My problems with unions.

There was a time in our nations history when unions were a necessity, and they did a great service for the people in which they served. That time was gone a long time ago and it is not going to come back any time soon.

Let me explain why I believe this. When unions started they were initially purposed with improving the safety and working conditions of members in a time when a lot of employment was dangerous, hard, physical work. Many were being taken advantage of and unions did do a great deal to bring about changes to safety and labor laws.

Things have changed since then. We live in a society where OSHA reigns supreme when it comes to workplace safety and labor laws are extreme to the point of driving inflation. How many of you have joked about the lawsuits that are out of control these days? You remember the case where a woman got millions out of McDonald's because she spilled her coffee?

The point that I am trying to make is that the government has gone overboard in regulating business so that anything that could possibly harm us has been dumbed down so much that a lot of it's utility has been lost. That relieves the unions of the responsibility of trying to make our jobs safer. To be sure there will always be dangerous jobs. Most jobs that I know of that do not involve sitting all day at a desk have a degree of danger to them that must be managed, but the employers are so afraid of lawsuits that they compensate for that by training and supervision so that they do not have to cover the costs of litigation and medical reparation to their employees,

So that leaves the only thing to negotiate for the unions being wages and benefits. This is where I have my problems with the unions. I worked for a “union shop” when I lived in Southern California in the 90's. What this means is if you wanted to get a job at this particular place you needed to join the union. (In my case the SEIU, or Service Employees International Union)

I enjoyed my job and was good at it. I don;t want to seem like I am bragging, but I was among the best at what I did. I consistently covered for others that could not handle the workload that they were assigned. I worked usually 50 to 60 hours a week, and was there for about 2 years. The problem that I had was the pay structure set up by the union. Anyone who was able to get the job only had to do the bare minimum to keep the job and they got guaranteed raises and increased benefits just because they had not yet been fired. I was one of the lowest paid employees but did outstanding work according to my job reviews.

This is what happens with all union jobs that I am aware of. You can work your tail off and get paid just because of your job title and the amount of years that you have been there. There is no incentive to work harder, to go above and beyond, to innovate or improve in any way. Just put in your time and you are covered.

Let's say you started a small business. You built this thing from the ground up and were the initially the only employee. Through countless hours of effort you struggled and built this business to the point you added employees and grew. You like to think that you treat your employees fairly and many have become like family. You wish you could pay more, but you are trying to grow the business and provide for your family. Then one day you are contacted by a union that tells you that many of your employees have come to them and they want to represent your employees. To be honest, if I were the owner of this business, should the union be voted in I would close the business the next day and sell everything. It would be FAR better to start again from nothing than to have a bunch of bullies tell me what I am going to pay, what kind of benefits I am going to provide, and who I hire.

Don't get me wrong here, I am all for paying well. I am all for providing benefits. I am also all for paying the most to those that do the most to help the business grow. I work very hard. I believe that my goal as an employee is to provide more value to the business than I am paid. If I am able to provide significantly more value then nice things happen like promotions and raises in pay.

Unions destroy competition. They hinder innovation and make an employee – employer relationship an adversarial one rather than a partnership as it should be.

That is about it for the soapbox for today. Until next time stay safe and I'll see you down the road.

Obama backers are hurting my grandchildren!

A couple of things have happened recently that have kept me from writing a whole lot and so I am a little far behind. I never did write while I was home last week. I had such a fun time hanging out with my sweetheart and my family that I just let it slip by. I don't regret that for even a second and if you are missing the ramblings of an old curmudgeonly trucker I am sorry. I don't promise to do better next time because I just enjoy the family too much when I get home. Once back on the road the first few days were pretty hard running and so it was drive and sleep, then repeat.

So tonight I find myself in Oak Grove Missouri and my blood is boiling. I was reading some things on Google+ and came across a post that called a Georgia judge a racist for his decision to let a case go forward that involved President Obama.

For those of you that wish to see the story in the Washington Post it is here. What makes me angry about this is that just because the judge did not rule in favor of Obama, the people posting assumed that the judge was a racist.

