Now This IS Interesting….

It seems that NYPD Commissioner Bratton employs the principals of Robert Peel, the founder of the London Metropolitan Police, as inspiration for guiding his men.  Something must have gotten lost in translation…..

Principle 4 - “The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.”

 or

Principle 7 - “Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public  who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”

http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/administration/commissioners_corner.shtml

Things are certainly different here in the "colonies", I guess. It is decades later, 

crimes have a different bent, more guns are available, and more money and plenty of politics are involved. And union contract negotiations…..

So we end up with people like this: 

"Police union head Patrick Lynch is known for using terms like “mopes” and “skells” when referring to suspects, but has recently reserved his caustic comments for a higher target.

That blood on the hands starts at the steps of City Hall, in the office of the mayor." (de Blasio)

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-union-boss-ire-city-hall-rises-article-1.2055449

So now there is a "slow down" by the NYPD.

"But the police union's phrasing—officers shouldn't make arrests "unless absolutely necessary"—begs the question: How many unnecessary arrests was the NYPD making before now?"

Bob Corker, where's that big announcement???

 "Expansion talks at Volkswagen's lone U.S. plant have ground to a halt amid disagreements about the role of organized labor at the factory in Tennessee.

(snip)

…...comments came in the aftermath of revelations that the state's $300 million incentive package offered to Volkswagen in August contained the caveat that the money was subject to labor talks "being concluded to the satisfaction" of the state.
.. Monday raised concerns that Volkswagen could move to recognize the UAW even without revote. The Center for Worker Freedom said in a release that that would be a "betrayal" of the workers at the plant who voted 712-626 against the union in February." http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2014/apr/08/volkswagen-expansion-talks-at-standstill-in-tenn/

So much for "no government interference" in the running of a private corporation. The Repubs are ALL in favor of a Free Market…when it is to their advantage. "The government should stay out and let us run our business as we see fit."

Enter the lobbyists and "grassroots" organizations, and see how that song changes. A little bit of KOCH money can go a long way……ALEC and Americans for Prosperity.

The Center for Worker Freedom is a Grover Norquist ("anti tax") group. They are also part of the anti-union, right-to-work pushes, with groups like Americans For Prosperity, being made in Missouri just like they did in Michigan and Wisconsin.
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2014/04/12443/national-right-wing-special-interests-groups-lean-missouri-legislators-push-alec

So…let the Koch Brothers, those examples of American expansiveness and hard work, have their editorials printed the the WSJ, quoted on FOX and have emails sent to their employees to "share with like minded people." If people are THAT gullible, easily duped, bigoted, uninformed to the point of ignorance or just too darn lazy to not dig a little deeper, we are in a world of trouble. 

Yeah, Corker, About Those New Jobs

Senator Bob Corker of TN is soooo proud of himself and the antics of his GOP friends here. They managed to spread enough fear mongering, threats, and guilt among the workers at the VW plant in Chattanooga so that the employees voted against a union by about 86 votes .  Not a big landslide but enough for the Repubs in this state to go tooting their horns. And lord knows there are ENOUGH of them here……Blackburn, Campfield, Corker, Alexander, Duncan, and De Jarlais to name a few.

Well,…..lookey here: VW is not so happy about the goings on during the voting.

"I can imagine fairly well that another VW factory in the United States, provided that one more should still be set up there, does not necessarily have to be assigned to the south again," said Bernd Osterloh, head of VW's works council.

"If co-determination isn't guaranteed in the first place, we as workers will hardly be able to vote in favor" of potentially building another plant in the U.S. south, Osterloh, who is also on VW's supervisory board, said. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/19/us-vw-usplant-idUSBREA1I0S820140219

Remember: "The board (NLRB) spent years in the crosshairs of GOP lawmakers after its general counsel brought a controversial complaint against Boeing in April 2011. Republicans tried to strip the independent agency of its funding and even shut it down temporarily by declining to confirm board nominees."
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/18/bob-corker-volkswagen-uaw-vote_n_4810757.html

I just wish the American people would wake up and see what hypocritical blowhards these Repubs are. Everything is for their benefit. The bottom line is king. They have continued on their march for decades. If they cannot control the workplace, the voting booth, women's reproductive life, education,  deport every nonwhite available (except those that do their laundry and yards…) and push their view of the Bible into everyday life…..they will not rest. Enough is enough. Looks like someone's calling their bluff this time.

Down Memory Lane

I'll bet that after the last four and a half years, you may have forgotten this:

Yeah.....I thought so.

A Conservative is a fellow who is standing athwart history yelling 'Stop!'
William F. Buckley, Jr. 

Oh, That Crazy Ohio !

Things seem to be moving right along in that republican state of Kasichstan, where the governor and his buddies, the Brothers Koch, have surreptitiously inserted their Right Wing agenda into the workings of government. The governor got a pushback on his union busting but things are still a bit rough in the "public worker" section. Take firefighters, for instance: nobody wants to be one because the majority are "volunteers."

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/volunteer-firefighters-difficult-to-attract-1392603.html

“We try to find ways to first bring them in and then keep them,” Smith said of the volunteers, who he said are hard to recruit because some “people don’t won’t to work for pennies on the dollar.”

Convincing everybody that the last part of the statement is a GOOD thing now seems to be a sticking point for the Repubs.
Then I noticed there may be small problem with that "separation of church and state" thing. Reminds me of the government funds being used for Liberty University....your tax payer money spreading the conservative view of higher education to college students whether you 
wanted it or not. 
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/xenia-receives-grant-to-renovate-legacy-center-1392581.htm

The City of Xenia recently was awarded a $2.7 million grant from the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund to further revamp what is now the sprawling 253-acre Legacy Center campus.

Partly as a result, a $6 million nursing facility and a Christian radio network will be added to the campus, developers said.

“This property belongs to God,” said Claude “Bud” E. Schindler Jr., president emeritus of Dayton Christian School System. “He is doing his work.”

Excuse me...but why is the state of Ohio paying for "God's work?" I've no qualms with such endeavors...but I'm sure there are LOTS of other Ohio revitalizations that need to me done (have you been to West Dayton, Youngstown, or Akron???)...and this is the best they can come up with? What about the old GOP bromide about the sick, the poor, or the unemployed "going to the church or charities for help. That's what they're there for." The church-sponsored entities apparently have the OK to go to the government.
Oh, there's this, too:

“We strongly believe in Clean Ohio and total revitalization (efforts),” said Kvamme, who serves as JobsOhio’s president and chief investment officer.
&
Kasich already has named Mark Kvamme, a wealthy Silicon Valley venture capitalist working on a $1 salary, as his director of development who will help shape JobsOhio. (2010)


Update: //freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/06/19/what-religious-tax-exemptions-cost-us/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter