11/12/2005

Borderline Blogger Nut-Brown Ale

It’s been a hard day. You’ve been up since 5:44 A.M. searching the net for Von Mises quotes, swimming laps at the Y, filling out your 500th “Citizen Request for Disinformation”, and picking out an appropriate ensemble for tonight’s school board meeting. (Borderliners always look good with orange, penitentiary style, pants and duck tape accessories, but tonight you’ll settle for the “Defeat Hudson Socialists” T-shirt, and matching “Dubbya Bush 08” baseball cap.) On top of all that you have to set an hour or two aside for some wealth building activities. Being a warrior in the battle to destroy public education is damn hard, thankless work. You still have those lectures to the editor to write to HSO for the next 22 weeks, and papers to file before you make your next election run for the school board. By 2:00 A.M., when your sitting in the basement, at the keyboard, in your boxers, finishing up your last attack on some newly invited blog intruder who wandered onto your cyber shooting gallery (I think it was “citizen” who deviated from the borderline“script”, and used a socialist term like “fair”) you’re about ready to lay back in the lazy boy and enjoy the latest libation from Von Mises Breweries (TM), a cold bottle of Borderline Blogger Nut-Brown Ale.

Borderline Blogger Nut-Brown Ale’s full bodied, like you, with just a hint of that skunk scent that borderliners unconsciously exude. Its the kind of brew that put’s hair on your chest and helps you say to the world “Watch out lady School District Superintendent, I’m gunning for ya.” Like St. Croix Blogger Lager, it comes in the easily recognizable, non-recyclable plain brown bottle, the same kind great-grandpa’d have after a 12hr shift at the paper mill a hundred years ago, before all those socialist entitlements, like workman’s compensation, got passed by the givernment. Great-grandpa never really needed his left hand he lost in the mill accident for drinking.

Boy, didn’t great-grandpa have it good without all those pesky taxes taken out of his $12 Thursday check he’d spend at Dick’s bar.

After a dozen or two Nut-Browns, you’ll nod off into neverland dreaming of the “Good Ole’ Days”. So drink up Bloggers and dream on ‘bout bringin’ those day’s back to America. The next morning at 5:43 AM you’ll be thinking, “Thank God I don’t have a job to go to. Where's my mouse?” If you're just not feeling nutty enough, tip a bottle of Borderline Blogger Nut-Brown Ale for a peek at the nutty side of life.

(Von Mises Brewery, recommends responsible blogging and drinking, and disclaims all responsiblity for damage resulting from the reckless behavior that often results from consuming our products.)

11/11/2005

Free Fall Market...

Our Tight-Lipped Hypocrite Award Goes To The Bloggers @ www On The Border Line For Their Analysis on "Ethics"

Earlier this week, the always-alert bloggers over at www.ontheborderline.net gave Teddy Kennedy one of their highly coveted Awards for his recent comments on the "ethics" training classes President Bush is requiring the entire White House staff to attend.

On the Tim Russert Show, Kenndy said that "Ethics is about more than just a class." OTBL poster child Dr. Ruthless showed his quick wit -- I'm probably over stating the "wit" part by 50 percent -- associated with OTBL bloggers -- they are all doctors, afterall-- and concluded his post with "Gee, tell that to Mary Jo's parents."

Being that OTBL bloggers are such big number crunchers, I'd have thought they would have hauled out the voo-doo math spreadsheets and figured out what Bush ethics course will cost the taxpayers.

Since they didn't, I did.

The average annual salary for a Wisconsin public school teacher in 2003 was $42,775. Since there are 52 weeks in a year with five days a week and eight working hours per day, the total hours are 2080. $42,775/2080 = $20.56/hour. We will use this for our hourly wage standard.

The ethics classes are being taught by Harriet Miers and Andy Card. Each class lasts an hour and there are 3,000 staff members going through the course. $20.56 X (2 instructors + 3,000 staff members) = $61,680. Of course, we know Miers and Card get paid more than $20.56 hour, but we have to use something for a standard.

