Non-union utility crews turned away from NJ; plus background on the IBEW protection racket from Michelle Malkin

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Business as usual

You’ve read my rants about crony-capitalism, and in truth utilities tend to fall into that category. There are a number of reasons, many of them historical. Back in the early part of the 20th century it became obvious that it was ridiculous to have two or more telephone companies serving the same town. Anyway, Theodore Vail, the Chairman of AT&T came up with a plan which allowed the government (state government, usually) to regulate rates, including a fair  (usually around 5%) profit in return for providing good, universal service.

As the electric utilities spread, and especially after the Insull empire collapsed, this scheme spread, with some differences to the electric utilities. One of the big ones was the REA (now RUS) that we’ve discussed here. Again it worked well, providing the United States with dependable electric and telephone service wherever you lived. The envy of the world, really.

But, the whole scheme did lead to a lot of contacts with government and a fair amount of cronyism. Some helped the consumer and some hurt, depended on what the motives were. But crony-capitalism, like all coins, has a reverse face. They are unions.

We’re talking this week about Hurricane Sandy, of course, which blew in on New Jersey and New York, doing a lot of damage to the utilities. As a side note, for you smart-alecks that thought your cel-phone made you invulnerable, 1 out of every 4 cell towers in the Northeast is down at the moment, due to damage , or lack of electrical power.

New York and New Jersey were at one time industrial powerhouses, one of the first and the best of America’s industrial areas, it’s pretty much gone now- to the Midwest and South and to Asia. Leaving the population to spend their days sitting in cubicles shuffling paper inconveniencing electrons. Why? Unions and government. At the end here you will find an article from Michelle Malkin describing how line crews from the south who came up to help in storm restoration were turned away because they were non-union. I was surprised, not that they were turned away, that’s normal in a union state, but that they even bothered. We all know better, they must have a young and idealistic manager. This is what happens when the unions are in control, everywhere else in the country we all work together in this type of situation, I have been known to call my counterparts in the union my brothers, and they have me as well. The unions did a lot for all of us but, the leadership now has lost sight of the mission like others before them.

What killed the US steel industry? The USW. What’s killing the Big 3 Carmakers? The UAW. The Europeans and Japanese all say America is the best place to make cars, in the right-to work south. One of the European’s supercars, BMW I think, designed in California, built in Tennesee, sold world-wide.

So for you guys in the northeast freezing in the dark this weekend, there’s a lot of us who would be happy to come help out but, your government protected, unionized utilities won’t let us.

Sorry about that

Here’s Michelle.

Via Twitchy, read about Alabama TV station WAFF’s report on non-union utility crews who traveled from the South to help restore power to Hurricane Sandy victims — only to be turned away because they were non-union.

Don’t believe it could happen? Think again.

First, a comment from a Twitchy reader: “I’m from Jersey. I had to work with an IBEW crew for years in Hackensack. (Sopranos Country). Trust me, these guys can be filth. Not all of them, but many of them don’t give a *blank* about anything but themselves and the union. Violence is always an option. In Jersey its just a way of life. Sorry to the good people who wasted their time driving north expecting union scum to appreciate the help.”

Second, some useful background about the IBEW’s legacy of intimidation and violence against non-union competitors:

Continue reading Michelle Malkin » Report: Non-union utility crews turned away from NJ; plus background on the IBEW protection racket.

