Obama Organizes Chicago

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So, James Taranto wrote in the WSJ’s Best of the Web that…

TNR’s John Judis tracked down Jerry Kellman, who in 1985 “hired Obama to organize residents of Chicago’s South Side.” Kellman describes a conversation the two “community organizers” had at a conference on “social justice” in October 1987:

“[Obama] wanted to marry and have children, and to have a stable income,” Kellman recalls.

But Obama was also worried about something else. He told Kellman that he feared community organizing would never allow him “to make major changes in poverty or discrimination.” To do that, he said, “you either had to be an elected official or be influential with elected officials.” In other words, Obama believed that his chosen profession was getting him nowhere, or at least not far enough. . . .

And so, Obama told Kellman, he had decided to leave community organizing and go to law school.

I don’t have any issues with the above — with the exception that Obama believes that politicians and people manipulating politicians can make major changes to poverty. Look, the only thing that can make a major change to poverty is raising someone’s income. How do you do that? Well not by the tried-and-true political method of removing someone else (a productive, tax-paying citizen) and just giving it to the person in poverty. Now all you’ve done is penalized the hard working taxpayer and removed the incentive for the person in poverty to try and raise their income on their own. But that’s what politicians do. What about “community organizers?”

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Now I’m Looking Forward to November

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Oh hell yeah! From the comments:

Though I loved the comment about styrofoam columns, my favorite of the night was actually her comment that being a mayor is a bit like a community organizer, except with actual responsibility. It was particularly devastating coming right after Rudy’s speech.

“The Presidency is not supposed to be a voyage of personal discovery.”

Then there’s this beaut, also from the comments: “What’s the difference between a soccer mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.”

SEIU Shows Contempt for Labor

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Seems the good ol’ boys and girls at the Service Employees International Union of Communism and Illegal Immigration gave the finger to it’s labor force recently: Did a Union Doublecross Its College Activists?

“It is becoming increasingly clear that SEIU leaders often see students and campus workers as little more than pawns to use as they see fit,” the letter states. “SEIU has sought to maneuver these pawns in a way that brings new members and dues into the union in the short term but keeps workers in poverty and actually hurts our collective efforts to help unions grow at a massive scale.”

Who says college activists are stupid? They’ve figured out the SEIU’s game plan is just a particularly vile and obnoxiously obvious version of the AFL-CIO’s: act like you’re helping labor, but in reality keep the workers oppressed and poor, in order to exploit them. Capitalists have got nothing on these guys.

The letter alleges that SEIU officials encouraged students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to help organize food services workers, while at the same time entering into a deal with the workers’ employer that would insure there would never be a union at North Carolina.

The SEIU agreement, first reported upon in May by the Wall Street Journal, grants the so-called “Big 3” service employers the right to determine where SEIU will organize workers. Aramark Corp., which provides food services to North Carolina’s campus, was among those included in the agreement, the Journal reported.

“The deal ensured UNC workers could not join SEIU by letting Aramark decide which workers could join the union,” the letter states. “Not surprisingly, UNC workers didn’t make Aramark’s list.”

Local Angle

If the name Aramark sounds familiar, it’s because they have the franchises to most, if not all, of the sports temples here in Houston. And in case anyone has forgotten, it was the SEIU’s challenge through efforts to organize city of Houston employees that resulted in the formation of HOPE, a merger of the SEIU and AFCSME locals, and a first-ever labor agreement between civilian city employees and the city.

A summary of the “Big 3” agreement, which was provided to Inside Higher Ed, details how SEIU allowed employers – not workers – to dictate where unionization would take place. The agreement, forged by SEIU and another union known as Unite Here, cedes the power to declare union sites to two major food service providers, Compass Group USA and Sodexho Inc. Along with Aramark, which had a similar agreement according to the Journal, Compass and Sodexho are the major food service providers on college campuses across the country.

In addition to empowering the companies to determine where workers can organize, the agreement insures that unionized workers won’t strike or even make derogatory remarks about the companies.

Union members were not informed of the deal, which specifically stipulates that secrecy is “critical to the success” of the agreement.

The rationalization of this unprecedented agreement is the current “anti-labor” legal environment. Yeah, right.

