Bjorn Against
Bjorn Against's JournalI became a union member today along with 28,000 others in the biggest labor victory in MN history
We have heard far too many stories about unions coming under attack and suffering losses in recent years, it is about time that we get some really good labor news and I am very happy to report that today is a day that unions can celebrate.
Today the votes were counted in the largest union election in Minnesota history, and now there are 28,000 new SEIU members in Minnesota including myself. To put in perspective just how big of a victory this is, 28,000 workers represents a 10% increase in total union membership across Minnesota. At least in terms of numbers this is the biggest labor victory in Minnesota history and it happened with overwhelming support with 60% of Home Health Care workers voting to join the union.
As a Home Health Care worker I can tell you that this union badly needed. I work as a Personal Care Assistant for a four year old with cerebral palsy, I only work this job a very limited number of hours as I have another full time job that pays my bills. If I did have to survive on my income as a PCA however I don't think I could do it. The job only pays $11.00 an hour with no benefits what so ever and we are required to drive our clients to appointments but do not get reimbursed for gas money. We don't get any health insurance and receive no sick pay or vacation time. PCAs work with some of the most vulnerable members of our society, and yet without sick pay they are unable to take time off when they are sick and thus put their clients at risk of getting sick as well.
Now with a strong union victory and 28,000 workers behind us we can negotiate to change these conditions, and with the overwhelming mandate we received we will improve the working conditions for all Home Health Care workers and be able to provide better care for the people who receive our services as well.
Today is a great day for Minnesota and for the labor movement across the nation, the corporate powers can try all they want to destroy unions but if we can keep having victories like this one they will not be able to hold us back.
We don't need to wait for any more facts to know that gunning down unarmed black men is wrong
People are trying to tell us we need to “wait for the facts”.
Well I don’t need to wait for any more facts to know that it is wrong to shoot an unarmed man six times in the street.
I don’t need to wait for any more facts to know that it is wrong to leave that unarmed man’s body lying in the street for four hours without even bothering to call an ambulance.
I don’t need to wait for any more facts to know that it is wrong for the police to shoot peaceful protesters speaking out against the murder with tear gas and rubber bullets.
I don’t need to wait for any more facts to know that it is wrong to arrest journalists who were trying to report on the murder.
I don’t need to wait for any more facts to know that when the prosecutor comes out and defends the police who were arresting journalists and attacking protesters that prosecutor is not a neutral source that can be trusted to conduct a fair investigation.
I don’t need to wait for any more facts to know that when the police refuse to release even the most basic information about the shooting yet will leak information that reflects Michael Brown in a negative light they are not conducting themselves in a trustworthy manner.
I don’t need to wait for any more facts to know that we have a long history of racism in this country.
I don’t need to wait for any more facts to know that many of the people defending the Ferguson Police Department are obvious racists.
I don’t need to wait for any more facts to know that I am sick and tired of people insisting that gunning down unarmed black men in the streets is in any way justifiable.
Yes, I realize that there are many facts that we don’t know and I want to learn those facts, but I am not about to pretend that we don’t know enough to be able to tell right from wrong. No matter what additional facts come out it will not justify shooting an unarmed person six times.
You won’t see the “wait for the facts” crowd in any thread about James Holmes or Dzokhar Tsarnaev telling us to wait for the facts on them despite the fact that they have yet to go to trial either, the “wait for the facts” crowd is very selective on which crimes they apply their logic to.
You certainly won’t see them telling us to wait for the facts in the next “self-defense” shooting either, many of them are among the same group of people who post celebratory threads in the gungeon whenever there is a news article about a person using a gun to defend themselves. The shooting victim in these cases did not face trial, but they are so certain of their guilt that they cheer their death based on a few words in a newspaper article.
Let us be clear: Darren Wilson has a right to a fair trial but he does not have the right to be free of criticism for his actions. The evidence is clear that he is a murderer and I am not going to feel any shame in calling him a murderer, nor am I going to feel any shame in stating plainly that I do not trust the police department and am not going to automatically accept the so-called “facts” that they are telling me to wait for.
The “wait for the facts” crowd wants to insist we wait patiently while journalists are being arrested when they try to get the facts to us. They want us to wait while the police incident report is being kept secret but the police are leaking details to smear Michael Brown. They want us to wait while the people who are speaking out are being shot with tear gas and rubber bullets.
Well I for one have waited long enough, I want to see justice and I want to see it now.
Racists are trying to portray Michael Brown as an animal just like they did to Trayvon Martin
So let me get this straight.
We are supposed to believe that Michael Brown first attacked Derek Wilson and tried to reach for his gun, but then he started to run away. After Brown gets a short distance away we are being told he changed his mind and decided to turn around and go back.
Seriously?
Are we really supposed to be so stupid to think Brown would change his mind and decide to run back towards the guy with a gun pointed at him? Unfortunately that is not even the only stupid thing we are being told to believe by Wilson's defenders, the next part of their story is even dumber.
Not only are we supposed to believe Brown decided to turn back after he already started running, but we are also supposed to believe he bent over and tried to charge the officer like he was some kind of animal. It is probably only a matter of time before the people arguing in Wilson's defense claim that Brown bared his teeth and growled like a rabid dog before he charged.
People actually expect us to "wait for the facts" on such an obvious piece of shit excuse like this? Sorry but I don't have to wait for any more facts to know that this is a bullshit story. The story has about as much plausibility as a claim that Brown was really killed by space aliens. It is absurd bullshit and I don't need to wait several months for a trial to tell me it is absurd bullshit. I fully support Officer Wilson's right to a fair trial, but when his defense is so damn stupid I am not going to pretend that I think there is a possibility that the murder of Michael Brown was justified in any way.
This story is just as absurd as George Zimmerman's story that Trayvon Martin jumped out of the bushes and repeatedly banged his head into the concrete. Again this is the sort of attack that sounds more like something an animal would do than a human would do, but racists consider black people to be animals so they embraced the accusation that Martin slammed Zimmerman's head into the concrete repeatedly no matter how absurd the accusation was.
Let's be clear; neither Brown nor Martin were animals and we should not be expected to believe they would attack people like animals. I don't need racists telling me to wait several months for the "facts" before I reject their racist bullshit.
Post calling for execution of Obama gets hundreds of likes on Tea Party Facebook page
Hundreds of people have gone to the Tea Party's Facebook to express their support for the execution of Obama through hanging, a smaller number went further yet to hit the like button on a post that implies the use of "a gun and a shovel" against Obama. These were the words I saw posted on the Tea Party's Facebook page today, words that have been standing on the page for six hours with the initial call for hanging receiving 316 likes from Tea Party supporters...
The Secret Service does not look kindly on calling for the death of the President, I don't know if they pursue people who publicly endorse such an idea through a like on Facebook or not, but if so it looks like there are literally hundreds of Teabaggers who have now publicly came out in favor of execution. Does anyone still question whether or not the Tea Party is an extremist movement that embraces violence as a solution?
I don't know how to link directly to the Facebook post, but these comments were posted on the Tea Party Facebook page underneath an article entitled "Restore American Exceptionalism: Nullify Obama" which was posted around 3:00 pm central time on the Tea Party Facebook page which is located here: https://www.facebook.com/TheTeaParty.net
It appears the moderators of the page find the post acceptable as they have allowed the comment to stand for over six hours now while they have been actively updating the page. Literally hundreds of Tea Party members are using the site to call for the death of the President and the moderators are allowing it to continue.
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Member since: Mon May 22, 2006, 07:07 PMNumber of posts: 12,041
