Goodness.
In your explanation of why you voted yes for the union, I saw not one point in terms of practical "This is what it does for me," nuts and bolts meat to the argument. I was promised unassailable Scripture. I get a bunch of missing gold plates. (I am sorry but I COULD NOT RESIST! Admit it, it was pretty funny.)
Ryan does have a point about one thing. I can't remember the last time Iowa or New Hampshire meant squat. Just a chance for Stephanopolous to get face time. Nice watching him freeze in Des Moines. And having lived there, he can keep it, although Titus recalls us making the "wrong turn" into Senate chambers in the State capitol during an unauthorized tour. That and the fact that they haven't returned their Confederate battle flags. Kudos. Other than that, I'll drive two states out of my way to avoid Iowa.
What triggered my attention away from the funeral pyre that is my marriage is this thunderous drumbeat of "conservative" labeling in this election. I am not defaming Reagan by any stretch of the imagination by announcing loudly that the man was as conservative as FDR! (Hear that? Ray Foster is somersaulting in his boulder.) Once again, beating this dead horse, the last CONSERVATIVE we had in the White House was Herbert Hoover. So can we ween ourselves from the teet of the "conservative" label? I liked Reagan because he was stand up. Draw a line of death in international waters? I'd like you to meet the 6th Fleet. Assist terrorists? Here's a little thing we call an F-111. Strike and you're fired. I'm cool with that. I'm even cool with the mistakes he made and admitted to. One can easily argue that he's the last executive we've had that was truly stand up. And something else? Just in your head, tick off the members of his cabinet. How many do you get? I can do six pretty easy. I can't do that for too many administrations. He picked quality people, something else that's been lacking the last 20 years.
I will close this by saying something that is really going to piss Ryan off, and I do not mean to sound smug or pious or trite or condescending or anything else. But when you sleep at night, placing your head on your pillow, don't trouble justifying your acts of pro-union voting or the numerous other acts in your adult life that may raise eyebrows amongst your "conservative" friends. No matter how fervent your rhetoric, your life actions scream "moderate" and there is no shame in that. Moderate is a good thing. Now just embrace that inner Catholic and you'll be set.
Oh, and one more thing. Huckabee is a complete ass. Now that you're a card carrier, Ryan, Huckabee crossed the picket line to go on Leno, that dink. Get some of your Teamster brethren on that next time Huckabee breezes through Vegas. :-) Don't know if he'll vote for a Mormon. Goodness.
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I agree with James here completely... what was the reasoning for voting YES?
What you did, in essence, is to give away your right as an individual employee of Harrah's Corporation to discuss, debate, argue or bargain ANY issue that may arise now or in the future concerning ANY aspect of your employment with Harrah's.
Worse still... you are PAYING someone to do that bargaining for you! Where is the "conservative" sense in that? What will happen when the people cleaning the ashes out of the ashtrays on YOUR table tell the UNION that they DESERVE a piece of YOUR tips? They have the same RIGHT to organize (or to join an organization) as you do, and this is EXACTLY the kind of mindless dribble that union lawyers LOVE to drum up in court so that the union (read YOU) can pay them the MILLIONS of dollars their services will cost... all so the 40-year-old crack-addict that still lives in Mom's spare room and is paid $9 an hour to wipe up vomit off the bathroom floor can get a piece of YOUR TIPS!
Show me ANY union that has benefited an industry as TIP oriented as the casino industry! Show me a national bartenders union... or a valet union... or an international brotherhood of bellhops... I don't see anyone trying to get strip club dancers to sign union cards, do you?
So, let me see if I understand this...
You have voted YES to a dealers union at Ceasar's Palace. That means you will now pay anywhere from $400 to $1200 in initiation fees, on top of the $15 to $55 they will take from your check in monthly dues, and that the union can FINE you anywhere from $100 to $2500 for NOT COMPLYING with stated or unstated union policy (like Ryan having to take off time from work to walk a picket line in front of the MGM for 5 days).
What is the union doing for YOU in exchange for all these "benefits" to the down-trodden and abused dealers at Ceasar's Palace?
Is your base salary going to go up? Are your paid days off going to increase? Will you now earn PTO at a higher rate? Will Harrah's pay a larger percentage of your healthcare costs?
Truth is... the union can do NOTHING for you that Ceasar's wouldn't have agreed to without them. The union can't make Ceasar's do ANYTHING. The only guarranty that the union CAN make is that this is going to cost YOU money.
Unions are fine in industries where labor is cheap and demand is low... but how hard is it to find someone willing to DEAL at Ceasar's Palace? In a tip-driven industry like tables in a casino... unions will take a toke-rate threw the shitter. Maybe dealers at Ceasar's can afford a $10 an hour cut in tokes... but dealers at Treasure Island might not be so well off. Do you suppose the slot attendants at Circus Circus will chant "Union NOW" if they know they are going to lose $10 an hour?
Sheesh... I thought you said unions were for "commies"...
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