So now we are shelling out $61,680 of taxpayers money for President Bush to run his staff through an ethics class. This is the same President who campaigned in 2000 to bring ethics back into government. Now wouldn't you think Bush would have staffed his White House with people who already knew about ethics? I suppose that's like expecting the head of FEMA to know something about diasasters...

Running these staffers through a refresher course on ethics doesn't bother me. It makes good government sense and probably should have been done no later than January of 2001.

Failing to do the math here isn't what bothers me about the know-it-all "intellectuals" over at the OTBL blogsite. Their hypocrisy comes into play when they ridiculed the New Richmond school board members for hiring a psychologist to come in an work with the board on team building. Of course, the concept of a "team" is very similar to "community" and that clearly would leave the board open to OTBL ridicule. Those are foreign concepts to OTBL'ers. If I would have said "gang" and "pack," they would have understood immediately.

The exception the OTBL'ers made in their ridicule of the NR school board was Bill Brennan, the board member who didn't participate in the "psychological drama" that involved this "shrink." In a letter to the editor in the New Richmond News, Brennan, a previous OTBL "Ray of Hope" award winner, provided this highly sophisticated analysis of the broad's sessions with the psychologist: they "hired a touch-feely psycho-therapist to counsel the School Board members on how to get along with each other at $300 per hour."

Let's look at what makes up the New Richmond school board. There's a lawyer, a housewife, a factory worker, etc. There's a variety of citizens from a wide range of occuptions and experience. There is nobody on the board with decades of board experience. The idea of bringing in an outside professional to help board members work together on the issues and better understand the communication process does not seem to be a foreign concept. It goes on and on in corporate America every day. Educating a school board that oversees education also doesn't seem like a foreign concept.

If Mr. Brennan ever joins the OTBL blog site, I suggest he use the name "Dr. No." That pretty much covers his input at these meetings. If it's not too late, I think there are enough poeple in the community who would donate private funds to have Dr. No sit down with the psychologist. Maybe he would "do it for the kids."

Of course, the typical OTBL blogger's idea of a constructive school board meeting would be akin to a pack of shit-eating dogs thrown into a cock fight during a tornado. Fortunately, the majority of citizens see things differently. Hence the award...duct tape not included.

Republican Members Raptured In Dover, PA; School Board Evolves Into Democrats


The Profit Speaks to Dover:

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town Thursday that disaster may strike there because they "voted God out of your city" by ousting school board members who favored teaching intelligent design.

"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God. You just rejected him from your city," Robertson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club."

Eight families had sued the district, claiming the policy violates the constitutional separation of church and state. The federal trial concluded days before Tuesday's election, but no ruling has been issued.

Later Thursday, Robertson issued a statement saying he was simply trying to point out that "our spiritual actions have consequences."

"God is tolerant and loving, but we can't keep sticking our finger in his eye forever," Robertson said. "If they have future problems in Dover, I recommend they call on Charles Darwin. Maybe he can help them."

Today In Labor History


November 11
1887: Haymarket martyrs hanged, charged with the bombing death of eight police during a Chicago labor rally.

1919: IWW organizer Wesley Everest lynched after Centralia, Wash. IWW hall attacked.

November 13


1909: 259 miners died in the underground Cherry Mine fire. As a result of the disaster, Illinois established stricter safety regulations and in 1911, the basis for the state’s Workers Compensation Act was passed.

1914: A Western Federation of Miners strike is crushed by the militia in Butte, Mont.

1945: GM workers’ strike closes 96 plants.

1975: Unionist Karen Silkwood dies in a suspicious car crash while traveling to give a reporter documents on nuclear power safety violations at her Kerr-McGee plutonium processing plant.

11/10/2005

Dr. Bill OTBL's BIG OIL CEO Tells It Like It Ain't



For a trip through Dr. Bill's fantasy land, i.e. ego, take out two pieces of bread and click on this baloney and plug your nose for another visit to www.ontheborderline.net.

According to the facts, most of the economic news isn't good for President Bush


If you want to ignore the facts and prefer to blame everything on the media, then I suggest you check out the OTBL admin's fantasy post currently littering the OTBL website.

