Unions Are Like Vaccines

In the years following World War II, the United States prospered. Our economy grew, and our life expectancy lengthened. Infant and child mortality plummeted. This era of improvement owed much to the rise of labor unions and the rise of vaccination. Polio was finally eradicated from the United States, and smallpox was eradicated from the entire world. Whooping cough and rubella became unknown to many American families. The blue collar middle class raised healthy children and could afford to send them to college.

Vaccines protect populations in two ways. Those who are themselves vaccinated get the strongest protection. However, those unvaccinated members of the population also benefit from "herd immunity" -- the lack of sufficient potential hosts in the surrounding community. Herd immunity is sufficient to protect the small percent of the population who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons (primarily very young babies and those with compromised immune systems).

Unions similarly provide "herd immunity" to an economy, when membership numbers are high enough. Union workers earn significantly more, on average, than non-union workers in similar jobs.  However, even non-union workers benefit when employers must compete with union shops for the same labor pool. On the Las Vegas strip, Sheldon Adelson's casinos are famously non-union.  However, he must compete with his unionized neighbors for employees, so his pay and benefits are comparable to those negotiated by the Culinary Workers Union.  Adelson plans less largesse in Spain, where he got the government to exempt him from many of their labor regulations and allow him to import low-paid guest workers from Morocco for his proposed Euro-Vegas complex.

In recent years, the anti-vaccine movement has been growing, and union membership and clout have been declining.  Both trends have thrived on ignorance (of medical science and of history and economics). As a result, once-rare diseases are making a comeback, and Americans' standard of living has been in decline:

In short, even though an hour of work by the average worker produced close to twice as much in 2007 as in 1975, his/her hourly wage declined...Between 1949 and 1974, the workforce became twice as productive and, at the same time, the hourly  wage of production and non-supervisory workers rose 66 percent to $18.63 from $11.24.  Why such a drastic change after 1974? One key reason is that labor union membership was at historically high levels between 1949 and 1974...Since 1974, union membership has dropped precipitously. In recent years, less than 14 percent of workers worked under collectively bargained contracts.

Vaccines are not always effective, and they occasionally have unwanted side effects. However, most people have far better odds of survival if they are vaccinated, and society as a whole is much healthier when at least 93% of the population partakes.  Likewise, unions do not always perfectly represent the best interests of their members. Like all human institutions, they are prone to corruption. However, our nation was much better off when unions were strong. The people who buy into the voodoo economics of supply-side tax cuts and anti-union legislation have a lot in common with the ones who buy into Jenny McCarthy's anti-vaccination bullshit.

Famous libertarians Penn and Teller illustrate the logic and science behind vaccination:

Is WEDC a Kleptocracy or an Idiocracy?

The way I see it, there are only two possibilities:

1. WEDC was designed to be an opaque slush fund to transfer public dollars to Scott Walker's cronies in the private sector (in which case, mission accomplished); or

2. Scott Walker and his cronies in charge of WEDC are completely unqualified for such high-level positions of responsibility.

Either way, a lot of voters in Wisconsin ought to be feeling a great deal of buyer's remorse. High-speed rail would have been far less expensive to Wisconsin taxpayers than WEDC and would have created a lot more jobs.

I can't add anything else to what Tim Morrissey pointed out on the subject.

The best quote about homophobia and misogyny that I've seen

"We want to hit a homosexual in the mouth because we are afraid that we might be homosexual; and we want to hit the woman or shut her up because we are afraid that she might castrate us, or take the nuts that we might not have to start with."

Black Panthers co-founder and open carry advocate Huey Newton, in a speech given in 1970.  He was decades ahead of his time in so many ways.

Mal de Mali

The United States is providing aerial refueling for France's military efforts in Mali and may start transporting troops from other African nations to support the effort.  The U.S. cannot provide direct support to Mali's government because it came to power in a coup, not through democratic means.

I find this deeply disturbing.  The U.S. is once again helping France to re-take one of her former colonies from insurgents and hand it off to an unpopular, inept dictatorship. The motive this time is to prevent Islamists from using Mali as a base to export jihad to other nations in the region. Fifty years ago, we were concerned about communism spreading from Indochina (Vietnam) throughout Asia.

While the French airstrikes have allowed the "government" to quickly retake urban bases, "The Islamists seemed to be pulling back further north into the trackless desert wastes and mountain fastnesses of the Sahara, from where some military experts fear they could carry on a hit-and-run guerrilla war against the government."

Sound familiar? 

Perhaps we should all learn the French word for quagmire: bourbier.  The venerable French newspaper Le Monde is already using it.

Quote of the Day

"Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?" - Paul Shawcross, Chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget, responding to a petition calling for the United States to build a Death Star. (h/t, Greenlee Gazette)

Making the most of the opportunity to trumpet the technological accomplishments of our military, Shawcross goes on to brag about "the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is supporting research on building Luke's arm, floating droids, and quadruped walkers."

Schoolhouse Rap

Math teacher Jake Scott from Silver Spring, Maryland, has come up with some well-produced rap videos to help his students learn about quadratic equations and trigonometry. I suspect these kids are too young to remember Multiplication Rock.
h/t NPR.

The NRA Jumps the Shark

Owning an assault rifle did not make Nancy Lanza safer in her home.

Having armed citizens in the crowd did not stop Jared Loughner's killing spree.

Yet, the NRA keeps peddling the same snake oil that an armed society is a safer society, this time washed down with a chaser of unfunded mandate for our cash-strapped schools.

Too many children are already killed accidentally by guns in their homes (or in their parents' cars). Having more children in close proximity to guns at school on a daily basis will inevitably result in more tragedies.

All the NRA cares about is boosting gun sales.  It's only a matter of time before they advocate arming schoolchildren.

Am I the only one who thinks that Wayne LaPierre could have modeled for the creatures in They Live?

'Tis the Season

I've had this song stuck in my head since Friday, so I thought I would share it. It seems especially appropriate today, as Madison is seeing the season's first light dusting of snow (we had some flurries last month, but nothing that accumulated).

At first, I assumed the video creator was not from around here, since "ShopKo" (a discount store chain headquartered in Green Bay and found in the Upper Midwest) is misspelled, as is "Negaunee" (a city in the Upper Peninsula), but since they also misspelled "cheer" and "Santa Claus" I can't really make any geographic assumptions. I traded in my own rusty Chevrolet last year for a newer used Ford, and it's been many years since I've driven a car as beat-up as the one described in the song, but this always brings back memories of skidding on the snow back when I was a much less experienced and responsible driver.

Bye Bye, Bielema

I was almost giddy when I heard that Bret Bielema took the Arkansas job.  If he lost a third Rose Bowl in a row, you know the boosters would have pressured Barry Alvarez to fire him, and the cash-strapped UW would have had to spend millions to buy out his contract, like 14 other schools that have collectively spent $31 million this year to fire their football coaches.

Instead, Arkansas will pay $1 million to Wisconsin.  Well played, Barry.  Well played.  If you manage to coach the team to a victory over Stanford, no one will feel that you're ridiculously overpaid.

RIP, Larry Hagman

Actor Larry Hagman has passed away at the age of 81. He was survived by his wife of 59 years, as well as their two children and five grandchildren.

As a child, I loved watching syndicated reruns of I Dream of Jeannie.  As a teenager, my whole family watched Dallas on Friday nights.  I don't really remember Larry Hagman playing any other roles than Major Tony Nelson and J.R. Ewing, although I know he got some other work over the years.  He recently returned to the role of J.R. for TNT's reprisal of Dallas.  It won't be the same without him.

Giving thanks

I am thankful that we are able to see our parents on this holiday weekend. The prognosis is cautiously optimistic that we will be able to spend Thanksgiving 2013 with them as well.

I am thankful that my neighborhood retail establishments have mostly survived the Great Recession. I'll be doing some local shopping today (and avoiding the mall like the plague).

I am thankful that my own health is relatively good, and that my husband's employment allows me to consider various career options without worrying about losing our house, cars or health insurance.

I am thankful that I have electricity and heat and a habitable house, unlike those displaced by Sandy.

I am thankful that, as serious as the fiscal and political challenges our country faces are, we do not have the severe economic problems of Greece or Spain, or the severe political problems of Egypt (where people are once again protesting a dictatorial government).

I am thankful that most of our troops will be coming home from Afghanistan, hopefully by Thanksgiving 2013 (and most of them have come home from Iraq).

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Good Riddance, October

Last month brought unexpected downsizing at my workplace and news of a parent's serious illness.  I haven't been checking blogs (or blogging) much lately, and that will probably continue for a while as I concentrate on my family's well-being.  If the Mayan Apocalypse-mongers are right, none of this will matter, but I suspect I should work towards a better 2013 instead.

Even the Real Refs Hate the Packers

In other news, the Packers defense still sucks, and Graham Harrell still isn't ready for prime time.  We would have been better off putting an eye patch on Rodgers and keeping him in the game.

Quote of the Day

"The Onion freely shares content with Fars and commends the journalists at Iran's Finest News Source on their superb reportage," Tracy said in jest.

Onion editor Will Tracy's response to an Iranian news agency citing this Onion article as fact.

Behold, the Power of Twitter

Twitter has been credited by some for helping to boost the 2009 protests in Iran and the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, particularly in Egypt.  Now, it may have hastened the return of the NFL referees.  I doubt that the league offices would have received 70,000 voicemails if the phone number hadn't been tweeted (by Wisconsin State Senator and occasional Daily Show guest Jon Erpenbach, among others).

In the past few days, Packers offensive lineman T.J. Lang has surpassed Justin Bieber as the all-time re-tweet champion.  Of course, if Lang and the rest of the O-line had done a better job protecting Aaron Rodgers in the first half of the game, the debacle at the end would never have happened.  So, I guess he does deserve a lot of credit for ending the lockout.

Return to Oz

I was shown up by a rookie
'Cause our O-line played some hooky
And left me in a bind.
We'd have beat up on Seattle;
I'd have won the Monday battle,
If I only had a line.

The Seahawks fans are noisy;
You can hear them clear in Boise,
And I thought I'd lose my mind.
I'd have had more of their silence
And less of Irvin's violence,
If I only had a line.

I hope those scab officials
Are choking on their whistles;
They've gone too far this time.
But if our offense hadn't tarried,
There'd have been no Hail Mary,
If I only had a line.

A Martyr for Democracy

For some time before September 11, tension had been simmering between various factions in post-revolution Libya. The weak transitional government has abdicated responsibility for security to armed militias, many of them Islamist.  One of those Islamist militias, Ansar al-Sharia, is widely held to be responsible for the attack that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.

Chris Stevens was held in high esteem by Libya's revolutionaries, whose cause he supported last year. His death outraged many Libyans and may have inspired the populist demonstration against the militias that took place in Benghazi on Friday.


There were counter-demonstrators, but they were far outnumbered. The clashes killed at least 11 people and wounded 70. A day later, the Libyan government banned all militias and armed groups that are not under government authority and are working to cobble together a national security force.

There is no way to know what Libya will look like in a year. It may be taken over by Islamist militias in the end.  Or, it may install a secular democracy on the Turkish model.  There are no strong leaders, no Libyan Kemal Attaturk, but this weekend has shown that not all Muslims are anti-American, not all Muslims want to live in an Islamic theocracy, and many Muslims are willing to stand up and fight against the extremists in their midst.

An Undeserved Win

The Badgers' offense looked terrible again yesterday.  I can't remember seeing them look so bad as they did in the first half, and I'm old enough to remember the Don Morton era and the winless Jim Hilles season.

Putting Joel Stave in at quarterback was an improvement, but the Badgers only managed to move the ball when Stave was occasionally allowed to throw it.  Giving it to Montee Ball every time to run out the clock with a few minutes left was stupid.  Bielema has pissed away leads this way before, but he never seems to learn that his Woody Hayes crap does not work in the 21st century.  And last year's debacles against Michigan State and Ohio State apparently did not teach him how stupid it is to gift your opponent with a timeout when they are marching back to score with the clock running down.

I thought Utah State would make that field goal in the final seconds and pull out the win.  And they totally would have deserved it.

It also seemed to me that Montee Ball was having trouble with his balance.  He couldn't seem to keep his feet under him once contact was made, making it easy for Utah State to trip him up.  I can't help suspecting that he isn't fully recovered from that concussion he suffered when he was mugged over the summer.

Bielema and Matt Canada need to admit that Danny O'Brien has no business starting.  They should have realized that two weeks ago.  Also, Montee Ball is not going to be a Heisman contender this year, nor is he going to break Barry Sanders' single-season touchdown record.  Stop trying to pad his career by giving him the ball most of the time.  It isn't working, and getting dropped for a loss will not help his stats.

I have a feeling that the hapless O-Line coach will not be the only one to lose his job this season.

The Bears Should Develop Their Own Celebration Moves

...instead of mocking those belonging to Packers' players.  How many more times was Jay Cutler sacked by Clay Matthews after a Bears player mocked his beast move?  Matthews didn't need to do the move again; his attitude was summed up when he nonchalantly examined his fingernails after sacking Cutler yet again.

The Lambeau crowd could be clearly heard chanting "The Bears Still Suck" (although the NFL Network broadcast team ignored it, and they quickly went to a commercial).

A couple years ago, in the run-up to the Superbowl, a Bear mocked Aaron Rodgers' championship belt move after sacking him.  Not long after, B.J. Raji got a pick-six and added his own flourish to the same move.

Taunting is a sign of weakness.  A confident team has no need to publicly disrespect their opponents.  I hope Jay Cutler remembers that the next time he's tempted to spout off and diss the defensive backs that he is about to face.  How'd that work out for you, Jay?

The Best Thing Since Schoolhouse Rock

I've long believed that we desperately need high school civics classes to teach students how to be informed consumers of political ads. Americans should view all of them skeptically, asking who is paying for them, what their agenda might be, and checking the veracity of claims.

However, in this age of SuperPACS that sprout like dandelions and have misleading names, it can be difficult for even political junkies to keep track. 

Thanks to a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and a collaborative class project at MIT’s Media Lab, there is now an app for that.

The SuperPACApp works like Shazam; you let it listen to an ad, and it identifies the message and source, providing links to information about that SuperPAC and nonpartisan sources to factcheck the ad's claims.

The app is free, but it is not available for Android, more's the pity.