70,000 Hits and News Articles

This site has now had over 70,000 hits. Sort of surprising. I never planned on being around this long or having more that 1 or 2 thousand hits.

Yahoo - Business Insider - It's great that unemployed people in Europe are pretending they have real jobs. Because so many people cannot get jobs in Europe they are actually creating companies and working even though they have nothing to sell. These companies exist because people want to learn new skills. People like to work. Fox News and the financial media tries to make us believe that everyone is lazy and just wants government to pay for them. Are my readers lazy? I doubt it, they bother reading and looking beyond the obvious. Lazy people don't read my blog for too long. You know the sign or a good supervisor, he knows how to motivate, to show people how what they do matters and it is not that hard.

Fox Business - Exclusive: Cash for Slackers. Alright, I have to start by saying something. The linked article is the first part of a 3 part series (it says it is) and I have not read the next two articles yet. Instead I have been waiting for a week or two (I will not bother checking on the posting dates). This site is not read enough to matter so you can believe me when I say that I can guess what the next two articles will say. I can also say that after reading this first article, I read about the history of the writer. Now, lets have fun.

The article is about how the "federal unions" will stop at nothing to protect "slackers". I will state what I notice in the article and video and then we will examine her next two articles in the series. I should say that the writer made her name because she hates federal workers and to be specific, she hate the IRS and paying income tax. Here is an earlier article she wrote.

Fox Business - Replacing the Income Tax With a National Sales Tax. Same author and still a political zealot rather than a reporter or even analyst. Her articles are all propaganda and even without reading the next two parts in her "Exclusive" three part series, I can guarantee she will remain a propagandist. That rarely if ever changes. A prostitute doesn't just change, they just run out of buyers.

So, back to "Cash for Slackers". The article does some pretty slimy stuff. It starts by saying a sob story about how a man on the Federal Labor Relations Board claimed that after all his time on the board, he concluded that the federal unions were to blame for hurting American taxpayers. She lied. The man was saying that since his first decision on the board. It is nothing new. It is certainly not an exclusive. Want proof? FedsMill - A RESPONSE TO PATRICK PIZZELLA AND THE BROTHERS. That bog post is two years old long before his current comments when he was the newest person on the board. Here is a line from the blog back then, "Pizzella declared, as if anyone needs or cares to know, that he has taken the FLRA job not to protect federal employees or the federal government, but primarily to protect the “hardworking American taxpayers” from waste.  He believes taxpayers are being bilked by the frivolous claims federal employees and their unions file as well as the official time the law provides them." I should probably point out that the guy is a far right winger who worked with the Koch Brothers. Lets face it, the guy came with an agenda and an opinion and it never changed. Okay, it was still years ago when this guy was spewing his stuff, not some new revelation.

This writer now proceeds to take a few stories of what individual federal employees are accused of doing, I mean four stories to accuse millions of federal employees of all being slackers. Really, not very scientific or balanced. Would four stories of federal employees doing great things prove to you that every federal employee was a great person? That approach is either called bigotry or propaganda. What this writer is really against is unions and she will use any story and make any outrageous claim to pursue that goal. If she was sincere in her logic, she would use the same type of arguments to prove that we needed to get rid of the military; but, they have no unions or collective bargaining. They have no say, they are slaves for their term. She prefers that type of employee.

Fox Business - Exclusive: Cash for Slackers, Part II. What a shock, the writer continues to lie and be deceitful. There are federal workers that have been asked to telecommute. Not jus them though, all kinds of workers across the world are now working from home on a limited or full time basis. It was business that began this trend, it saved office space and money. Before retiring I was actually considering trying to have some of my operators work from home. It only cost my organization a laptop each and saved buying a desktop. a desk, a phone, a desk and all the other things that are needed in an office. I was also pretty sure it would improve call delay times. This writer claims that all these telecommuters are working on "union business" and this is not only a lie but is very stupid. Very few union employees ever bother doing anything to help their unions. Most resent having to pay their dues. Lets look at the third article, I doubt the lies will change much.

Fox Business - Exclusive: Cash for Slackers, Part III. I have to point out something really simple. You cannot claim that federal workers are doing too much and then claim that they spend all their time working on union business. This same woman claims that the IRS is working too hard to take away our money. Lets read this article. Well, I have just watched the video. Totally predictable and again garbage and lies or the writer is just really, really bad or stupid; but, I don't think so. I thing she is just an ideologue. Lets start with this, what hasn't she done that I always do? Someone in this classroom needs to raise their hand. I provide documentation, source documents when needed. She provides no proof of her claims, we cannot investigate them independently. That is garbage reporting. What is she hiding and why should we believe anything she claims. I always give my readers a way to check my news claims. Go back and read things I wrote years ago, I never changed.

This third "exclusive" article claims that government unions are bad because they want the government to talk to them before changing conditions of employment. I have dealt with this and have told unions what I was going to do in advance, it is not that hard and the law does not require that I negotiate in these instances. Why wouldn't you want to tell people you were going to change their working conditions in advance of doing it? The writer presents this as a national security issue because people had been allowed to use gmail at work and viruses could come in over gmail. The government told them they couldn't anymore and the unions asked why, they have that right. I was management and I have no problem with being asked why I would change things, a good manager should be able to explain their actions. Heck, a bad manager should still be able to explain their actions. It is nothing to be feared. Unless you are Fox news.

I don't care what my readers think about taxes or government. I state my opinions and welcome yours. I just don't manipulate the truth into lies and half lies to convince my readers nor do I keep them from source documents like Fox News does. I dare anyone to show where in talking about the news I have shown a pattern of not giving backup that can be researched by my readers. Claim it and I will even post your comments if it conforms to the rules for comments (no cussing, no slander or libel and no racially insulting remarks - not that hard).

The Street - Pension Panic Grips America's Heartland. I think this writer is probably friends with the last one. Look out for things that start with sensational and alarmist headlines. The article basically says that the states cannot pay their pension obligations (a lie as I have proven many times) and therefore should not have to have collective bargaining. Huh? That is their conclusion. Changing pensions allowances has nothing to do with collective bargaining. The connection is a lie and a dumb one at that. The real attack is on unions.

I have to point out that this writer also fails to link to the document he claims to be quitting so you cannot know if the quote he uses is in context. Anyone who claims to be telling the truth and is unwilling to show their sources needs to be questioned as to their integrity.

The Business Insider - Washington Post - Actually, the Fed's massive stimulus helped the middle class and poor more than the rich. The article claims that the stimulus increased jobs as show by the lower unemployment rate. Cute turn of a phrase; but, it is a lie. There are fewer jobs now than before. The number of jobs has not increased whereas the number of people who are able to work has. Don't forget that under government guidelines people working at McDonalds are now considered to be working in manufacturing because they put your burger on a bun.

Yahoo - Reuters - Google to release monthly data on self-driving car accidents. Just so you understand, by releasing data you will be forced to lose your argument against these machines once they have fewer accidents than human drivers. Think harder.

Wired - Techies have been trying to replace politicians for decades. This article talks about how there is a group that believes the world should be run by engineers. You know, no democracy, just perfect answers from science. You want to count how many times "science" was wrong? Hey, the world is still round and not flat. There is gravity. The earth is not the center of the universe. Nope, science, when following it's own rules never knows the truth. It is always searching for better answers or it is also a lie.

The Washington Post - We bailed you out, and now you want what!?!  Just read it and enjoy.