Related articles

• Big Labor first, victims last: Non-union utility crews from Ala. spurned by N.J. (tarpon.wordpress.com)
• Non-Union Alabama Utility Workers Denied Entry into New Jersey – Told to Stand Down (Video) (thegatewaypundit.com)
• So much for ‘no red tape’ in helping ravaged Jersey, work crews traveled from Alabama to help but were turned away because they were non-union (impeachobamatoday.wordpress.com)
• IBEW Crews Make the Wrong Call in New Jersey (lezgetreal.com)
• New Jersey town to Ala. volunteer utility crew: Don’t help with Sandy unless you’re unionized (redalertpolitics.com)
• NJ town turns away nonunion electrical crews from Alabama (radio.woai.com)
• So, unions are about people right? (thedaleygator.wordpress.com)
• Huntsville Utilities crews turned away from New Jersey aid for being nonunion (al.com)

Corruption: Nebraska, Washington D.C. and Overcriminalization

By Michael Ramirez - April 12, 2012 via Townhall Daily Comics

I don’t have enough information here to do more than speculate, but. We write a lot here about leadership, and one thing we are all aware of is that what the boss does is what everybody else thinks they can do, too. In other words, “Monkey see, Monkey do”. So it would seem, to me, reasonable the GSA thought that if the White House (you know, where the boss works) can jet around the world wasting the taxpayers money; they can too. At least they didn’t forget the little people, you know, the interns. the only ones hurt were the taxpayers, and who cares about them. It’s called the “leadership culture”, or in Michelle Malkin‘s trademarked phrase The Culture of Corruption”.

A few articles that have come to my attention that I think you should pay attention to.

From Nebraska Watchdog:

LINCOLN — Lincoln is spending $24,000 a year in taxpayer dollars to a Lincoln company to maintain a promotional website and Facebook page touting the progress and merits of the $344 million arena project under construction downtown.

The Thought District was first hired in late 2010 to create the Haymarket NOW website and Facebook page. The initial contract paid the Lincoln firm $1,500 to create the Facebook page alone. The new contract allows the company to continue to be paid $2,000 per month to keep the website updated with new content and “provide high-quality marketing coy” to interact with website visitors.

The Thought District’s description of the purpose of the website and Facebook page said it provides an “up-to-date, transparent view of the project,” inform the public and “curb negative sentiment and excite supporters of the arena.” In other words, lots of promotion and cheerleading.

Thought District CEO and Founder Eric Dinger said he’s charging $100 an hour, which he said is below market value.

“We’re breaking even on it,” he said.

The contract does not allow his company to charge any more than $2,000 a month, so that works out to about 20 hours a month. The least amount of time his company has put into the job was 18 hours, and the most was 48, he said.

“People who build websites are not cheap people to have on staff,” he said.

Lincoln Pays $24,000 a Year for Arena Website and Facebook Page.

I usually am the one that maintains our company’s website, and I can tell you that while I don’t update all that often, when I do, I spend far less time on it than I do this blog, and my time isn’t billed at $100/hr ever. (Wish it was!!)  Nebraska has a problem with control of their agencies, at least in my opinion. I wrote about our local ones a while back here and here’s an except:

… I was out to the grocery store today to pick up some, well, groceries, and I noticed that the old Wal-Mart store next door, which was abandoned when they built the super Wal-Mart a few years ago, had a new sign. A really nice one too. And I was sort of thinking about it because Grassroots in Nebraska wrote about it in Lincoln back in September. They provided a tour also, so go see what they found (and found out). The link is here.Anyway about this sign. It’s one of Daktronics Galaxy full color models, with lighted signs above and below it. It’s about 4′ X 12′ in the LED segment which is a computerized message board, and double-sided, of course. Here is a comparable one in Illinois:

In fact, I was so impressed that when I got home I googled it and read about it, of course the website has no pricing (that protects their dealers, my manufacturers do the same thing) but I did find one on E-bay, a smaller unit and only single faced, the buy it now price was $12,000 without shipping. So it’s a really nice sign. In addition the entire structure and wiring for it has been replaced, parenthetically the wiring is not code compliant for a commercial location, the Wal-Mart sign was quite small and used little power. My guess for the price of that sign installed? Somewhere between $50 and 75 thousand dollars, maybe more.

One would think a really thriving business must have taken over that store, wouldn’t one? It’s one of the prime retail locations in town with several thousand square feet of newly remodeled space, it’s really nice inside.

