SEPTA STRIKE Day 6: No End in Sight

There is no deal.

Governor Ed Rendell has left town and with him he takes nearly $7 Million dollars in funding to help the union get what it wants. The union got increasingly angry at SEPTA for rewriting the deal. At last check, TWU 234 wanted an independent audit of their pension and SEPTA wanted language in the contract so they could possibly work on health benefits if (or when) the public option is passed.

TWU 234 President "Little" Willie Brown stated during a press conference that any talk of an agreement "was a lie." No new talks are scheduled.

The 2005 SEPTA strike lasted 7 days. A 1998 SEPTA strike lasted 40 days.

Willie Brown, this one goes out to you:



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Today a protest was scheduled at 1234 Market Street for 1PM in front of SEPTA headquarters by someone on Twitter called simply "strikeprotest". I arrived at 12:45PM and saw one protester named Till Ayala, who had actually lost a job due to this strike. When I arrived, there were a bunch of cameras and reporters, far outnumbering the protestor. I arrived carrying a sign that read, "I'm not Anti-Union, I'm Anti-Willie Brown." I spoke to reporters and was asked if I was the organizer and replied, "No, but I saw this on Twitter and wanted to put my money where my mouth is."

Shortly after most of the media left, 3 people came over to support us and hold balloons with slogans to help the cause of the protest: To show that the people of the city were being hurt most by this strike.

Why the Insults Against the Right's Protests are Hypocritical

This weekend we saw a protest in Washington D.C. The protests gathered little to no coverage as a group of Americans, angry and upset at their government and leadership marched upon the Capitol Mall to voice their opposition. In the end, they were marginalized, insulted, and told they were nothing more than a group of rouge crazies! They insulted the President, comparing him to Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and countless other horrible dictators! They insulted him and called him on what they saw were foolish policies that would destroy America.

The problem, though, is that this is exactly what happened in 2003... and 2004... and especially 2005. In 2005, I attended a Impeach Bush rally in Washington DC. Save the crowd being anti-Bush and being much, much larger, we were treated just like the people who protested on September 12th. In 2003 and 2004 at the anti-war protests, the crowd was much smaller, but it was growing.

One thing I keep hearing is that the protesters against Obama are doing it on racial lines, or at the very least, that there is some deep-seated racism in it. Admittedly, I wouldn't be shocked if that is the sentiment of 10% or less of the people protesting, but it is far from it for the majority! Some people are there simply because they don't like his policies, some are anti-Obama because of Fox News.

But the simplest explanation makes the most sense: That the people who are anti-Obama are politically driven. After 8 years of bush and the Republicans in control, when they were able to live in a country more their way, the fact that you have someone coming in who represents most of what they're afraid of (Democrats, economic and health care reform, ending the Iraq War), especially when he is basically trying to undo everything Bush did in only 9 months... well, can you at least understand their fear? Their anger?

Here's footage of their protests on 9/12:



And here's the anti-Bush Protests from 2005:



I'm not asking you to agree with them, but I am saying that we need to realize that it isn't as black-and-white as "well, they hate black people" or "they hate Democrats". We need to listen their side and understand them better.

Image Courtesy of the Seattle Times.

You Don't Shout Fire in a Theater, and You Don't Bring Loaded Guns to the President

I love the fact that, in this country, we have the Bill of Rights. We're allowed to say what we want and to carry weapons to protect ourselves from those who would do us harms. To a degree, we have laws and customs regarding these two rights, and to a large degree, I don't have have a problem with them. You don't shout fire in a crowded theater unless there is one, and you don't bring a loaded gun to an event with the President of the United States. Simple, common-sense stuff.

So it's aggravating to see this asshole ruin it for the rest of us:

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The man went to a town hall event where the President was speaking. He held up a sign with a quote from Jefferson paraphrasing the line, "The tree of liberty needs to be watered from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots." He also carried a loaded gun. All in the name of reminding us of our rights.

To some degree, I agree with what his point was. Reminding people of our rights to freedom of speech and to bare arms is a good thing, but the way this was done was foolish, unwise, and fails in explanation. The fact alone that he carried a gun that was loaded makes his argument moot because, while one may have the right to carry a weapon in this country, its not a very responsible thing to have it loaded when you're near the leader of the free world.

Rights are one thing, using them responsibly is another.