WOULD BREAKING UNIONS ALLOW GOVERNORS TO SAVE MILLIONS?

Some people have suggested that all of the states should follow the example of Indiana, where collective bargaining by unions was done away with by the governor. Gov. Mitch Daniels says his move allowed him much more flexibility to change the way the government operates and to save money in the process. Here is the TerryReport response:

A VOICE FOR CALM REASON IN THE BATTLE BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND UNIONS

The dispute in Wisconsin is over whether unions of government employees should have the right, any right, to negotiate on salaries and benefits. It is a struggle for the future of America because unions represent one of the few forces that can push back against lower wages paid to every worker, including those not in unions. Just about everyone in America has gotten pay increases over the last decades, but here’s the problem: for most people, the hikes haven’t kept up with inflation or the basic costs of living. Those at the very top, and just below, have gotten huge increases, but the rest have been getting much less. Without unions, what would happen?

KEITH OLBERMANN STARTS A NEW, NON PROFIT WEBSITE, COMPETING DIRECTLY WITH TERRYREPORT FOR NOT MAKING MONEY. DRATS!

Keith Olbermann has a new website. Now he’s taking his brand of anger and more or less constant reproach to the Internet. It is bound to be popular and here’s hoping it is informative, too. Below, you can see some clips from his opening front page. The TerryReport hasn’t included a link. No one is going to have any trouble remembering the title, right?

	The Official Not-For-Profit Blog of Keith Olbermann

HOW LONG BEFORE A REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT STARTS HERE?

A commentary on efforts to strip public employee unions of negotiating rights 

All of those people with their large backsides resting comfortably in office chairs, the governors, the members of Congress and others who say that decent pensions are far too much for ordinary workers to get should cut their own pay and pensions. Let them go first. Why is it "reasonable" for one person to make 14 million dollars a year and unreasonable for the next one hundred people to make 45,000? What happened to America that we no longer accept the idea, even a small notion, of fairness?

GOVERNOR WALKER OF WISCONSIN PRAISED AND CONDEMNED

Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin got caught the other day talking to a fake Koch brother about the protests in his state over his attempts to strip away bargaining power from public employee unions. Now, people are trying to shout down each other on the Internet and cable outlets over who came off worse, the governor or the blogger who faked the call. This is not a very productive exercise.

KOCH BROTHERS FUND RIGHT WING EFFORT TO TAKE OVER DEMOCRACY

A conspiracy to thwart democracy right out in the open: the Koch brothers 

The United States now has an on going, upward blooming right wing plan to destroy the value of the votes of ordinary Americans across the nation. It is being spearheaded by the Koch brothers (pronounced coke). There are many differences between what is being done now and efforts that have been made in the past and the details are contained in the linked article below.

MOST FAR RIGHT AND “TEA PARTY” HOUSE MEMBERS GONE IN TWO YEARS

The elections of 2010 brought a lot of new people to Congress. This is, apart from politics, a good thing. It would, in fact, be a good idea if about half the Congress were to change say, every twelve years or so. The new Members are generally younger, most under 45, many under 40 and they are earnest to a fault. They want to do right, to follow what they believe they were instructed to do by the people, cut spending.

Where will this get them? Looking for another job, most likely. People always say they like “straight talking” politicians, but they actually approve, over and over again, those who know how to play the game and make back room deals. We, the voters, talk one way and almost always vote another.

Cutting spending is fine, as long as you DON’T HURT ME!Then, you are stepping on sacred ground, buddy. What the right in America actually wants is to cut spending on everything that benefits everyone else, except themselves. The right wants the programs that help cities, especially east coast cities, to be end, now. Farm programs? Let’s keep those billions. Defense spending? Can’t touch that. Money that goes to help a local health care program? Yeah, we need that, too.

The deal is this: you can’t have it both ways. Well, you can try, but it won’t work.

If you would like to know why most of the new Members of Congress will be gone in two to four years, read this story from the WashPost and the answer will be clear.

http://tinyurl.com/4934fmb

The Urgent Need for More Decisive Action by the U.S. on Libya

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE CURRENT SITUATION IN LIBYA

Beyond the immediate concern of getting American citizens out of Libya, here is one of the ultimate questions I believe we have to ask ourselves: how far can a mentally unstable dictator go in killing the people of his own nation while the world watches? This is a question which relates to all situations of genocide or anything approaching it. What are the limits? Five thousand? Ten thousand? Half a million? If you don’t set the number fairly low, how do you justify acting when the number goes very high?