I can't find anything anywhere (and if you can please feel free to call me on this) that shows where the judge in question based his decision on the color of the Presidents skin, his religion, his sexual preferences, or his choice of boxers or briefs. In everything that I could find the only question was the citizenship of President Obama.

Let me state here for the record that I do not care whether the president was born on the planet mars. His mother was a citizen of the United States at the time of his birth and that is good enough for me. He won the election fairly and I recognize him as the legal president of our country. I vehemently disagree with almost everything he stands for, but that is totally beside the point.

This is why I am so angry about this, for those of you that know me personally you know that my daughter Angi is biracial. her 2 children and soon to me 3rd child are as well. Every member of her family is of a race that is not totally Caucasian.  In her family every person has a significant chance of seeing true racism.

So when an event happens that is not racially motivated and people scream racism it damages that whole family in a real way. Go with me on a tangent for a second here. Let's talk about rape. A rape is a horrible brutal thing that leaves horrible scars, sometimes scars to the psyche that are a very long time in healing. When a person who was not raped screams rape falsely it hurts all of those that will be raped in the future by causing them to have a higher bar of proof to clear before being believed.

The same is true for racism. If racism is screamed every time someone disagrees with the President it makes it more difficult for those that truly are being discriminated against to prove that they are being harmed.

If you want to disagree with someone that is great! This is a free country and I welcome the debate! However if in that disagreement you want to accuse someone of something as vile and reprehensible as racism make sure of your charges before you throw them out. An accusation of racism is a discussion killer. If the person you are accusing of being racist is not in fact racist they will be righteously indignant towards you and you will look (correctly) like a buffoon  to them for as long as they remember the incident.

So to wrap this one up, let me once an for all time state that I detest racism and racists. It is the the ultimate sign of a weak mind and poor thinking skills to judge based on skin color. Each of us are given unique skills by God and are totally different from any other human on the planet. In all segments of population we have great people and some that could use a little more work, to judge someone on anything other than their own merits is giving them less than they deserve.

That is all for tonight, and as usual thanks for your time, and I'll see you down the road.

4 rules to save lives

Today I attended a funeral. This funeral should have never happened. Anyone who has read my blog over the past few months knows that I am absolutely pro gun and pro self defense. I think that as a society we have strayed far from the principals that helped to found our country and make it strong. Guns are a big part of what secured our freedom and has kept us free.

Part of owning a gun is acquiring the knowledge of how to safely use the weapon. And like all tools when misused a gun can be deadly. Therefore with today’s post I want to go over the 4 basic rules of gun safety. If these 4 rules are followed all of the time there would never be another senseless death or injury with a firearm.

The 4 rules apply to every person and every firearm, no matter the situation. Whenever you are around a gun make sure that you and all others follow these rules at all times.

1. All guns are to be treated as though they are loaded at all times, even when you know that they are not. Mistakes are easy to make.
2. Never point a firearm at anything that you would not mind destroying (or killing)
3. If your weapon is on the target your finger is on the trigger, if your gun is off the target your finger is off of the trigger.
4. Never fire a gun unless you are certain of your target and it's backstop.

These 4 simple rules, if followed keep everyone safe. I implore you if you own or handle a firearm at any time, make yourself familiar with these rules and review them each time before you use the gun to train, hunt, target practice, compete, or do any of the many other things that guns are used for. Review them whether this is the first time you have ever touched a gun, or if your job makes you use one every day on the job.

Today a good man was laid to rest and a family and community suffered a great loss. Let's make sure this never happens again.

Once again thanks for your time, and I'll see you down the road.

A new laptop and a new idea

Hey everyone I'm back! My former laptop, after years of loyal service in an extremely harsh environment (the truck) died a final death a little more than a week ago. I survived with only cell phone access to the internet, and was fine, but it sure made it hard to write. The new laptop is a HP, with the appropriate bells and whistles and seems to work just fine.

