Footnote to the preceding, Truth in Headlines Div.

Headline on a February 21 AP story about Wisconsin:

Wisconsin lawmakers take up bill to cripple unions

I know it's just one headline, but take what you can get. Meanwhile, the Sunday talking head shows, the ones that "set the agenda" for the debate among the Serious People, continuing their inspiring attempt to get all sides, have these people at least tentatively booked for tomorrow:

Deface the Nation: Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ)
Press the Meat: Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI)
Faux News Sunday: Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN)

(In fairness, Press the Meat has supposedly added Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO to the guest list. So I guess any complaints about the overall guest list are out the window, hey?)

On another point that has been sticking in my craw, in a quote gleefully spread by the wingnuts as if it was some ultimate slammer, Christie responded to a charge he's engaged in union-busting by saying "unions are trying to break the middle class."

"Trying?" Not even "breaking" but "trying to?" Hey, bozo, don't make me go all Jersey on you. Man up, admit that's a bigger pile of trash than Fresh Kills ever had, and face facts: Unions created the middle class in this country. The middle class in this country exists because of unions. The only reason the middle class still manages to hang on now is because of unions, because even as the level of unionization shrinks, the wages and benefits unions can obtain for their members set a standard that employers on non-unionized people have to at least approach if they want to have a stable and capable workforce.

One of my all-time favorite bumper stickers referred to unions with the line "From the people who brought you the weekend." And the 40-hour week. And sick time. And vacation time. And a pension plan. And a safe workplace. And better educated, more skilled workers. And - the list goes on at some length. All due to the simple fact that when they are united, workers have enough clout to stand up on an equal basis to the array of forces opposing them, forces which would - and before unions did - squeeze the life out of workers in pursuit of their own greed.

Which is also why self-interested, grasping, power-hungry jackasses like you, Chrissy, people to who the word "community" and the concept of reciprocal responsibility for each other's welfare mean nothing, want to destroy them.