(The workers swarm up the flanks of Big Pink at 0730. Photo Socotra).
I am up but groggy. I do not want to go to DIA this morning, but off I will have to go to make an eleven o’clock meeting. Even a full pot of Dazbog Russian Roast coffee TM is not having the full effect I would like. The Little men are swarming over the flank of Big Pink, continuing their inexorable march along the façade of the building, chipping paint like sailors on a land-locked battle cruiser.
These guys are amazing. They work unless it is raining hard. They appear to be happy to have paychecks. Well, I don’t know if ‘happy’ is quite the right word. Maybe relieved. That is the way I feel when I can get out of bed in the morning.
I listened to the news from my old home state with curiosity this morning. The President was up in the suburbs of the Motor City yesterday, celebrating jobs provided by a German firm that happen to be located there. Mr. Obama thundered about the injustice of the Right To Work legislation that is working its way through the legislature.
The whole thing is sort of confusing. The bill apparently makes participation in unions voluntary, though of course that is already the law. Big Mama did not have to join the Teachers Union, for example, and she didn’t. She did not believe in strikes by public workers. The thing that irked her was that the union got her dues deducted from her check anyway.
I haven’t read the bill itself, so I consider myself as well informed as the Congressmen who voted for the Affordable Care Act. I gather that people who don’t have to give an involuntary contribution might not want to do so if they had a choice. Seems reasonable, and you can understand why the unions are so dead set against it.
I don’t know about the timing. This is a lame-duck session in the Michigan legislature. Apparently the Republicans have a bigger majority than they will have when they come back, and have decided to go for it. Governor Snyder has announced he is going to sign it, if it arrives on his desk as expected.
I am a little mystified by the new politics. The President’s appearance up in Michigan seems to be part of some campaign that never ends. The election was several weeks ago- my pal Space announced that he had just taken himself off suicide watch last week as he recovered.
The Judge was sitting next to me at Willow. He was in town on some matters of personal health from his retreat up at Deep Creek. He opined that it was a pretty grand time to be retired, since now he can spend all his free time talking to doctors.
I just sighed. The President apparently thinks that going out to the hustings will encourage people to pressure the Republicans in the House to go along with raising taxes. I am puzzled by the approach- the GOP members all appear to be in safe districts created by their determined redistricting efforts, so I am not sure who the target audience is.
The Judge laughed. The Democrats in Maryland just redistricted his distant county in the pan-handle of the state out by West Virginia into a new spaghetti-shaped district that is concentrated in the DC suburbs. He shrugged. “There are more people at the mall in Montgomery County than there are in Garret County. That is the way this stuff works.” He took an appreciative sip of Willow’s Happy Hour White.
“But that means your vote is worthless,” I said. The Judge just smiled.
I assume the thrust of all this is for most of us to get on board with raising taxes on those millionaires-and-billionaires making more than two married GS-13 government employees in Montgomery County. I am pretty resigned to it happening, as are most folks I know. The concept is particularly popular if it is someone else’s taxes you are raising.
I would be OK if they just raised Warren Buffet’s taxes, or maybe him and Matt Damon and those Hollywood people who are onboard with the concept. I mean, if you had a choice, would you willingly shell out money you didn’t have to?
Mr. Obama took advantage of a supportive audience yesterday to get beyond the tax thing and speak about the right-to-work legislation that might be passed today. Governor Snyder used to say that he did not have this on his agenda, but has changed course and announced he will sign it.
The news is reporting that buses are heading for the state capital in Lansing from all over, and so many teachers will be there that several school districts have announced closures.
It is about the kids, I understand.
The circus that occurred in Wisconsin when Scott Walker did this is probably a pretty good template for what is going to go on today, and I wish I was going to be there to see it.
Unfortunately, I have got to work.
More on all this tomorrow. With all the paint-chipping going on next door, I can barely hear myself think. I imagine the legislators in Michigan are going to be feeling the same way.
Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com