According to the letter, North Carolina students began organizing workers – at the behest of SEIU – in 2005. They were joined in these efforts by workers from the Southwest Workers Union, a joint labor venture of SEIU and Unite Here. But after working side-by-side with the students, who said they were subjected to Aramark executives’ intimidation, the union leaders abandoned the cause, the letter states.

Doesn’t play nice with others:

And then there’s SEIU’s practice of undercutting other unions. Apparently it also undercuts the student activists that work on behalf of the workers:

Student criticism of SEIU is not limited to the events that unfolded in North Carolina. As the letter notes, University of California at Irvine students had their own frustrations about SEIU’s interference.

According to the letter, SEIU nearly stymied an effort by the local union to have Aramark employees hired by the university, thereby granting the workers the same benefits as Irvine staff. At the height of the local union’s campaign in 2006, SEIU organizers – in apparent collusion with Aramark – tried to get the workers to join SEIU and abandon their local union, students said.

“We already had a relationship [with the workers],” recalled Carla Osorio, a former student who aided the local union. “We already had our campaign going on, and then this other union comes in that was shady.”

A local student activist group wrote an open letter critical of the SEIU, although the national chapter (which gets its funding from unions, of course) disavowed the action.

“This blatant effort by Aramark to undermine the workers [sic] efforts is not surprising, but SEIU’s complicity is appalling,” the letter states.

Elsewhere in California, students have also complained about SEIU’s treatment of union members at Stanford University and Santa Clara University. Since unionized workers on those campuses were transferred into Service Workers United – part of SEIU and Unite Here — they’ve “received little to no support,” according to the letter.

The unionized workers at Santa Clara and Stanford were employees of Bon Appétit, a company owned by Compass Group. Compass Group is one of the “Big 3” employers covered under SEIU’s controversial agreement.

SEIU has been criticized in the past (on this blog and others) for supporting illegal immigration, which helps to keep the cost of labor low, thereby assuring that it will continue to have fertile ground for recruiting.

Just another day in the labor movement, where it’s all about the top dogs, not the little guys.

h/t to Instapundit.

SAP Side Note

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From a comment on the government’s backward new computer system for savings bonds:

Large computer systems fail in the private sector all the time, but you don’t hear them because nobody in the company would mention it, and the contractors like SAP are afraid they will get sued. SAP has been sued a number of times for systems that never get off the ground due to complexity and poor planning. When that happens at the government, it is out there for everyone to see, and it looks bad.

FYI: the problem with savings bonds is that if you buy them from the Treasury through their computer system now, they don’t continue to pay interest after maturing.

Edouard, Monday 10PM

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Natonal Hurricane Center update here.

Basically, the wind is beginning to pick up, and the course has changed slightly northwards. Pressure has dropped to 999mb and maximum sustained winds are 60mph; the storm is moving at 8mph. The rainfall predictions for Texas have been increased to 4-6 inches with up to 10 inches locally. The discussion notes that there are several factors against further growth, but there are also convective bursts occurring at times on the south side of the storm. Overall, they’re assigning less than a 10% chance that it will make hurricane status. But if my memory serves me correctly, at this point, Allison was expected to drop only 6-9 inches of rain, with a max of 15 inches locally.

THE INTENSITY FORECAST IS SOMEWHAT PROBLEMATIC. THE SHEAR…
POSSIBLE DRY AIR…AND RELATIVE LACK OF CONVECTIVE ORGANIZATION
ARGUE AGAINST RAPID STRENGTHENING BEFORE LANDFALL. HOWEVER…THE
CONVECTIVE BURSTS HAVE BEEN STRONG ENOUGH TO CAUSE SOME
STRENGTHENING…AND THE SHEAR IS FORECAST TO DIMINISH BEFORE
LANDFALL. NONE OF THE INTENSITY GUIDANCE NOW CALLS FOR EDOUARD TO
BECOME A HURRICANE BEFORE LANDFALL…SO THE INTENSITY FORECAST WILL
CONTINUE TO CALL FOR LANDFALL AS A 55-60 KT TROPICAL STORM.
HOWEVER…THERE IS STILL A CHANCE THE STORM COULD BECOME A
HURRICANE BEFORE LANDFALL. IT’S IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT THERE
IS VERY LITTLE PRACTICAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A VERY STRONG TROPICAL
STORM AND A LOW-END HURRICANE. AFTER LANDFALL…EDOUARD SHOULD
WEAKEN AND EVENTUALLY DISSIPATE OVER CENTRAL TEXAS.