Before you enter the OTBL toilet zone, ponder these points:

1. OTBL: "Unemployment also is lower than the average during any of the past three decades."

The reason is that Bush is "workin' hard" to pull down that average that was pushed up by Clinton. Remember to exceptionally high employed rates during the Nixon/Ford, Reagan, Bush and Bush eras?

Remember the deregulation of the savings and loans during the Reagan era? Remember those mid-teen interest rates in the late 1980s? Remember Neal Bush? Wasn't he "workin' hard" for the Silverado Bank in Denver?

2. OTBL: " Real estate prices are at their highest levels in history, as are homeownership and Americans’ average net worth."

Come on over there. Read your own posts and the comments! Anytime someone connected with a local school board mentions real estate and people moving into the district, you guys are on them like stink on a skunk. Wake up Admin and smell the bacon! Bush is the one who is the experienced cheerleader. You, my friend, are sounding like broken wind.

Q: What's that giant sucking sound we hear over at the OTBL blog site?

A: That's what it sounds like when the potty pumper gets to the bottom of the OTBL spetic tank.

Today In Labor History

November 10
1933: Sit-down strike begins at Austin, Minn. Hormel plant. Workers at George A. Hormel and Company stage the first sit-down strike in the U.S., taking over the Austin meat-packing plant for three days. The tactic works: Hormel agrees to submit wage demands to binding arbitration.

1988: Tile, Marble, Terrazzo Finishers, Shop Workers & Granite Cutters International Union merge into United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners.

The Not So Funnies...

11/09/2005

Billionaires Still in Da House


And now for another musical interlude. This from our friends at Billionaires for Bush.Com

Play Billionaires
Catch Above the Borderline podcasts with Ipodder.
Download iPodder, the cross-platform podcast receiver





Queens of the www On The Border Line Gypsies

We took the "bored" out of the school board! We spanked the "ape" in duct tape! We dulled our "ax" on tax! We put the "six" in 666! We spoke to the "con" in conspiracy theory! We dotted the "eyes" in idiot! We inserted the "foot" in our mouths! We caused the "pain" in Thomas Paine! We are the "dumb" in freedom! We painted "cheap" in the free market! We put the "fruit" in the cake! We are the "greatest" in great! We put the "emphasis" in "don't let the door hit you in the ass when you head the big ugly truck towards Mississippi."

Terminator Closer To Termination

California's movie star Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger suffered the biggest flop of his political career when voters rejected a slate of referendum measures on which he had staked his reputation.

Figures from the state's top electoral official early today indicated that with 90 pct of votes counted, all four of the referendum propositions endorsed by Schwarzenegger had failed, two of them by wide margins.
Full Story From Forbes

Borderliners Quiet: Must Be Licking There Election Day Wounds

You know the Borderliners are counting their election losses
when all they can say is "Today In History".
"They never told me that Bush had thorns." Outgoing St. Paul mayor Kelley.

Kelly Suffers Widest Loss Ever By An Incumbent Mayor... Gee I Wonder Why?

Defeated St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly starts practicing his defeat speech by introducing President George W. Bush at the Xcel Center in August 2004. Maybe Mr. Kelly should give the President a call about jobs available at the White House. It seems that some positions are starting to open up. This would definately help the President appear more "bi-partisan" to the nation....well maybe not the whole nation, but at least to the shrinking minority of his supporters.

11/08/2005

Today In Labor History

November 09
1935: Committee for Industrial Organization founded by eight unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. The eight want more focus on organizing mass production industry workers.

The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was founded in response to the failure of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) to organize unskilled workers in mass production industries. At the 1934 afl convention, a move to organize these workers lost when only 30 percent of the members voted for the measure. After failing again in 1935, John L. Lewis, head of the United Mine Workers, Sidney Hillman, leader of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, David Dubinsky of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, and representatives of the Textile Workers and the Typographers unions formed the Committee for Industrial Organization. It was expelled from the afl in 1936 and became the cio in 1938.