So who is the lucky merchant, you ask. Let’s see, there are several.

• The Chamber of Commerce tourism office
• The local Community College
• The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services
• Job Service
• The County Development office

Not a business in the lot. Every one of these (with the possible exception of the Chamber of Commerce) is tax supported and in all cases had offices in town before, so now there are several storefronts (all in marginal retail locations) abandoned to put these in one (very expensive) location. Of course the owner of the building is politically connected and has had trouble finding a tenant but, that was probably true in their prior location, also. …

I should also note that Grassroots in Nebraska has written about this too. That link is here.

On a somewhat related matter

Montana Corruption is writing on the criminalization of just about everything.

Over the past few years, the political right and left have joined forces to counteract the “overcriminalization” of daily life. 

The titles of recent books, such as Three Felonies a Day by civil libertarian Harvey Silvergate, One Nation Under Arrest by Paul Rosenzwieg and Brian Walsh of the conservative Heritage Foundation, and Go Directly to Jail: The Criminalization of Nearly Everything, edited by Gene Healy of the libertarian Cato Institute, give one a good sense of the current climate of opinion.

Federal criminal law, once reserved for serious misconduct that required the greatest punishment, is now used to punish a broad scope of conduct. In fact, many federal laws today impose steep mandatory punishments even in cases where the defendant acted without criminal intent.

With conservatives, liberals, and libertarians working together, the remedy for reform seems obvious: roll back some of the approximately 4,500 federal crimes Congress has added to the books. The first step, of course, is to convince Congress to stop passing new federal criminal laws with harsh penalties.

If this sounds easy, think again. Or, better yet, ask Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).

Paul has come under fire recently for insisting that the full Senate debate and consider amendments to three new crime bills.  The bills add certain chemicals, which are being used by some to make synthetic marijuana and other synthetic drugs, to Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

Paul believes most drug offenses should be handled by state and local governments, a view held by those concerned about overcriminalization, as well as by conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who recently testified before Congress that the federal courts were being clogged by routine drug cases.

Continue reading CONVICT PARENTS THAT HAVE HOUSEHOLD CLEANERS IN THEIR HOME?

There is a very old saying that goes, “More law=Less Justice”.

Solyndra Part 5429? (I’m not sure either)

Image via Wikipedia

I know I’ve written four times about this but, I choose not to write about it every day, I (and you) get bored with it. But Solyndra, like Fast and Furious, and Old Man River, just keeps rolling along.

This installment is from the Washington Post via Hot Air and Melissa Clouthier and details how layoff announcement was delayed till 3 November 2010 at the cost of $40 Billion taxpayer dollars.

The Washington Post broke this story earlier this morning.  Does anyone want to argue that Solyndra isn’t a scandal now?

“The Obama administration urged officers of the struggling solar company Solyndra to postpone announcing planned layoffs until after the November 2010 midterm elections, newly released e-mails show. …

“Solyndra’s chief executive warned the Energy Department on Oct. 25, 2010, that he intended to announce worker layoffs Oct. 28. He said he was spurred by numerous calls from reporters and potential investors about rumors the firm was in financial trouble and was planning to lay off workers and close one of its two plants.

“But in an Oct. 30, 2010, e-mail, advisers to Solyndra’s primary investor, Argonaut Equity, explain that the Energy Department had strongly urged the company to put off the layoff announcement until Nov. 3. The midterm elections were held Nov. 2, and led to Republicans taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives.”

Read the Article.

About the only thing I find even slightly humorous about this debacle is that Hot Air commenters are referring to Michelle Malkin referring to Obama as Icarus and recalling his fate. I’m reasonably certain at this point that if the Republicans had won the Senate, impeachment would be in the air.

But at least its only a year until elections.