It is around questions like this that the desire for a United Nations was born, but sadly that has not worked very effectively. The world still depends on the bold to come forward and take action when most others hesitate. Europe looks to America to take the lead because they would rather not bear the cost, in lives and money and possible criticism, of doing it themselves. But what level of military response would be appropriate?

At this moment, Qaddafi stands as the least admired head of state in the world. He has not reached the low status of Idi Amin, but he's headed in that direction. Only Daniel Ortega dares call him and express sympathy. (Memo to Ortega: are you trying to make the American right look good?) From all indications, Qaddafi has hired a slaughter corps from across Africa to murder indiscriminately.

This is one of the few times when a coup not only would be appropriate, but is needed, direly. There is no workable international apparatus to convict Qaddafi of his crimes and to send in a force to get him and bring him out, alive or otherwise. Nations have resisted this kind of thing because they fear the power could be turned on them next and that no government in the world would then be safe from criminal charges against its leaders. These fears are not unfounded, but they are overblown. Further, one reason that nations tolerate abuses is they have plans for abuses of their own.

Here is what is sad about this situation: a nation has risen up against a tyrant and we, who are spending something like a trillion dollars for wars and their aftermath in Afghanistan and Iraq in the name of freedom and democracy, believe we can do little to help the people of Libya, who are paying with their blood and their lives to rid themselves of an abundantly unbalanced murderer. We can make clear that we support those in the military who oppose Qaddafi and that we will be available to assist them, with military power, once he is gone. The idea that we, through the UN, could help restore peace should have a strong appeal. We should, also, search for every option to do more to bring about his end.

We, the United States, have an unfortunate run of picking all the wrong wars. We act when we should stay put and stay home when we should be active. The catalog of our mistakes and misdeeds is long. I think a major part of what is behind this is that we search for the easy war, the great win, the triumphant moment that will rock the world with our power and decisiveness. We are always seeking to show, to demonstrate, rather than actually do. Vietnam was one extended attempt to show that we would “pay any price, bear any sacrifice” and we wound up doing just that, for all the wrong reasons and for no gain.

Gulf War I, the H.W. Bush war, succeeded in running Saddam back to Baghdad with his scuds between his legs, but what else did it accomplish or prove? Within a few short years, terrorists had risen from the middle east energized by the notion that America could not take losses on battlefields and would retreat quickly when confronted. This miscalculation on the part of the terrorists leg directly to 9-11, 2001. There is nothing that can ever be proved to the world about America’s “resolve” that doesn’t have to be proved over and over within months or a few years of the last proof.

We would have no idea of showing something to the world by the U.S. taking an active, military and covert role in Libya. What we might do, however, is earn some small gratitude and develop a role in shaping the post revolutionary state of Libya and the middle east. But that is far secondary to the basic humanitarian goal of helping a people who are now at the mercy of a madman. How long can this go on without a strong response?

Doug Terry 

The Revolutionary Moment, 2011

Here is a list of some places where protests are happening today, Wednesday, 2.24.11

WISCONSIN
OHIO
INDIANA
GREECE
LIBYA
KURDISTAN (IRAQ)
BAHRAIN
YEMEN


REVOLUTIONS IN PROCESS:
EGYPT, TUNISIA


CONCESSIONS OFFERED:
JORDON, SAUDI ARABIA, IRAN


CHANGE SUPPRESSED: (so far)
CHINA, SYRIA, MOROCCO, ALGERIA


CONCESSIONS REFUSED:
WISCONSIN

DAIVD IGNATIUS, writing in the WashPost: (2.22.11)

It's for the Libyan people to dump Gaddafi, and they are struggling to do so with extraordinary courage -- reportedly even standing up to fighter jets. As I write, the Obama administration is still dithering about applying sanctions and otherwise pulling the plug on a man that Ronald Reagan called a "mad dog."