The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, section 7A, which gave workers the right to organize and bargain collectively, provided an impetus to unionization in the 1930s. The cio's major organizing tactic was the sit-down strike, which was quite successful: cio membership reached 2,654,000 by 1940.

John L. Lewis was the first president of the CIO. Responding to the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947 and the election of a Republican president in 1952, the afl and the cio merged in 1955.

The Not So Funnies...

A Quote to Ponder

"Ever since the beginning of modern science, the best minds have recognized that 'the range of acknowledged ignorance will grow with the advance of science.' Unfortunately, the popular effect of this scientific advance has been a belief, seemingly shared by many scientists, that the range of our ignorance is steadily diminishing and that we can therefore aim at more comprehensive and deliberate control of all human activities. It is for this reason that those intoxicated by the advance of knowledge so often become the enemies of freedom."

Fredrich August von Hayek

(JPN: Likewise, from the cartoon above, it appears that those left behind by the advance of knowledge also become the enemies of freedom. Maybe we are better off just staying home and watching Fear Factor...)

Who Said It: Reagan or Bush 41 or Bush 43


"Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation. So lets not go overboard in setting & enforcing tough emissions standards for man made sources."

---
Cast your votes in the comments section.

"Dick" Chaney "Restoring Integrity to the White House"

Let's all sing along to John McCutheon's
"Dick Chaney Song".

Folkmusic.Com

Play

Woody SEZ:









Hard Travelin'

"Profit" is not a dirty word ... but the process leading there can be totally obscene and an insult to "free market" economics...



Check out the Corporate Watch website for more examples of the "free market" system so highly praised by the OnTheBorderLine bloggers.

Today In Labor History

November 07
1959: President Eisenhower’s use of the Taft-Hartley Act is upheld by the Supreme Court, breaking a 116-day steel strike.

November 08
1892: 20,000 black and white workers stage general strike in New Orleans.

The GOP Dumps Reagan 25 Years Later -- But He Can Still Sell Shirts

The New Hampshire Union Leader, one of our nation's most conservative daily newspapers, reflects on how the GOP sells Reagan's name, but sold out his principles.

RONALD REAGAN was first elected President of the United States of America 25 years ago Friday. In that quarter century, so much about America changed for the better that it is easy to forget how dramatically Reagan reshaped our politics. Sadly, those most forgetful of Reagan's ideals are members of his own party.

Democrats never really understood Reagan, but Republicans got him, some more than others. There always was a split between true Reagan Republicans and those who only campaigned as such. Today, after a decade of Republican dominance in Congress — including four years with a Republican in the White House —it is perfectly clear which wing of the party has won. It isn't Reagan's.

Non-defense discretionary spending has grown at a higher rate under President Bush than it did under any President since Lyndon Johnson. Discretionary spending under President Bush has grown more than twice as fast as it did under President Clinton. Last week, the day before the 25th anniversary of Reagan's election, Senate Republicans cut $36 billion in spending — and promptly added $35 billion. And they touted this as fiscal responsibility.

"The Republican Party came into power in 1995 by advocating limited government, but in the last four or five years, there has been no evidence that GOP officials in the federal government have any remaining commitment to this vital principle," former representative Pat Toomey, head of the Club for Growth, said last month.

Republicans are, and have been for a long time, invoking Reagan's name while squandering his legacy. It is a disgusting act, and one that will bear profoundly negative consequences for both the party and the country.

NH Union Leader

An On The Border Line.net Love Story

After Dr. Junkyarddog and Dr. Luke got married, they were on their honeymoon trip. As they were nearing Burkhardt, Dr. Junkyarddog put his hand on Dr. Luke’s knee.

Giggling, Dr. Luke cooed, "Ohhhh...Dr. Junkyarddog, you can go a little farther now, if you want to."

So Dr. Junkyarddog drove on to Boardman.

11/07/2005

Don't Forget -- Big Oil Gets Thirsty Too...

Who's To Blame? Wal-Mart, Unions, Public Education ... or US

Wal-Mart is alive and glowing on New Richmond's southside. Last week the new super center opened and the future of New Richmond looks...different. From where I live in New Richmond, I can see the bright Wal-Mart lights blazing brightly throughout the night. Down the road, going north, south, east or west, new houses are constantly going up. It has been this way for the last decade. Wal-Mart was only a matter of time.

Wal-Mart: Love v. Hate
I attended a concert last Friday night at the Gem Theater and the musicians made a few comments about driving by the Wal-Mart Super Center on the way into town. Like..."How could you let that happen?" Obviously not of the pro-Wal-Mart set, the comments from the stage were met with pro and con responses. Like it or not, the big WM is here and New Richmond will continue to change.

Personally, my conscience does not bother me when I walk into WM. The same goods for sale at WM can be purchased up the road at Pamida. I first entered a WM in Jonesboro, Arkansas on a hot Sunday afternoon in August in 1982. From the greeter to the prices on the merchandise, I knew this was no K-Mart. Since then, the WM business model has exploded into the largest company in the world. Companies like K-Mart, Sears, Wards and others have virtually vanished from the face of todayÂ’s retail landscape.

Those old guard companies could not compete with WMÂ’s business model of low-prices and low-wages. We see a similar thing happening in the auto and airline industries. The old business models that grew up during the 1900s can't do the dance moves required in today's global business boogie. In business, the target never sits still and, in todayÂglobaling economy, the target is moving and spinning at an ever-increasing rate. It's all part of that "free market" thing.

Hitting Home
As we transition to the "service" economy, things are changing. The smokestacks are coming down, the idea of life-long jobs is rapidly disappearing and leaving many older workers scratching their heads in the dust of disappearing pensions, vanishing 401kÂ’s and rising healthcare costs. All kinds of plans are changing. The talk of revamping Social Securitbeen beden silenced by such things as Katrina and the fact that the push for the change was from the top down where the people have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

You can see this transition right here in our neighborhood. In River Falls, Kolpak, a manufacturer of commercial refrigerators and freezers, in closing its RF operations and relocating its production to a plant in Tennessee. Kolpak says it is not moving because of the taxes. They are moving because the area of Tenesesse to which they are relocating has a strong work force and has a location that makes transportation of their products less costly. This will leave more than 100 people without a job in the RF area.

Twenty miles away, Wal-Mart opens in New Richmond bringing with it over 100 jobs. So it is a zero-sum wash, right? Wrong! Those Wal-Mart jobs will pay substantially less, will not have anywhere near the pension and healthcare benefits that workers received at Kolpak.

A half mile north of the NR WM Super Center, a small group of strikers are quietly picketing across the street from the Bosch/Doboy plant. Hook your horn, if you drive by them. They are your neighbors and they need your support. Better yet, stop by and ask them what is up. They will tell you what they are striking for. They are not the evil demons that some bloggers on this borderline like to paint union members. They, like those bloggers, have families to feed, bills to pay, retirements to plant for, taxes to pay, etc.

I stopped by last Wednesday evening and talked to the strikers. They said the story in the NR News did a good job of covering the issues with the strike. They told me the company wants to increase healthcare premiums, reduce wages and have the option of working 32-hour weeks, i.e., Bosch wants to cut labor costs. These guys are not "young bucks." They have 20 to 30 or more years with the company. Think about them and think about the friends and relatives you know who are out on strike at Northwest Airlines. You do not see the color rose in any of these scenarios.

You Can See The Schools From Here
Up the hill from the Bosch/Doboy strikers is the West Elementary school, a block east of that school is the high school, a couple more blocks and you are at the East Elementary school, go north a couple blocks and be at the middle school and just down the road is WITC. In others words, those strikers are surrounded by New RichmondÂ’s public education system. They support it with their taxes, their kids use it or they have used it. The future of AmericaÂ’s ability to react to and anticipate the changes of the global economy are housed in those school buildings and the teachers to whom we entrust the education of America's future. Now is the not the time to drain the resources needed to educate our future. However, that is exactly what policy is being deployed by the Bush administration, the majority in the US Senate and Congress, at the state level with the Tax Payer Bill of Rights (TABOR) and a the local level by anti-public education groups like those at www.ontheborderline.net.