Related articles

• Obama Mischief Night Memo: Make Solyndra Layoffs After Election (reason.com)
• White House Pressured Solyndra to Postpone Layoffs Until AFTER 2010 Elections (usamericanfreedom.com)
• Solyndra-Part II (nebraskaenergyobserver.wordpress.com)
• Solyndra Part IV (nebraskaenergyobserver.wordpress.com)

Engineering Elegance

Image via Wikipedia

I’m still thinking some about Steve Jobs since comments are still flowing through the things I read on the internet this morning.

One of the things that has driven Apple is the sheer engineering elegance of their products. The best definition of engineering elegance that I have seen is by French author and aircraft designer Antoine de Saint- Exupéry:

“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

Now look at an iPhone compared to almost any other smart phone. See what I mean.

This has been the mark of engineering excellence since engineering began. This provides the light airy design of Gothic cathedrals, as well as the elegance of a railroad yard.

Complexity for complexity sake is the mark of poor engineering in all fields. This has been one of the knocks on Microsoft products since-well-forever. In software it’s called bloated code and, one of its downfalls is that it is nearly impossible to maintain.

In engineering one need to put everything one needs in, and then stop. No extras to make it pretty or because you might have gotten your sums wrong.

What it really is, is competence written in hardware and it is rare. It celebrated in engineering but not much seen in consumer marketing. This is one of the things that Jobs did so well: Elegant design. It was a world-changing winner for him and Apple.

The other lesson Jobs leaves us is this: Be productive. He changed a lot of our lives with his products; but how many livings did his products provide: for app programmers, iStore workers, Apple shareholders, and yes, even those Chinese factory workers.

That’s capitalism at work, and few made it work as well as Steve Jobs did. Not because he cared particularly whether I succeeded or failed, because he cared whether he did. Whether I do is my problem, whether Apple did is Steve Jobs’ problem.

Here is a sampling of what I’ve read about this today. First from Michelle Malkin:

From “I, Pencil” to iPhone: The Spontaneous Order of Capitalism
There is perhaps no greater image of irony tonight than that of anti-capitalist, anti-corporate, anti-materialist extremists of the Occupy Wall Street movement payingtributetoSteve Jobs — the co-founder, chairman and former chief executive of Apple Inc., who passed away this evening.

While the Kamp Alinsky Kids ditch school to moan about their massive student debt, parade around in zombie costumes, and whine about evil corporations while Tweeting, Facebook-ing, blogging, and Skype-ing their “revolution,” it’s the doers and producers and wealth creators like Jobs who change the world. They are the gifted 1 percent whom the #OWS “99 percent-ers” mob seeks to demonize, marginalize, and tax out of existence.

Inherent in the American success story of the iPhone/iMac/iPad is a powerful lesson about the fundamentals of capitalism. The Kamp Alinsky Kids scream “People over profit.” They call for “caring” over “corporations.”

But the pursuit of profits empowers people beyond the bounds of imagination.

Read the rest here.

And Simon Black has similar thoughts here:

You’ve undoubtedly heard by now that Steve Jobs passed away yesterday after a long battle with cancer; it’s been all over the news with wall-to-wall coverage, and iCandle vigils have sprung up all over the world. Jobs is being remembered as a pioneer, a technological revolutionary, a visionary.  Rightfully so.

But it’s important to give credit where credit is due, and the world owes a tremendous debt to Steve Jobs for something else. He was perhaps the greatest living example of ‘philanthropy’ in action.

While people like Warren Buffet are pleading with the government to raise their taxes and give away their wealth to sycophantic bureaucrats, Jobs showed time and time again that the best way to improve people’s lives is to create value and be productive.

Read the rest here. He also has some excellent quotes from Steve Jobs.

So the lesson of Steve Jobs is: Be productive, work hard, do it right. You just might change the world. And trust Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand.

Related articles

• Remembering Steve Jobs – See All the Stars Who Love Their Apple Products (popsugar.com)
• Steve Jobs: A Leader to Remember (epiphanysolutions.co.uk)
• Steve Jobs: a man of contradiction and genius | Dan Gillmor (guardian.co.uk)