Shame on President Obama. This is a clear case of right and wrong, and the United States and its allies should show they mean it when they describe Gaddafi's behavior as "unacceptable."

http://tinyurl.com/4s9as5g

Background on Libya

Admit it or not, we in the United States live in a kind of a vacuum, an American vacuum created by dealing with our local concerns, and even our self importance. This living in mental isolation is so strong that the rest of the world hardly even is considered to exist. Add in the attractions of a hundred cable channels, video games, smart phones and the lack of any deep education about the rest of the world when growing up and you’ve pretty much got an invisible wall around the U.S. Plus, those other places are so far away, aren’t they?

To Europe, Libya and Tunisia are close by. In fact, part of Italy almost touches northern Tunisia. The problems of north Africa and the middle east spread quickly to Europe and they have millions of immigrants from the region living in their cities. As a result, they get better news coverage of international events than we do and regular people expect to understand some of the history and background of what happens. Can you imagine?

Here is a short clip from the Guardian newspaper of England in regard to events prior to the current revolt in Libya, followed by a link to their site:

 Libyans trudged through nearly 42 years of arbitrary and destructive policies, ever mindful of the vigilant eye of Gaddafi's brutal security apparatus. People who were even faintly critical disappeared. Opposition figures were hunted down worldwide and assassinated – the stray dogs of Libya, as the regime referred to them. Siblings informed on each other. University students were forced to watch the execution of their fellow students on campus. People were questioned if they were out of the country for long. Frequent worshippers at mosques were picked up and "rehabilitated". Wounded soldiers returning from the Chad war were thrown from airplanes over Libya's vast desert to conceal the extent of losses suffered by the Libyan army. Thousands of political prisoners were exterminated in the infamous Abu Salim massacre in 1996.

Following the ousting of Saddam in 2003, Gaddafi was quick to recognise that a shift was necessary on the international front if he was to avoid a similar fate and keep his grip on the country's resources and wealth. He renounced terrorism, paid $2.7bn in compensation to the families of the Lockerbie bombing, set up a$1.5bn fund to compensate the victims of Libya's bombing of a Berlin disco in 1986 and a French UTA airliner in 1989, and dismantled his programme for weapons of mass destruction. His turnaround was welcomed by the west and, one by one, western leaders made their way to Gaddafi's tent in the desert and came away with business deals worth billions of dollars.

http://tinyurl.com/4drgsyb

WHO NEEDS UNIONS?

The Republicans are right. I should have realized all along. There is no need for unions, either of public or private employees. Management will always strike a fair deal. They will go out of their way to make certain that employees earn enough to a decent living and to cover health care costs and save money for the kids college. Right?

Big corporations would never think of paying their employees poverty wages, because they know people have to be happy in their lives to be happy in their work. Corporations care deeply about people, since most big time CEOs spend about 80% of their time asking this question: Is my people happy? When they sense the slightest possibility that the answer might be no, they go running quickly into the work area and try to make things right, immediately. That’s the kind of guys they are.

Corporations would never cheat employees to make certain that the company earnings keep going up and up. If a company makes, say, a hundred million dollars a year and has 94 employees, the first thing they will think of is trying to make certain that those employees get a fair share of that money so they can live well in the expensive city where they are forced to live in order to work for the corporation.

Why would a company want to hire the less expensive workers for inferior work? No, they will always want to keep people with long experience and wisdom, people who know that the product is the most important thing the company makes.

It is just not that important that the stock holders get a really big return on their investment. No, let them have a good, solid return while the company grows by making a better product and getting more and more customers. Corporate management always thinks of the long term, not their huge year end bonuses and retirement package.

Without unions, then the rest of the companies around can pay less, which means everyone will be make more money! Prosperity will continue to grow among the wealthy and the very wealthy, so then they can hire the unemployed to clean their houses and wash out the toilets in their jet aircraft. Everyone will be happier. Things are really going to be great, when the Republicans win and we can get rid of all the unions and other whiners and complainers who think people, the workers, matter, when everyone knows the only thing that counts is profit and more and more and more and more of it. And then some more.

We need unions like dogs need wings. The leaders of corporations, the governors and mayors who set the wages and determine the benefits for employees are always focused on what’s best for those people. Most CEOs would rather see their companies fail and lose their own huge retirement package than to see workers not making enough. That’s why everyone in America has a good, solid retirement package and is making enough money to pay for the house and save for the kids college.

