Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

For those paying attention, the reign of Chao has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster.  Just as cronyism resulted in the selection of ardent Republican supporter Brown, whose background was in the equestrian field, being named to a FEMA post for which he was thoroughly unqualified, the same would have to be said for Chao.  

Someone with no background in the labor relations field, Chao's leading qualification, in addition to her unswerving loyalty to the ruling Junta, is her marriage to right wing, definitively partisan Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.  

In addition to assiduously working on behalf of the tobacco industry in his state, McConnell has been bullish on war in Iraq and for frequent and generous tax cuts for the rich.  McConnell was a leader in the successful effort to prevent the counting of Florida ballots in the presidential election theft of 2000.

On the subject of Florida, Chao made precious points with the martini drinking executive boardroom crowd in her speech to an AFL-CIO convention at Hollywood's Diplomat Hotel.  Rather than discuss the trials and tribulations of the lunch bucket carrying American workers bearing union cards, Chao instead insulted and enraged delegates by referring pointedly to previous corruption within union leadership ranks.  

While it is undeniable that greed and avarice have been a sometime unfortunate part of the labor tradition, the union movement at its most glowing has been in the forefront of promoting livable minimum wages, safer working conditions, the 40-hour workweek, health care and sick leave.  

It is obvious why Chao would never have focused on any of these bright spots on the union leadership record; her bosses Cheney and Bush have careers linked to corporate greed in the oil field and unyielding support of ruthless monopolistic capitalism.  Cheney as a congressman voted against the meal on wheels program.

Bush bailed out at Harken Energy, leaving his friends to take a financial pummeling, with his father, then President George H.W. Bush, personally squelching an ongoing federal investigation pertaining to those activities.  The younger Bush would prefer that you not remind him of the days when he affectionately referred to golfing chum, Enron head Kenneth Lay, as "Kenny boy".  

What has Chao been doing in her sinecure post the past six years?  For those interested in her activities, much of them related to the strategy of dealing with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, known in Washington shorthand as OSHA.  

The OSHA mandate of making the lives of working men and women safer has been turned upside down by an Administration propelled by the objective of turning modern America into a nightmare reminiscent of the worst of rapacious nineteenth century Dickensian Britain.  

As former New York Governor Al Smith said, "Let's look at the record."  During Chao's tenure hostility toward workers has been paramount with OSHA protective policies previously in place being cut and slashed.  As a result occupational safety has alarmingly declined and industrial accidents have substantially increased.  

Take a look at the situation in West Virginia.  The tragedy occurred within the scope of a non-union company rife with violations.  Numerous violations point toward danger, particularly in an inherently hazardous profession such as mining.

When analyzing the Cheney-Bush Junta it is paramount for observers to keep their eyes on the ball.  Grover Norquist arrogantly professed the team strategy objective of ultimately drowning government in the bathtub.  Unions stand in the way of retrogression to feudal days, this time in a high technology era.

It is important to understand the Cheney-Bush-Norquist philosophy.  Junta operatives deem it arguably necessary as a result of 9/11 to detain arrested victims indefinitely without filing charges or permitting a defendant a speedy trial.  It is permissible to launch foreign attacks without sufficiently specified grounds due to inherent authority in time of war based on a 9/11 rationale.  

Spying on Americans without securing court warrants is also perfectly acceptable.  Another objective of the Cheney-Bush Junta is to initiate worldwide economic globalization with impacted citizens having no say in the matter, and for the Supreme Court to circumvent efforts of states and counties to conduct elections.  

All of the aforementioned is deemed acceptable and necessary, not to mention noble and patriotic.  As for the rights of workers to achieve a decent living standard and organize collectively in the pursuit of necessary legislation, those efforts fall into the verboten category.  In the words of Ronald Reagan, "Get the government off of people's backs!"