Conventional wisdom always says that the storms will turn north and east. Much of the panic buying is from people who know that conventional wisdom is worth exactly nothing when you’re suffering from a flooded house, 95 degree heat, 70% humidity, and obviously, no power. And hell, all the bought water will keep…but what are we going to do with 30 gallons of gas, if the storm doesn’t hit?

1 AM update: Now the NWS has dropped the max wind prediction to 65 mph, and indicates that a more northward track is likely, although it might not fully take hold until after landfall.

Lookie here: More hype.

Edouardo – Mayor’s Update

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Just recieved:

To Employees:

The City of Houston has begun preparations for Tropical Storm Edouard, which is expected to arrive along the Texas Coast during the early morning hours of Tuesday August 5th. Due to the expected intensity and nature of the storm, Mayor Bill White has determined that some non-emergency city services will be suspended.

Mayor Bill White directs that *only* those employees designated as “essential personnel” report for business on Tuesday August 5.

All City of Houston employees should monitor media (local radio and television) and follow departmental communications plans to determine when to report to work.

We will continue to monitor conditions throughout the day and night and expect to have further updates as warranted.

Meanwhile, supervisors are encouraged to review the City’s Administrative Procedures 2-3, pertaining to Severe Weather and other Emergency Conditions.

Employees should check with their supervisors to confirm their designation as “essential personnel” and “non-essential personnel.”

Bill White,
Mayor

So it looks like the Mayor’s decided that discretion is the better part of common sense, and will side with Brendan. Given his (Brendan’s) point about setting the tone for other employers, I suppose it’s the right decision but damn, Wednesday is going to suck, and the public is going to be down on us… especially if they work for employers that insisted they show up.

Can’t win for losing.

Update: Oh, for crying out loud. This is EXACTLY the sort of thing I am talking about when I say hype. Is Monica pulling my leg? Consensus is, yes. Edit: and on second reading, I agree. Nice satire. But show that to 1000 people, and at least one will go, “Well, I better leave too!”

Update: Heh. So much for not in the cards. Can I retroactively change that to “Not in the cards 24 hours before a wobbly tropical storm hits Houston . . . maybe?” But guys, on this blog, I’m part Emperor Darth Misha, and I carried it over to my comments on Brendan’s site. if you really want to see me go off on someone for hyping, look here. And read the message after. (Edit: quoting here:)

This sums it all up to me:
Galveston Not Evacuating

If they are not evacuating Galveston Island how serious can the storm be????
Yes use some “ common sense “ but as I wrote before, people up here in Spring have emptied the store shelves of water and we are at least 60 miles north of Galveston Island, crazy??

The small arrow is Galveston, the large one is Spring. For scale, the I-610 loop is elven miles across, east to west.

Late Afternoon Update

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Well, slightly stronger, but no faster winds. Still, Edouardo is better organized and primed to strengthen overnight. And I still think that folks should stay home if they can, but if you have to go to work, use caution. Remember that gusts which might move your car a few inches will push a big 54-foot trailer clear across your lane. Give those guys plenty of room. And for crying out loud, DON’T drive through an underpass! What looks like a few inches of water is probably several feet.

And just because the car ahead of you made it doesn’t mean you will, especially when someone in a big pickup blows past you throwing waves a foot higher than the rest of the water. Cars aren’t amphibious and neither are you.

No further word from the Mayor yet.

Me? Well, I’m holding up under the furball I started. Oh, wait, nobody cared. 😛 Well, I did start it after all, so I’ll deal with it.

