Democracy of Hypocrisy

... as mayor incumbent Eddie "threepeat" Francis sailed to a third term to serve the citizens of Windsor, or as he likes to refer to us, the taxpayers. In an election that was nothing more than a referendum on who supposedly runs this town;unions or council, the silent majority has spoken, sending a clear message that this city, the once proud labour town is turning a new leaf. No longer will the interests of the labour movement be tended to, no longer with the public servants hold hostage the people of this town through their rights to strike. No longer will the taxpayer be padding the wallets of these union thugs. No, it is finished, the people have sent a clear message that the once adored unions are no longer welcome.

According to Chris Vander Doelen and the hugely biased windsor star, current mayoral candidate Rick Limoges is a throwback to the 90's. You know that time, especially here in Ontario when the NDP were in power and they spent money like a drunken sailor on shore leave. Yes, apparently Rick is stuck in the past because he has a plan to cut sewer, commercial and industrial taxes by 10%. That is so 90's Rick, how dare you! Eddie even says that you're nuts along with the vocal majority of commentators on the star. How dare you slash taxes, even though it is what people have been chanting all along, especially this past year.

Migrant workers from the Essex county area marched to Windsor on a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend to bring about awareness to what organizer Tzana Miranda Leal of Justice For Migrant Workers describes as deplorable working conditions. In what should come as no surprise, the migrant workers often face abuse and other terrible conditions that should never be occurring in this country. She dispels the myth that migrant workers will be working well paying jobs when they come to Canada, and that they pay thousands of dollars to come here only to face unsafe working conditions that many of us could not imagine, such as working with pesticides without the proper equipment.

It seems that my postings have dwindled quite a bit as of late, it is not that I don't have an opinion on anything, rather that I have found employment, a second job which means I work every day. With my back problems it is rather difficult for these old bones, well they feel old. I swore off factory work when I was working at Siemens Automotive back in the day, roughly around 2000 because well, no offense to those that work in factories, I simply hated it. I didn't hate it because the work was difficult, I hated it because it wasn't stimulating to me. I worked at Chrysler as TPT before that and although the pay was great, I still didn't find enjoyment in it. Now, here I am, 2010, back in a factory slugging parts on a line and into various machines and into bins. Yup, I still hate it.

In a surprising 180 turn from last year, the Windsor District Labour Council has invited mayor Eddie Francis to partake in this year's Labour Day parade. Last year he, along with most of city council were snubbed by labour groups because of the epic strike that took place for 101 days and the dirty politics that Eddie displayed.

Link: http://www.windsorstar.com/business/Election+fight+brews+over+canal+project/3364722/story.html

Eddie Francis is up to his usual self, this time taking pot shots at councilor Halberstadt for wanting to gauge his constituents on the matter of the building of a $42 million canal. Instead of agreeing that asking the community would be the prudent thing to do, Eddie chooses to attack Halberstadt's character by saying things such as this

Coun. Halberstadt has made a career out of ensuring he is on the other side of whatever the issue may be, regardless of who is mayor,” Francis said. “So I’m not surprised.”

“Development is not just going to happen by itself, especially in a depressed economy,” said Francis, who welcomes ideas and action rather than simply criticism. “On the canal issue, he’s out there shredding it apart, doing what he does best. But what are you proposing Coun. Halberstadt?

The OPP are now threatening alleged G20 protest ringleaders that they risk going back to jail should they continue to speak to the media.

After 90 years, General Motors presence will no longer be felt in the city of roses. GM has ceased production at it's Walker road transmission plant, leaving the few workers that were left with happy memories and uncertainty about the future. At one time, GM employed roughly 7,000 workers between the transmission plant and the trim plant. But today was a day filled with mixed emotions for the dedicated workers who put their hard work into a company that was once an automotive giant, but has since been affected by the global recession and backwards management.

Link: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/07/27/hillier-wikileaks-friendly-fire-allegation.html

Wikileaks.org has released over 90,000 war documents that have caused quite a stir worldwide. Among the nations questioning the legitimacy of those leaks is Canada;specifically the documents that pertain to supposed friendly fire incidents that have occurred in Afghanistan that claimed the lives of Canadian soldiers. What others perceive as whitewashing of official stories, the Canadian government maintains it's stance that these soldiers did in fact die as a result of Taliban insurgency. Former Commander Rick Hillier said that

the U.S. military,like any bureaucracy, produces millions of documents, including "some written by people as first response who don't know what they're talking about and have the facts wrong...first reports are wrong, and the second reports are wrong and the third reports are wrong,"

All hail King Edward

Eddie Francis is going to seek a third term as mayor er, King of Windsor, which shouldn't come as a surprise. He has unfinished business according to his press conference. One can only guess that his unfinished business is privatizing the rest of the city workforce because other than that he hasn't really offered much to the people of Windsor. This is his shtick, his ticket to a third term. Had he not decided to outsource he wouldn't have a leg to stand on. Red bull races only go so far and an arena plopped in the east side of town with crappy parking isn't something to brag about.

Dwight Duncan will be meeting with public sector workers and union leaders on Tuesday to appeal to them about a two year wage freeze. Talk about a daunting task, the government wants to engage the biggest unionized workforce in the country and tell them that they must bear some of the burden facing this have not province with an increasing deficit. Good luck, although I am unsure of how the unions will react to this. We've known about it for quite some time now, since March in fact and there has been plenty of discussion surrounding this, and from my involvement in the university sector, it looks as though we will be telling them an resounding No.

Why not, it's business as usual in Windsor and not a day goes by without hearing how the people of Windsor are sick of the unions and they can't wait to see them run out of town. That is of course if you believe the mouthpieces that vent their disdain in the Windsor star. The latest blitz to hit CUPE came in the form of city council voting to outsource the refuse and recycling collection 100% to Toronto based company Turtle Island, who will take over sometime in the new year.

Stephen Harper, in his quest to be the biggest douche this country has ever had for a leader, is now filibustering in a bid to block the opposition from launching an investigation into the G20 antics of the police and what role his party played. Stephen Harper is a broken record and a hypocrite and why his charm continually blinds the people of Canada is a mystery. Between proroguing parliament, attempting to block documents that would show the cons collusion in torturing Afghani prisoners, selling out Canada's sovereignty and now this, one should be asking them-self what this guy is capable of next. Do you really want Harper to have a shot at a majority come next election, whenever that may be?