corporatespeak

"the content contained in this document may or may not apply to colleagues subject to a collective bargaining agreement."

SUBJECT: transitive verb. 1 a. to bring under control or dominion:subjugate b, to make ( someone or oneself ) amenable to the discipline or control of a superior. 2. to make liable: predispose 3. to cause or force to undergo or endure ( something unpleasant, inconvenient, or trying ) COVER: transitive verb. 1 a. to guard from attack. b. to afford protection or security. both definitions from merriam-webster _______________________________the statement at the top is a disclaimer at the bottom of every page of a FAQ pdf from a major retailer where i have found myself mired at times in my declining years...so in corporatespeak there are "colleagues" who are "subject" to a collective bargaining agreement, which implies a relationship of superior/inferior status while "colleagues" implies a community of peers which, of course, no corporate structure is...top-down, hierarchical, and anything but democratic...if you don't like it you can vote with your feet...but that is as democratic as it gets...where i come from a bargaining unit is "covered" by a collective bargaining agreement...a definite semantic difference in approach..."to afford protection" from the more arbitrary and scoiopathic impulses of corporations..this is exactly ( along with a higher pay scale ) why corporations hate unions...they limit their prerogatives...there is nothing subtle about the endless corporate anti-union propaganda...it is in plain sight...all in the language...and, like all propaganda, it contains a kernel of truth that makes the lie palatable...unions are not perfect...union leadership can be abusive, corrupt, and exploitative...so can corporations...they all have humans at the controls and humans are a diverse lot..still, they offer a modicum of shelter from autocratic executives ( and there's that higher pay scale as well ) who can lose themselves in their narcissistic visions of innate superiority...and executives dislike being disabused of their illusions...exactly why everyone needs a union.

fear of the mob

"i believe that this instinct to perpetuate useless work is, at bottom, simply fear of the mob. the mob ( the thought runs ) are such low animals that they would be dangerous if they had leisure; it is safer to keep them too busy to think." george orwell. down and out in paris and london.

tom cotton, in senatorial terms, is pretty much a third rate jerk...mcconnell out jerks him every day...and mcconnell's sneering dismissal of the results of cotton's authoritarian outburst ( and ass sucking trump toadyism ) in the new york times is indicative of the elitist thought in the halls of congress be it from the crypto side or the liberal " if you'd just do what we tell you" pelosi cadre...there's a lot of head shaking and pontificating going on in the nation's capital and i am inclined to think much of it misses the point that orwell makes...the "covid-19 shut down" and the $600 a week stipend for the unemployed is a root cause here...i know people who work where i do who are holding that position as a second job...and i can imagine it being a third for some...the pay is abominable and people are hustling to make ends meet...too busy to think...that $600 a week may mean that, for some, this is the first time they have had both sufficient money to live on and time to think...and what they are thinking is how utterly skewed social relations are and that it might be time to demand some economic leveling...this is a dilemma for the powers that be...they need people to spend money to keep the greed machine fed...but too much time and cash leads a lot of folks to begin considering a political solution to their needs...the idea of "an interested and overbearing majority" sacred the pants off the framers of the constitution...the virus may have awakened it...still waiting for the reichstag fire and a "postponed" 2020 election...or, at least, an attempt to do so...also expect some fast and loose play around the ballot boxes in novenber...there's been a couple of stolen presidential elections in my time and at least one in yours...my advice is keep thinking people...think hard and read around ( eschew broadcast news...it is all propaganda from fox to msnbc...both sides lie through their teeth )...an informed electorate is the worst thing they can think of.

stole?

it's election day...and on most election days my very favorite political story, even if it is probably apocryphal, pops into my head...

it concerns michael "hinky dink" kenna...who was at one time on the chicago city council but who preferred to be the brains of the organization behind "bathouse john" coughlin and stay out of sight in the first ward...

where he was proprietor of "the workingman's exchange" a saloon/flop house that filled with transient and indigent of the ward around election time...after one typical first ward election, replete with the customary ballot box stuffing, dead people voting, and outright bribery the story goes that the dink was being interviewed by a journalist who pointed out that many thought the lopsided victory by "the bath" was fraudulent...the result of a "stolen election"...kenna is said to have forcefully replied,"stole? i paid fifty cents cash for every one of those votes"...it was a more honest time in american politics...now they deny they lie and cheat whenever possible...there was more of an ethic in kenna and his peers...they called it honest graft...now it's "dark money"...vote early and often...