Edouard Discussion

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Well I seem to have gotten involved in a three way discussion with Eric Berger (by proxy) and Brenden Loy over whether it’s a good idea to stay home tomorrow, and whether Mayor White should have already declared that the city will be open. The mayor’s comments that I quoted earlier are from an email sent to city employees, which I will quote here in full:

(Edit: Thought I had only quoted part earlier, but I see I had quoted it in full. )

The City of Houston has begun preparations for the possible arrival of Tropical Storm Edouard, expected sometime tomorrow along the upper Texas coast.

It is important to note that the City is open for business as usual both today and tomorrow. All employees are expected to remain at their jobs today and report to work as usual tomorrow.

We will continue to monitor conditions throughout the day and night and expect to have a further update shortly after 4:30 p.m. today.

Meanwhile, supervisors are encouraged to review the City’s Administrative Procedures 2-3, pertaining to Severe Weather and other Emergency Conditions.

Employees should check with their supervisors to confirm their designation as “essential personnel” and “non-essential personnel.”

Bill White,
Mayor

I should also note that my Department, Public Works and Engineering, has an emergency line that employees can dial for information regarding reporting to work or other necessary facts. They even passed stickers out to put on our name badges, so we’ll always have it. Our emergency policies (put into place after Rita) allow for rotating employees off duty a couple of days in advance to make preparations, and we’re placed in Tiers according to how necessary we are to the city. Police, fire, and many essential public works employees are all Tier 1 and must be on the job.

Shutting the city down is no small effort; it is hugely disruptive; if the government stops, so do a lot of services that the public expects to be there. Given that this storm has virtually no chance to develop beyond minimal Cat 1, a decision 24 hours in advance is not unreasonable, and the Mayor’s left himself an out for this afternoon. It’s a good call, just to make sure some folks don’t start planing a holiday. Bill White is far more reasonable that some prior mayors in this regard. Lanier and Brown were die hard “you will come to work if it snows” types. I am not kidding. I had to drive to work on a day that all the freeways were closed due to icing, and HPD lost count of the accident reports around 1500 or so.

I’d be more interested in knowing what the Post Office is doing — if they’re pulling their horns in, then the weather is serious.

As I said in the comments on your blogWeather Nerd, I don’t see using the statements of emergency managers as a hard and fast guideline. They’re going to be conservative because they (rightly) don’t want to risk their people hauling damn fools out of situations they shouldn’t have gotten into. That’s not a rationale for people being stupid however.

I’m arguing against a blanket rule of “everyone stay home, OMG the world’s gonna end if you don’t!” I’m not saying, “go party in the rain!” The wind and rain will be ramping up at the beginning of the morning rush, and dropping off at the beginning of the afternoon rush; both will be a complete mess, and I actually expect 1-3 deaths from this, because someone’s going to exercise poor judgment, like driving into a flooded underpass at 50mph. (Something that doesn’t require even a tropical depression to kill, around here.)

If anyone can stay home tomorrow, they probably should. If they have to go to work, they need to get to work very early. And stay late. If their normal schedule puts them on the road during the mid-day, then hell no, stay home.

But shut the whole city down? Not in the cards. At the most, tell everyone “We plan to be open, but check the morning news and weather.” Just in case Edouard decides to enter the record books by becoming the fastest forming cat 3 in history, or something.

Update: Jury calls have been canceled by Harris County, the gulf oil/gas platforms are shutting down (correction: no they aren’t, the storm was too fast), no more tankers incoming and many area colleges will be closed tomorrow. These are appropriate measures.

Update 2: Everyone lay off Brendan. I’m the one that took the potshot at Eric. Now maybe that was a bit too harsh, but I have never been one to avoid harsh when I think someone’s being dumb. I’ve still got a grudge against the mess the press made of everything ahead of Rita. The TV stations were worse than the Chron, but that’s not to say the newspaper didn’t do a lot to feed the general panic. A few cautions in there to slow down the extra 1.5 million that evacuated might have helped a lot. Yeah, I’m taking it out on Eric, maybe more than he deserves, but he works for what could, at best, be described as a lackluster newspaper that ignores critical local stories while pushing a narrow, leftist political agenda.

And whomever hinted I’m backing the Mayor because I’m a city employee obviously never read this blog. I’ve been known to back Mayor White once or twice. When he was right.