And how about those long vacations they’ve been adding without even being asked? Amazing, I say. I also like the way corporations fought to keep health care costs under control and let us keep our coverage for a full year if we get fired or terminated? Plus, we get to take our coverage with us when we change jobs, even it means the old employer has to pay part of the expense? These corporations are setting themselves up to be our real government and a better one than all that messy democracy stuff.

If unions get their way, all of our freedoms as Americans will disappear. We won’t be able to walk down a street without feeling the huge oppression weighing on our shoulders. Unions will stop you from shopping at your local supermarket and make your kids take tests in school. There is no end to it. You might even have to pay your water bill.

FREEDOM IN THE MIDDLE EAST COULD SPELL THE END OF TERRORISM

HOPES FOR THE END OF INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM

In a way, it is too early to talk or write about this, but there is great hope for America and the world in the revolutions now sweeping through the middle east. If they continue and if they succeed in creating new, more participatory states in their wake, we could be watching the beginning of the end of international terrorism as an ongoing threat.

WOULD YOU BUY THIS CAR?

WOULD YOU buy the car pictured below? I would certainly consider it very carefully. Nice looking piece of metal, I say. I like cars and I like cars that look good all together even more. GM says you can’t have this car. You’ll have to move to Europe. It is a five door, or hatchback, version of its much praised new Chevy Cruze. Tell them they are full of beans. They think they know better than we Americans what we will buy and what we won’t and they are dead wrong (they were almost dead a two years ago, too).

GAME OVER, SOON: QUADDAFI TO JOIN THE FALLING DICTATORS

QUADDAFI BEING SWEPT AWAY BY HISTORY

No one can be certain how it will end, but the end is certainly drawing near for Muammar el-Qaddafi, the man who has longed been thought of in the west as the madman of the middle east. It could be long and even more bloody, but the odds right now are that he will be gone within 48 hours. The entire Libyan delegation at the United Nations has resigned their posts and have denounced Qaddafi as genocidal killer directing guns and aircraft against his own people and responsible for mass killings.

DID THE AMERICA GOVERNMENT TELL THE BIGGEST LIE OF ALL ABOUT THE MID EAST?

Are you, dear reader, paying attention to what is going on the middle-east? The people there want out from under the thumbs of autocratic rulers. In Bahrain, the majority population, Shiite Muslims, are kind of fed up with being ruled over by the minority Sunis, who make up the ruling class and make certain that all of their family, relatives and friends are well taken care of with jobs and positions in society.

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Egypt

As the editor of The TerryReport, it is a point of satisfaction that I called the affair right from the start, as one could see by reading the first post, Egyptian Government to Fall. However, this is not a matter of false pride. At considerable personal, career and financial expense to myself, I witnessed a revolution and repressive governments over the years. It is really different when you see it personally and have your mind actively engaged. There is a dynamic to revolution and, while not all follow the script point by point, once you have seen one up close, you have a better perspective on the whole process. I am personally much more pleased that the Egyptian people were successful. That’s the main point.


It seems clear that one aspect of the Egyptian revolt was that the time was ripe. They had waited a very long time, perhaps ten years beyond where any nation should be expected to endure a regime of torture, mass imprisonment and suppression. There is no time limit on oppression, it is too much the first day it starts and so until the last day. Societies do have some sort of internal clock, however, as to how much they can take.


Here is what an oppressive regime cannot survive: a little breath of fresh air. Oppression must be absolute to last and when the people start to breath, when they start to sense that something might be possible, in many cases it is all over. I was personally hopeful that this might be happening in Iran a year and a half ago, but the repression came down hard enough that the movement, at that time, could not survive. It will be back.


Doug Terry, 2.14.11

CBS NEWS CHIEF FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT ASSAULTED IN EGYPT

The following is a statement from CBS News. 

The TerryReport has no further information about these events, 

nor do we expect further details.

On Friday February 11, the day Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS Correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a 60 MINUTES story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration.   It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into a frenzy.


In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering.


There will be no further comment from CBS News and Correspondent Logan and her family respectfully request privacy at this time.

Lance Armstrong Announces Final Retirement

If you weren’t in Australia last month, you missed your last chance to see Lance Armstrong in a bike race in top form. Now, he says he is retiring for the second time and for good. It wouldn’t be too surprising, however, for Armstrong to drop in on local or regional races around the country over the next couple of years, if and when he feels like it. He seems to love competition and the sport so much that it is hard for him to stay away.