Day: August 14, 2008

Olympic Whiners

First it was Mark Spitz whining about not being comped for a trip to see this other guy break his records for Olympic gold. Then we have the American gymnasts and coaches blaming the judges for the failure of an American to get a gold medal. Sorry, she screwed up in her routine, the judges did not do that.

And now we have the Swedish wrestler.

Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian threw down his greco-roman bronze medal in protest on Thursday after his bid for Olympic gold was ended by a decision denounced by the Swedish coach as “politics.”

Abrahamian took the bronze from around his neck during the medal ceremony, stepped from the podium and dropped it in the middle of the wrestling mat then walked off.

“I don’t care about this medal. I wanted gold,” he said.

A bitter Abrahamian, silver medalist at Athens 2004 who had high hopes of top honors in the 84kg competition in Beijing, announced he was quitting the sport.

“This will be my last match. I wanted to take gold, so I consider this Olympics a failure,” he said.

Geez what a bunch of flippin cry babies. I was not gonna comment on the Olympics because of the sheer boredom of having to watch such things as Badminton, table tennis, swimming, diving and the list goes on and on……But I had to rethink my decision after seeing all the whining done by athletes, past and present.  I guess the BS about good sportsmanship is just another of those urban myths.  It is all about winning, nothing else.  It is NOT about representing your country with dignity.  This is just sad, that society has come to this.

Will Whites Become A Minority?

If so, what will the supremists do then?

White people are projected to no longer be in the majority in the United States by the year 2042 – eight years sooner than previous projections.

The US Census Bureau’s latest figures – based on birth, death and immigration rates – suggest that minorities will soon make up 55% of the population.

Hispanics who now make up about 15% will, it says, account for 30% by 2050.

It is projected that black people will make up 15%, a small increase, while Asians will grow from 4% to 9%.

White non-Hispanics currently make up about two-thirds of the population, but only 55% of those are aged under five.

It is likely that the demographic changes will be experienced right across the country – and no longer confined to urban areas as in the past.

Overall, the US population is expected to rise from 305 million people to 439 million by the year 2050.

The white population will also be ageing. The number of people over 85 years old will triple in the next 40 years.

“The white population is older and very much centred around the aging baby boomers who are well past their high fertility years,” William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution think tank, told the Associated Press.

“The future of America is epitomised by the young people today. They are basically the melting pot we are going to see in the future.”

The Census Bureau points out that its projections are subject to big revisions, depending on immigration policy, cultural changes and natural or manmade disasters.

This type of news should have some running scared.

All Politicians Pander

An article written by Thomas Sowell

We take it for granted that a vote means a secret ballot but it was not always that way. Moreover, it will not remain that way for workers who vote on whether or not they want a labor union, if legislation sponsored by congressional Democrats and endorsed by Senator Barack Obama becomes law.

Before there were secret ballots, voters dared not express their true preferences if those who watched them vote could retaliate — whether by firing them, beating them up or in other ways.

Anyone who is serious about people being free to express themselves with their votes wants a secret ballot.

The problem for labor unions is that workers in the private sector increasingly vote against being represented by unions. The proportion of workers in the private sector who are represented by unions has fallen below 10 percent.

Since unions are losing the game under the current rules, their obvious answer is to change the rules. Specifically, they want to do away with secret ballots when the government conducts elections to determine whether the workers in a particular company or industry want to be represented by a union.

With labor unions being major supporters of the Democratic Party it is hardly surprising that congressional Democrats have lined up solidly behind legislation to let union organizers simply collect signed cards from a majority of workers to be certified as the officially recognized union for those workers.

Of course, the union organizers will then know who did and who did not vote for them. And they may have long memories or short fuses, or both. Moreover, the workers themselves know that, so they may find it prudent to sign up for a union, whether they want one or not.

This legislation passed the House of Representatives last year but did not make it through the Senate. “I will make it the law of the land when I’m president of the United States,” Obama has said to the AFL-CIO.

US Steel And Union Reach A Deal

United States Steel reached a tentative agreement Tuesday with the United Steelworkers of America Union that will cover about 900 union workers at the company’s Lone Star tubular products plant.

The new four-year contract remains subject to ratification by the United Steelworkers of America at the Lone Star plant and by 14 other union locals across the country, according to Lorin Mask, recording secretary for the United Steelworkers of America Local 4134 in Lone Star.

Key parts

Elements of a new four-year tentative contract between U.S. Steel and the United Steelworkers Union:

– Significant wage increases;

– Substantial bonus and pension increases;

– Improved benefit programs for active employees and retirees;

– Reduced health care premiums for retirees.

Source: United Steelworkers Union national offices

Have The Dems Soften On Abortion?

The Democratic Party has proposed changes to the party’s platform on abortion rights with a new focus on reducing the number of abortions, in an overture to evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics.

The party’s platform now reads: “We stand proudly for a woman’s right to choose, consistent with Roe v. Wade, and regardless of her ability to pay. … At the same time, we strongly support family planning and adoption incentives. Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare.”

The proposed changes, drafted by a group of progressive evangelical and Catholic leaders, add that while still firmly backing Roe vs. Wade, “the Democratic Party strongly supports access to affordable family planning services and comprehensive age-appropriate sex education … which help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and thereby also reduce the need for abortions.”

A Vote Or Not

Reversing course, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is planning energy legislation that may allow oil and gas drilling in new areas off the U. S. coast, according to a House Democratic leadership aide.

Pelosi, D-Calif., is open to considering energy exploration on the outer continental shelf as part of a broader package of measures to address rising energy costs, the aide said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Details haven’t been worked out, the aide said.

Pelosi rejected holding a vote on drilling before the House adjourned for its five-week recess on Aug. 1. In a CNN “Larry King Live” interview Monday night, she said “we can have a vote” on offshore drilling, “but it has to be part of something that says we want to bring immediate relief to the public and not just a hoax on them.”

Among other provisions, Pelosi said she would like a requirement that electricity be produced from renewable sources such as wind and solar energy and the release of some oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve as an immediate brake on prices.

Democrats have been under increasing pressure to allow offshore drilling as gasoline prices have risen over $4 a gallon.

Americans are famous for a lack of concern on some issues.  Now that the price of gas is sliding downward, will the vote be necessary?  Or wanted at all?

Today In Labor History

14 August

President Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act, providing, for the first time ever, guaranteed income for retiress and creating a system of unemployment benefits – 1935

Members of the upstart Polish union Solidarity seize the Lenin shipyard in Gdansk. Sixteen days later the government officially recognizes the union – 1980

Former AFL-CIO president Lane Kirkland dies at age 77 – 1999

Agreement To Withdraw

American soldiers will withdraw from cities across Iraq next summer and all US combat troops will leave the country within three years, provided the violence remains low, under the terms of a draft agreement with the Iraqi Government.

In one of the most detailed insights yet into the content of the deal, Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, has also told The Times that the US military would be barred from unilaterally mounting attacks inside Iraq from next year.

In addition, the power of arrest for US soldiers would be curbed by the need to hand over any detainee to a new, US-Iraqi committee. Troops would require the green light from this joint command before conducting any operation.

The Pentagon refused to comment last night on the proposals laid out in the draft agreement between Baghdad and Washington that covers the status of US forces beyond 2008. Britain will strike its own deal with Iraq but Gor-don Brown hopes to withdraw most British troops from Iraq by next summer, reducing the number of soldiers from 4,100 to “a few hundred” by then.

Is this the plan that will succeed?