Not that I’ll turn down any bonus points for doing so, you understand…. 🙂

Monday Morning Report (update 2)

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Well, the National Hurricane Center moved the track back south a bit now, raised the chance of it being a hurricane slightly, and the storm has sped up. Next major update is 10 am CDT.

10 AM Update : It looks very much like the forecast is solidifying around a high-end tropical storm. Maximum winds have actually dropped to 45mph and the pressure has remained steady. High level winds blew the top off overnight, but it is expected to reform and strengthen later today and tonight. The track is moving a bit south again, which means Galveston Bay would take a direct hit from the right front quadrant (the strongest) if Edouard follows a perfect centerline track. Expected rainfall is in the area of eight inches, locally higher. Localized flooding will result from that, but not any city-wide disasters.

1 PM Update: Only a position update, other information remains the same. Outer rain bands hitting Louisiana; 3 to 5 inches of rain expected there. Pressure’s edged down to 1001 mb.

Some links y0u might want:
Chron’s Sci Guy
Weather Nerd
Weather.com for Houston
Weather Underground

However, I beg to differ with SciGuy on one issue:

What does this mean? The winds should cause little structural damage, but they will be strong enough such that only emergency vehicles should be on the road. I would expect most non-emergency businesses in Harris County to be closed on Tuesday.

Bill White obviously disagrees, and I think he’s right:

The City of Houston has begun preparations for the possible arrival of Tropical Storm Edouard, expected sometime tomorrow along the upper Texas coast.

It is important to note that the City is open for business as usual both today and tomorrow. All employees are expected to remain at their jobs today and report to work as usual tomorrow.

We will continue to monitor conditions throughout the day and night and expect to have a further update shortly after 4:30 p.m. today.

Meanwhile, supervisors are encouraged to review the City’s Administrative Procedures 2-3, pertaining to Severe Weather and other Emergency Conditions.

Employees should check with their supervisors to confirm their designation as “essential personnel” and “non-essential personnel.”

Bill White,
Mayor

This is a minimal storm that may not even make hurricane status, and to call for business closures and all non-official traffic to stay off the streets is nothing but over-hype on the part of the press.

Time to Break Out the Rubber Ducks (updated)

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We’ve got a tropical storm on the way. No reason to get complacent, just because it isn’t a category 5 hurricane. Just thought I’d post this little blast from the past, courtesy of the National Weather Service:

5 and 2 day rainfall totals:

INSIDE HARRIS COUNTY:

GREENS BAYOU AT WEST MT. HOUSTON . . . . . . 35.67 INCHES . . 26.54 INCHES
WESTHEIMER AND KIRBY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.00 INCHES . . 23.40 INCHES
HUNTING BAYOU AT I-10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.91 INCHES . . 22.13 INCHES
COWART CREEK AT BAKER (FRIENDSWOOD) . . 25.98 INCHES . . 13.50 INCHES
VINCE BAYOU AT WEST ELLAINE . . . . . . . . . . . 25.31 INCHES . . 12.68 INCHES
GARNERS BAYOU AT BELTWAY 8 (SOUTH) . . . . . 24.61 INCHES . . 17.91 INCHES
GREENS BAYOU AT US HIGHWAY 59 . . . . . . . . 23.58 INCHES . . 14.96 INCHES
BUFFALO BAYOU AT TURNING BASIN . . . . . . . . 23.54 INCHES . . 14.45 INCHES
CLEAR CREEK AT TELEPHONE ROAD . . . . . . . . 20.04 INCHES . . 10.12 INCHES
BRAYS BAYOU AT STELLA LINK . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.72 INCHES . . 12.80 INCHES
WHITE OAK BAYOU AT ELLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.19 INCHES . . 12.72 INCHES

INCREDIBLE AS THESE RAIN TOTALS ARE...THEY STILL PALE IN COMPARISON
TO THE RAINFALL TOTALS PRODUCED BY TROPICAL STORM CLAUDETTE IN 1979.
THE U.S. 24 HOUR RECORD RAINFALL TOTAL OCCURRED IN ALVIN TEXAS ON
JULY 24 1979. 43 INCHES OF RAIN FELL ON ALVIN DURING THAT 24 HOUR
PERIOD. IT IS PLAUSIBLE THAT SOME OF THE VOLUNTEER CO-OP SITES
ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS WILL YIELD SOME EVEN HIGHER RAINFALL TOTALS
THAN WHAT IS LISTED HERE. KHGX-88D RADAR HAS ESTIMATED THAT 30 TO 40
INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN OVER PARTS OF LIBERTY...CHAMBERS AND
HARRIS COUNTIES SINCE JUNE 1ST.

