The LuLac Edition #770, Mar. 31st, 2009

PHOTO INDEX: AUTO WORKERS AND SEXTING.

SEXTING

I was going to get around to this sooner or later. The recent ACLU involvement in the Wyoming County case has begun a debate. Here’s the deal: teens were texting photos of each other in various stages of undress. The DA’s office in Wyoming County sent a warning letter, via the school district to all parents. A few of the kids who were caught doing this were given the opportunity to attend a class which talked about the pitfalls of doing this. The theory being once this gets on line, anywhere, there’s no bringing it back. A few kids, with the help (?) of their parents balk saying that their freedom of speech is being violated. The DA takes the further step of saying he will arrest them for kiddie porn. The ACLU then gets involves and a Federal Judge sides with the ACLU saying the kids can’t be forced into going to the class. So here are a few questions I have. Why wouldn’t any parent in their right mind encourage their kids to take the class? What harm is there in getting valuable information to a student on something like this? Or are the kids running the house instead of the parents? What parent would condone the behavior of a daughter or son who strips and then sends messages via photo electronically? Isn’t there a break down in values here? Or are the kids running the house instead of the parents? What is the mindset of people who are actually defending the actions of these kids? And why are they saying the DA is only doing it to enhance his career when in fact this was brought to light in full public glare by the ACLU action? Or are the kids running the house instead of the parents? Why should any teenager not holding down their own job have a cell phone with all the bells and whistles to do this stuff? Isn’t safety an issue, not entertainment? Isn’t it enough to have a cell phone that gives to the opportunity to call someone and get a voice mail message? Why all the added stuff? You have three kids, all those extras add up, right? Or are the kids running the house instead of the parents? And finally, what parent in their right mind would want to proclaim the fact that their kid in fact posed half naked and advertise that fact every time they are seen on the TV news striding into a court like wanna be celebrities? Or are the kids running the house instead of the parents?

AUTO WORKERS PAIN

Since we are in bailout mode these days in this country, let’s talk about those auto workers. When my family immigrated from Eastern Europe, half of them went to Pennsylvania to work in the mines and on the railroads. The other half went to Canada and settled in Ontario to work in the auto plants across the border. It seems to me that with all these bailouts to the bank, and the Wall Street types who needed those bonuses oh so badly…………..that with the recent news of the auto bailout, the one group getting shafted are the autoworkers. Let’s face it, the auto industry has to retool the way they do business. But auto workers are in the cross hairs of that restructuring. The reason why the auto industry has not been able to restructure itself is because union workers would never take the buy outs offered by the company on the theory that they don’t want to forfeit the last decent paycheck they get in their lives. "Restructuring" means that we have reached the endgame. The administration has said, in effect, that it will no longer expect, or even allow, the auto companies to subsidize the automobile economy. What is facing the administration is how they will pair down the cost of union workers in order to make the auto industry efficient again. It is not the responsibility of government to save GM or any other auto company. It is however to keep the workers of the auto industry employed. You’ll hear about money for "education" and "retraining." But right now there are no answers for the autoworker who asks, "Retraining for what?" Retraining without the real prospect of jobs is a false hope that has been held out to autoworkers for years. It is a given the economy of the auto belt will shrink. The question is how it will weather that downsizing with a minimum of pain. So far, President Obama has given the autoworker a vague promise of retooling. It is striking that this “indispensable” worker gets that, while the Wall Street bonus baby got the cash.