikes.

Where is the competency and professionalism? Where is the concern for people's health...Their lives?...Concern for anything except profit and personal gain? It's the manifestation of the "I've got mine so things are fine" creed that has us in our present National condition. What I don't understand is who deserves a bailout and who doesn't? Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton when it became the target of an avalanche of class action suits involving its subsidiary's asbestos liabilities. When ehe became Vice President, one of his major successes was to get Congress to bail out Halliburton by assuming the liability for thousands of mesothelioma cases.

Republicans have no problems with bailing out rich people and corporations, but they go all outraged if anythings looks like it will actually help, you know, people. And if those people belong to a Union, Bob Corker will be the point man in the attempt to bring them to ruin. In Corker's world unions are bad. No reason except that they are Unions and Unions are bad. Forget the fact that unions are simply groups of people working together for better working conditions. This goes directly agains the conservative mantra of cut costs, make more money. Treating people like human beings is bad for business. Bob Corker is all against it.

Unions want things like humane working conditions, which is really bad for the coal business. Unions want things like proper training for workers and adequate safety precautions and adequate planning for emergencies and trainging and proceedures installed so that when something DOES go wrong, the aftermath is minimized. Lives are saved. Screwing people should not be a good business plan. Unions are the primary entities that keep corporations from screwing workers. Senator Corker hates Unions. He was willing to let millions of jobs be lost in order to get the United Auto Workers Union. Nice guy, Mr. Corker.

Let's think about Unions and the debt we owe them, shall we? Particularly some customers of a large corporation that was forced to provide training to its workers by their unions...Training that gave them proceedures and equipment to react and save lives when bad things happen. Some people are calling it a "Miracle". Well miracles happen when people lay the ground work for miracles to happen. Here are some of the unions involved in this miracle:

Seafarers International Union.
National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Patrolmen's Benevolent Association
Uniformed Firefighters Association
Uniformed Fire Officers Association
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA
Airline Pilots Association
US Airline Pilots Association

In yesterday's miracle where the lives of 155 people were saved after the US Airlines crash into an icy river, there were no CEO's or Senators flying planes, piloting boats, jumping out of helocopters, guiding people out emergency doors, deploying lifejackets and inflatable chutes, or co-ordinating the efforts of the massive New York response organization. Every one of them was a union member.

Bob hates Unions. Well, except for the one he belongs to...The Republican Party.

It looks like he doesn't much like his constituents, either.

Peace,

Steve

A better look at the Unions involved is here

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous2:29 PM

    the letter I wrote to Buster Corker in December of last year.

    $350 billion of the $700 billion for the bank bailout is lost. Washington expects the people to believe that nobody knows who has it or where it went?

    I would submit that one does not get to be as well off as Bob Corker by letting billions of dollars disappear. Thank you though, Sen. Corker, for standing quietly by as the banks lined their pockets while the American worker struggles to survive - while at nearly the same time you vocally and vehemently oppose a loan for Detroit because you are anti-labor.

    Would bankruptcy/restructuring cost $35 billion in taxpayer money? Bankruptcy would probably cut out the investors (even though they knew the risk going in).

    Is it better to let the middle class bear the financial weight, even as you try to bust the union to cut wages and benefits, further burdening the middle class.

    Shame on you, Sen. Corker. Shame on you for lying to America. Shame on you and everyone else who had a hand in stealing our money. Shame on you for trying to bust the UAW and hurt the American worker. To hear you berate and condemn the union for an economic crisis they did not make or choose was disgusting to say the least. It is a bipartisan economic crisis brought about by the policies of you and your ilk.

    The voters spoke loud and clear in '08. I assure you, senator, the voters will not forget what they have witnessed and we will be heard again. Next election I will be voting strictly anti-incumbent.

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