Unions aren’t in it for their members

They’re in it for the power. And they’re in it for the politics.

From 1989 to 2009, unions donated nearly $500 million to politicians and candidates. Ninety percent of that went to Democrats.

Unions donated more money to candidates than the telecommunications, insurance, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, and real estate industries combined.

I don’t begrudge unions their right to join together to spend their money to influence the political process.

I do think that they shouldn’t pretend they’re working on behalf of their members; they’re interested in advancing political issues. If they were truly interested in helping their members, they’d try more to influence politicians regardless of their political views.

The tobacco, oil, and pharmaceuticals give 75% of their donations to Republicans; that’s lopsided, but not as lopsided as union donations.

The problem is that the unions aren’t honest, not that they’re politically active.

I might disagree with their goals, but they’re free to spend as much money politicking as they care too.

Taranis

Super Stardust HD is another of the games Sony is making available as part of their Welcome Back apology program after the PlayStation Network hacking incident.

It’s a frenetic Asteroids-style shoot’em-up; the player controls a spaceship in orbit around a planet (the left stick moves the ship, and the right directs weapon fire in any direction), and the goal is to destroy all of the asteroids and attacking alien ships.

To that end, the player’s space fighter has been equipped with three basic lasers (each do extra damage vs. a particular kind of rock, but all do some damage to all rocks) and bombs; contact with asteroids or enemy ships will destroy the fighter, so the player has to dodge or destroy everything (bombs will wipe out everything in the ship’s vicinity, and make a good panic button).

It’s a good twitch game, and it’s easy to learn (but hard to master, as they say); if you’re played a video game in the last thirty years, you’ll be able to pick it up and jump right in.

The solution is always more government control

Is the government smuggling guns illegally across the Mexican border to cartels?

Well, that’s only because the laws aren’t strong enough and we need more government control!

It was only a matter of time, of course, until lawmakers joined the Washington Post and the New York Times in calling for more gun control in the wake of the ATF’s disastrous Fast and Furious gun “tracking” operation.

Obama’s answer to the Fast and Furious question at yesterday’s press conference was almost Nixonian; though he did miss the chance to go full Tricky Dick and say, “I am not a gun trafficker.”

More TSA incompetence in action

Though they don’t get all the blame; if you manage to fly from New York to Los Angeles without a valid boarding pass, it takes incompetence at far more than just one level.

Not only did the man in question (a Nigerian) not have a valid passport, but he was using someone else’s EXPIRED boarding pass.

Not to worry, though. This just proves that the system works.

I’m sure the TSA will assure us that all proper procedures were followed.

/sarcasm