Saturday, November 3, 2012

Obama, Unions, and Hurricane Sandy – or Maybe We Should Call it Katrina II.




November 3rd, 2012

It's fairly cold here in New Jersey - very cold by SoCal standards.  In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, many still don’t have electrical power and now they can’t get gasoline for electrical generators (or cars) in many areas.  It is just now being reported that rationing of gasoline has officially begun in twelve counties affected by the hurricane.  

It has been the better part of a week since Hurricane Sandy and the problems continue to mount for those affected by the storm.  It appears to this blogger that Hurricane Sandy could well end up as Obama’s Hurricane Katrina (the Hurricane that made the Bush II administration look pretty bad).  Maybe we should just rename Hurricane Sandy as Hurricane Katrina II? 

For his self-centered part, yesterday, Obama was telling supporters to "vote for revenge" while schlepping on the campaign trail. Finally, today it is being reported that he has ordered twelve million gallons of gasoline to be sent to the areas affected by the hurricane.  To put this number in perspective, by the way, I have always heard reports that the State of California – a population comparable to the numbers affected by Sandy – burns 50 million gallons of gasoline a day.  (It is interesting though, that President Obama apparently believes it necessary for him to take a page from the playbook of former District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry, or so it seems to this blogger.)
  
Unions, another historically big reason to vote for the Democratic Party, have reportedly turned away non-union electrical power crews offering free assistance while millions of customers and residents are still without electrical power.  While such is denied by the union, it is reported that before allowing the crews from the south to help with the recovery, the IBEW (electrical worker’s union) demanded that the workers sign union agreements.  To the unions, it seems it is more important that electrical crews offering free assistance from the rest of the nation have valid union cards than it is for people/customers in the affected areas to have heat and electricity.
 
Who do these folks care about, one has to wonder?

AVT


After thought, January 2013:
The only thing missing here from what was present during the Hurricane Katrina fiasco is that here with Hurricane Sandy we dont have a vocal minority screaming racism as the reason that the victims are not being helped by the Federal government - as we all know was readily apparent with the Katrina situation.


See: 
Confusion causes utility crew to return from recovery effort


JCP+L Denies Turning Away Non-Union Help


Obama to supporters: Voting 'best revenge' against Mitt Romney

Obama Tells Ohioans How To Get Back At Romney: 'Voting Is The Best Revenge' (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/02/obama-revenge-romney_n_2067459.html




What are the U.S. Labor Unions Doing During this “Great Depression” of the New Millennium?