Saturday, February 19, 2011

Who's Been in Power Longer? Arab Dictators or Unity Caucus

Last Update: Sat., Feb. 19, 1pm

So I was watching the News Hour and an expert on the Middle East was talking about those fossilized leaders of the Arab nations in revolt and how the lack of democracy had created a status quo situation that was a major cause of the unrest. He ticked off each dictator:
  • Tunisia's Zine: 24 years
  • Mubarek: 30 years
  • Bahrain: 40 years
  • Ghaddafi: 44 years
And I was waiting for the longest running dictatorship to come next:
  • Unity Caucus in the UFT/AFT: 45 years +
How outrageous that the News Hour has Randi Weingarten as our voice on the Wisconsin issue? Whining how the unions want to talk and give up everything but the governor won't sit down. Let me tell you, the unions in Wisconsin are extremely fortunate that the right wingers are so rabid they won't sit down with the likes of Randi Weingarten. They should talk to Joel Klein and Bloomberg and ed deformers in other major cities (Detroit, Chicago, Washington DC) to see just how easy it is to get most of what they want.

The exact same mechanism of decay and failure that is tearing down the Arab states is operating in the UFT and AFT. Except there is a greater chance of every Arab state being toppled than Unity Caucus, which will be left standing long after the union is an aging white dwarf.

Add-on
See the NY Times today on the use of cell phone cameras: Cellphones Become the World’s Eyes and Ears on Protests

But not in the UFT. More irony in that because I took some video at a Delegate Assembly and at the UFT wine and cheese party  - the UFT banned video at DA's.  Randi tried to pin the rap on me that I was blogging live from meetings. Mubarek and the Arab leaders learned at the feet of Unity - shut down the proof of your crimes.

Here are links to the 2-part video I made of the ATR rally: Part 1 - Wine and Cheese, Part 2 - march to Tweed to meet the ATRs who were there for 2 hours waiting for Randi and Unity to show up.

A Tale of Two Rallies

Watch the rank & file hold their own spirited rally while the UFT staff holds a wine and cheese infomercial.


The Video the UFT Doesn't Want You To See: The ATR Rally

See Randi Weingarten scream, "Norman, put down that camera!"

Hear her approach me near Tweed and ask me to hand over the tape.


Hear people boo her and shout her down in front of Tweeed.

No wonder she pushed through a gag-rule resolution at the Jan. 28 Delegate Assembly (read James Eterno's account at the ICE blog.)



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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

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