One of the things that made Allison so bad was that it rained heavily for three days prior to the main storm, which mean that the ground was already saturated. Bear in mind that the normal rainfall total for Houston in a year is only 46 inches….

I’ll be getting ready now, thank you.

Update: All three vehicles topped off, some extra gas in cans for the generator, a few gallons of water bought and set aside (plus several more empty jugs ready to be filled). We’d just bought groceries so we’re set there. Might pick up some extra batteries tomorrow; we’d gotten some ten days ago, just in case. But here’s why this storm worries me a bit, per the Weather Nerd:

. . . the National Hurricane Center designated Tropical Depression Five at 5:00 PM EDT, and then at 6:00 PM, upgraded it to Tropical Storm Edouard in a special advisory, noting in the discussion:

WHEN THE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT PASSED THROUGH THE CONVECTION TO THE SOUTHEAST OF THE CENTER A SHORT TIME AGO…IT FOUND MAXIMUM FLIGHT LEVEL WINDS OF 54 KT AND A SURFACE PRESSURE OF 1002 MB…A DROP OF 5 MB IN AN HOUR AND A HALF. THESE DATA INDICATE THAT THE DEPRESSION HAS STRENGTHENED INTO THE FIFTH TROPICAL STORM OF THE SEASON. … EDOUARD IS NOW EXPECTED TO BE NEAR HURRICANE INTENSITY AT LANDFALL.

If this rate of intensification continues, Edouard could be stronger than that. But for now, the official forecast falls for the storm’s intensity to max out at 70 mph. Tropical Storm Watches and Warnings are up for much of the Louisiana and Texas coasts.

The pressure drops strengthen the wind speed and total power of the storm. Last measurement had it at 1002mb. Below about 990 it’s getting close to hurricane status — pressure at the nominal hurricane point is around 980mb. In other words, if it kept intensifying at the same rate (not at all likely, I admit) it’s becoming a hurricane right now as I type this. And it’s already raining. Not part of Edouard, but it’s part of the same conditions that spawned the storm. That suggests a wet storm…

10pm update: It has not grown any stronger, and the track has been shifted slightly north. Both are promising signs… for me. One of those is less so for folks to the east.

Heh

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Steven den Beste notes:

I started thinking about that when I saw this question someone posted today at ask.metafilter.com:

“As an American, can I hand out flyers detailing the Tiananmen Square Massacre during the Beijing Olympics?”

I’m really glad to see that the many answers were virtually unanimous that this would be an utterly boneheaded thing to attempt.

I was going, “huh?” until I realized the idealistic (and idiotic) questioner didn’t mean during the Beijing Olympics, he meant at the Beijing Olympics. At which point, I became highly amused.

I wondered if someone asked him if he planned to participate in the Tank-Stopping event, and I thought it would make a great snarky comment for this post. So I went to Metafilter for the link, even though I didn’ t have to Lo and behold, the title of his post? “Tank man is Everyman.”

Suddenly, it wasn’t funny any more. I can only believe the guy was trolling.

Nunya Bizniz

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The Chron was nice enough to print my name and 2007 earnings on their website. Sorry, I am not a public official, and I don’t think my info should be up there. How would you like it if the IRS posted that information about you? Hey, you pay taxes, right? I’ve got a right to know if you’re paying your fair share, right?

A fireman said it best:

As for the idea we somehow have less of a right to privacy simply because we earn our living working for the citizens of Houston, the I vote that any entity, person, company, or vendor, that sells, contracts, or does business with the city post all of thier employees, contracts, and amount of money earned from business with the city each year. It will certainly dwarf the little bit I EARNED.JMHO

I’d cancel my subscription, but I did that long ago.