The strange thing about having a new laptop is that I have to configure everything the way I like it again. It is almost like moving into a new furnished house and nothing is where you are expecting it to be. I am sure in a few days I will be used to the new laptop and moving along just fine. 

I have been floating an idea around and am not sure where I am going with it, but will keep everyone posted as it happens. One thing that I have always enjoyed is radio, specifically talk radio. When I started driving truck I got a satellite radio so that I could listen wherever I was and did not have to switch channels every half an hour or so as signals faded in and out. 

When my new phone came in august of this year I re-discovered podcasting. I had listened to podcasts a little before I went trucking, and liked a few, but when I started searching for podcasts on the phone I found some that really zeroed in on what I liked to listen to. As you all know I am a little far from what most would call "normal" but several podcasts were produced like they were talking directly to ME. (Well me and several thousand others, but you get the point). Well I think I have found my niche, I am passionate about several things, 2 of them are politics and firearms. While there are some shows that do this, they are not put out very regularly, and many have stopped publishing new material entirely.

I am only restrained right now by time. I have everything that I need to produce and put the podcast out, and am just wondering if I have the time. I have until Monday to mull this over before going on the road again, and I am fairly sure I am going to do it.

So no real topic for today, just an apology for being gone for so long and an assurance that I am planning on continuing, That is it for tonight, I am planning to write more while I am home over the next few days, and hopefully write some additional so that I have some to fall back on if I am pressed for time while on the road.

As usual thank you for your time, and I'll see you down the road.

For God's sake THINK before you vote!

Greetings from the road! I am fairly certain that the laptop has breathed its last and so I am writing this and future posts on my mobile phone for now as I do not have enough money to just march right out and buy a new laptop.  So if the formatting looks a little funny or I don't catch as many misspelled words please forgive me, I am without several of the tools that I am used to having.
I was listening to the Roadgunner podcast yesterday, and as always found myself agreeing a lot with what Chaz was saying. By the way, if you are interested at all in guns, your second amendment rights, trucking, or traveling and eating, I strongly encourage you to listen to his podcast at http://roadgunnerpodcast.com.
As I was saying I was listening and was a little dismayed to hear him state that if Ron Paul did not win the nomination for the presidency from the Republican party that he would vote for him as a third party candidate in the general election.
Now, I like Chaz, he and I have exchanged several E-mails and even though I have never met the man race to face I do respect him and his opinions. However I cannot endorse this particular line of thought.
Tomorrow starts the selection process for the Republicans with the Iowa caucuses. Ron Paul is polling well and dies have an outside shot at winning. I will also state that I support him in his effort and plan to vote for him if he is still in the running when the South Dakota primary rolls around. However if Mr. Paul is not the eventual nominee when the Republican convention rolls around in the fall, I will vote for whoever is on the Republican ticket.
Anyone who is in their late 30s will remember when Bill Clinton won his first presidential election. It was a 3 way race with George Bush Sr. and H. Ross Perot. Perot, was able to siphon enough votes away from Bush that Clinton was able to take the presidency with a minority of the popular vote. (maybe the giant sucking sound that Perot kept hearing was the votes that he was taking away from Bush)
As much as I disliked Clinton I will give him this, he was a centrist in a lot of ways. And not everything that he did was entirely bad. Today, however we have Barak Obama in the White House and things are quite different.  President Obama has outspent his predicessors at an alarming rate, while forcing a poorly crafted socialist medical plan down the public's throat. I will get into specifics of why what he is doing is bad for the country a lot more in future posts when I am not typing on a cell phone keyboard, but suffice it to say that I believe that if we get another 4 years of Obama we may not be able to financially survive.
So it comes to this. The next president will likely choose between 2 and 4 Supreme Court justices. If Obama wins in November he cannot run for re-election. He will be free to go as far left as he likes. Forget socialisim, he will be able to swing all the way over to communisim!
My plan therefore is to support Ron Paul right up to the convention. If he wins fantastic! If not I implore him and you to join me in electing whoever wins the Republican nomination the next president of the United States.
Well that is it for tonight. As usual thank you for your time and I'll see you down the road.