"nom=de=plume" wrote in message
...
"Gene Kearns" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:05:03 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch penned the
following well considered thoughts to the readers of rec.boats:

Demonstrably false crap snipped......

Factual refutation follows:
http://tinyurl.com/nzd5ua

One wonders: is there ANYTHING that some folks won't lie about to try
to sway other folks to their way of thinking? ANYTHING?

--
Agent 5.00 Build 1171

Grady-White Gulfstream, out of Oak Island, NC.

Homepage
http://pamandgene.tranquilrefuge.net/




No. It's a fear-based strategy, and it works, although not completely.

They're not really attempting to "sway" others to their way of thinking,
at least not directly. They're using the strategy to inject news with
their "facts" (which are usually half-truths or outright lies) in the hope
that it will create doubt in people's minds. In many ways, the accomplices
to this strategy are the news outlets who should be reporting facts as
verifiable facts and opinions as opinions. Dobbs is great example. There
are others. I'm not talking about Fox. ABC and CNN are perfect examples.
The major news organizations believe in "balancing" their reporting (not
quite the Fairness Doctrine, but along those lines), giving equal or
semi-equal voice to both "sides" of a "debate," EXCEPT facts rarely have
two sides. The Death Panel crap is a great example. Calling potential
healthcare legislation "socialist" is another.

And, it's not like the people who are opposed to any gov't involvement in
healthcare are hiding this. They're quite explicit in their hatred for
anything that involves gov't. They don't let the facts get in the way of
their arguments, even when they're called on it. They just smile and cite
more non-facts as facts. Dick Armey is a great recent example. He can't
help himself. They don't even listen to bretheren like Greenspan any more.

You can't really blame Rush and Beck for their nonsense. They're in it for
the money. Of course, with all the sponsors running from Beck, I'm betting
he's going to be told to tone it down. Bottom line, Murdoch is only
interested in money.

I really liked the diatribe against organized labor. I guess it's easy to
forget why unions started... poor management, including exploiting workers
and decisions by management that endangered the public good. It's easy to
forget because you actually have to make an effort to read history.

Here's a little ditty that happened to me some 30 years ago. Feel free to
call me a liar.

I was working for a defense contractor in a first-line management role. We
had lots of unions at the facility. One of my roles, and those of my
colleages', was to get work done by members of a union... a very powerful
union. We developed personal relationships with many of them, both out of
necessity and out of respect for the hard job they did. One union worker
was a dwarf who used crutches to get around. He was a wonderful guy, quite
competent, a bit gruff, but that was just on the surface. We treated him
with respect, and he did the work we gave him, even if it meant not taking
his authorized break. One day the managers group got word from on high
that we were no longer allowed to "talk" to the workers, except if it
involved "business" discussion about the actual work. Why? We were told it
wasted time. So, the next time I had something for Stan, I walked over to
his area, handed him the spec, and started to walk away, since everything
was self-explanatory. He tried to engage me in a personal conversation,
but I said that I was sorry, but I couldn't speak to him except about
business. Guess what? He started raising his voice, and all worked stopped
on the floor. The workers, hearing about the new policy, decided that
there would be no exceptions when it came to scheduling work with them.
The union steward was called. They started talking about lawsuits and
descrimination. The policy was rescinded the same day. All returned to
normal.

Here's a little ditty that happened to me even longer ago. Again, feel
free to call me a liar.

I was working in a warehouse, and I was required to join a union, a large
one. I had to pay dues, which for me at the time were expensive. I didn't
really want to pay them, but I needed the job. I was running a forklift
among the racks stacked with large generators and pumps, some weighing
hundreds of pounds. The non-union foreman was a big guy, who could be very
intimidating, especially to a young kid new on the job. One day, he called
me over, and said, "Plume, get your ass moving and get such and such piece
down. When you're done with that, put this and such piece it its place on
the rack." He need to get something loaded on an outgoing truck. Ok sir.
So, I'm getting into position to get the piece down from near the top of
the rack... The forklift was one of those stand-up jobs. As I shuttled
back, unbeknownst to me, the foreman had come up behind the lift without
saying anything. When I started to back into him, I saw him out of the
corner of my eye and stopped the lift so I wouldn't run him over. Before I
could say anything, he started screaming at me to get moving, that I was
holding everything up. I got flustered and instead of backing up more,
which was probably a good thing in retrospect, I lurched forward, then
jammed on the brakes. This caused the many hundred pound item to topple
the lift into the rack. This disturbed the multi-level rack, which also
started rocking back and forth. He ran. I had no place to go, but was
somewhat protected by the forklift cage. A half-dozen pieces came raining
down. Fortunately no one was injured. All/most of the pieces were
destroyed. He was furious, and threatened me both physically and that I
would lose my job and stomped off the tell the big boss and get me fired.
The union steward was called. The big boss showed up after a short time,
and told me I was fired. The steward told me to sit tight. There were two
other witnesses who basically corroborated my story. The union steward
filed a formal protest against the foreman. He told the big boss (quietly)
to **** off. I worked there the rest of the summer, and the foreman left
me alone.

--
Nom=de=Plume


Good story...and this kind of foolishness happens all too often in the 'real
world'.
People get promoted to lower management positions without any idea on how to
treat the people they supervise. Problems arise and to save face, senior
managers close ranks against the union and the employee it represents.
Usually the union will pervail in a grievance procedure but a lot of
animosity is built up in the meantime.