Archive for March 2nd, 2007
A couple of days ago I wrote about the Employee Free Choice Act here. The main thrust of the bill is to eliminate secret ballot elections for unions, thereby subjecting workers to union intimidation and worse.
I emailed Brian Higgins about my concerns with this legislation, since both he and Louise Slaughter have publicly supported the bill. Here’s the gist of the email response from Brian Higgins.
First, I want you to know that it is one of my highest priorities as your Congressman to ensure that Western New Yorkers can finally benefit from the economic vitality that our country as a whole enjoys. I support the Employee Free Choice Act because I believe in the right to unionize.
This bill has nothing to do with the right to unionize. It is all about government giving unions an unfair advantage. Unions have historically identified with the Democrats, so it is no surprise that democrats would sell their votes for a bit of favorable legislation.
As the son of a union bricklayer, the husband of a Buffalo public school teacher, and the father of two children, I know that working families deserve paychecks that sufficiently reward their labor. I understand your concerns about the Employee Free Choice Act, but I will continue to support it as I believe unions are vital to protecting and strengthening the freedom of workers and to ensuring the survival of a strong middle class.
Union blood runs deep in Higgins family. That also explains Brian Higgins’ willingness to favor this bill. He talks about a “strong middle class,” he should be saying a “select strong middle class.” Union membership has declined drastically in this country and has contributed to the decline of many, once strong, industries. I’m also the son of a union bricklayer, that does not make me blind to favorable legislation that is harmful to the economy.
Please know that I am hopeful that this legislation will soon get a hearing in Congress so that all sides will have the ability to work together to craft legislation everyone can agree upon.
This is not about crafting legislation everyone can agree on (a mouthful of political BS), it is about crafting legislation that is not necessary or beneficial. You can find a wealth of information on this proposed bill here.
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Rus Thompson has picked up the pace of protesting the Grand Island Bridge Tolls. He has now collected close to 6,000 signatures and is campaigning to raise funds for a billboard to protest the tolls. You can sign the petition and donate to the cause here.
In light of yesterday’s visit to this area from the NYS Thruway Authority, Channel 7 broadcast the toll booth protest here. Video of the story is also available there on Channel 7’s website.
You can click here for more local coverage from WBEN 930 AM.
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Do we need a new federal courthouse? No! Are we going to get one? Probably. Why are we getting a courthouse we don’t need? Because politicians like federal pork projects that make them look good to voters.
Apparently, Brian Higgins (prince of pork) has pissed off other politicians for stealing their thunder instead of sharing it. Boo hoo.
If there’s a fight, however, it might just be between Higgins and other local members of Congress.
The entire Western New York delegation and New York’s two senators have been pushing for the courthouse project. Aides to various lawmakers grumbled privately Thursday that Higgins had jumped the gun and grabbed headlines that ought to have been shared.
Who’s running this country anyway? Is it elected officials or appointed bureaucrats?
“If Brian Higgins thinks that Buffalo’s name is on the list, there’s no list to have a name on,” Dorris added.
Higgins dismissed such comments as “typical of the federal bureaucracy.” He noted that the GSA asked for the approval his committee gave to the Buffalo courthouse, thereby indicating that the building must be on the drawing board.
And it better be, Higgins said.
“I’m not going to be jerked around by GSA,” he said. “If GSA wants a fight here, they’ll get a fight.”
If Higgins were serious about boosting our economy, he would be fighting to let people keep their own money to spend and invest, creating real job growth.
Source: Buffalo News - No so fast on courthouse, agency says
Now you can easily find the official videos of the presidential candidates.
YouTube doesn’t want to be just a goof-off destination anymore. It just went a little C-SPAN.
Yesterday, as part of what the video-sharing site described as a voter education initiative, it launched You Choose ‘08, where voters can find the official Web videos from Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Barack Obama et al., all listed on one page. You know, the ones that the candidates want you to see, as opposed to the unofficial videos that are some of the most watched on the site.
Source: YouTube Gets Serious With Links To Candidates - washingtonpost.com
Democracy has cannibalized our liberties. The evils of big government were foreseen by our forefathers.
Does democracy really deserve the praise it receives? According to Webster’s Dictionary, democracy is defined as “government by the people; especially: rule of the majority.” What’s so great about majority rule? Let’s look at majority rule, as a decision-making tool, and ask how many of our choices we would like settled by what a majority likes.
Would you want the kind of car that you own to be decided through a democratic process, or would you prefer purchasing any car you please? Ask that same question about decisions such as where you live, what clothes you purchase, what food you eat, what entertainment you enjoy and what wines you drink. I’m sure that if anyone suggested that these choices be subject to a democratic process, you’d deem it tyranny.
I’m not alone in seeing democracy as a variant of tyranny. James Madison, the father of our Constitution, said that in a pure democracy, “there is nothing to check the inducement to sacrifice the weaker party or the obnoxious individual.” At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Edmund Randolph said, ” . . . that in tracing these evils to their origin every man had found it in the turbulence and follies of democracy.” John Adams said, “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” Chief Justice John Marshall observed, “Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos.”
Our founders intended for us to have a limited republican form of government where rights precede government and there is rule of law. Citizens, as well as government officials, are accountable to the same laws. Government intervenes in civil society only to protect its citizens against force and fraud but does not intervene in the cases of peaceable, voluntary exchange. By contrast, in a democracy, the majority rules either directly or through its elected representatives. The law is whatever the government deems it to be. Rights may be granted or taken away.
Source: Democracy or Liberty