People need to understand that education is not an issue about right or wrong, it is about exercising political power. There is a great deal of blog ink being expended on the borderline about how bad public education is. If I believe everything, I read on the borderline, anything to do with public education is negative. Is public education the perfect solution to our educational needs? Are the schools the cause of all the problems in society?

Like it or not, the pressures of parenting and providing the necessities of today is not they used to be. The greater the sophistication of our communication tools, the more isolated we seem to get as individuals and members of the community. We can talk on the cellphone to our friends on the other side of the state, as we wind our way through morning traffic, but are we talking to our neighbors down the road? Do we even know them?

There is a lot to think about. The kind of thinking needed involves the whole community and focuses on our long-term future. As the community grows, the need to update the educational facilities grows. The charting of the future needs your input. Get involved. Find out what is happening at your local school, town, city and county boards. In the links to the right of this post, you will find links to the local school district. Check it out. Find out when the next board meeting is...and go.

Your understanding of the process and your input is what the members of these boards need. Anybody can sit home, watch “Fear Factor” and complain about local, state and national politics. It's up to you to get off you duff and change things. I know it is much easier to blame it on Wal-Mart or blame it on the unions, but the blame might legitimately be placed on you and me. There is a great deal of power stored in the votes of the people of this nation. To use or not to use that power is the question you need to understand and ponder.

Pen & Ink Jambs: The Reading Equation

Doing the Math ... On The Border Line Style

On The Border Line bloggers Dr. Bubba and Dr. Junior were standing at the base of a flagpole, looking up. A man named Dratsum walked by and asked what they were doing.

"We're supposed to find the height of the flagpole," said Dr. Bubba, "but we don't have a ladder."

Dratsum took a wrench from his pocket, loosened a few bolts, and laid
the pole down. Then he took a tape measure from his pocket, took a
measurement, announced,

"Eighteen feet, six inches," and walked away.

Dr. Junior shook his head and laughed. "Ain't that just like a socialist? We ask for the height, and he gives us the length!"

Don't Delay ... Just In Time For The Holidays: Internet Fruitcakes


Order your fruitcake on line at the OTBL Fruit Cake Emporium. Don't spend the holidays in Roswell, New Mexico without it.

11/06/2005

Garage Logic: Big City v. Country Living

Last week on the drive home from work, I was listening to Joe Soucheray's Garage Logic radio talk show. He was quacking on about a group in St. Paul that is pushing for an ordinance that requires St. Paul businesses to shutoff business and billboard lights at 10 PM. Soucheray rambled on about the silliness of this proposed ordinance and its obvious anti-business focus. The group said it's not anti-business and just wants to be able to see the stars at night.

Coincidently, there was a development built across the field from me going on five years ago. When the roads were put in, there were no street lights included. It is the country and not in the city limits. A couple years later, street lights were put up. The light from those newly installed street lights has dimmed the night sky I view out my back door. I have it from a good source that the reason the lights were put in was because it was too dark at night. Most of those people living there moved from the Twin Cities.

Across the field the other way, a family from the Twin cities built a big house on the hill in what was previously farm pasture. A year or so after moving in, they were complaining to the town board chairman about the neighbors fence line. It seems they thought the fence was too dangerous, because their son road his dirt bike next to it. The chairman explained to them that the fence had been there for over a hundred years and it was currently being used to keep in their neighbors horses.

The family didn't understand that kind of logic. The house was quickly put up for sale and they moved back to the city. This fall I've been hearing the whine of a dirt bike over that way. It's probably time to check in with the chairman again...

Garage Logic

It's Official: The Eagle Loses The Rubber Match


Official Announcement:
The government today announced that it is changing its emblem from an Eagle to a Condom. A survey takenby a private consulting group found that a condom be more accurately reflects the government's political ideology and economic policy. It was found that a condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you're actually being screwed.