Wither Ukraine?

Ukraine, like its neighbor Poland, is a victim of geography. Poland’s historic problem is being stuck between Germany and Poland. Poland though, unlike Ukraine, has had long periods of independence. Ukraine borders Russia on the East and North. Ukraine has rarely been independent. Its history is one of shifting boundaries and continuous battles, and often conquests, by Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Mongols, Ottoman Turks, Vikings, Cossacks, Tatars, Poles, and Russians, as well as invasions by various nomadic tribes out of Asia and the steppes, including the Goths and Huns. Kiev was the great city of Eastern Europe until the Mongols sacked it in 1240. Moscow then rose to prominence. The expanding Russian Empire exerted control over Ukraine in the mid-1600’s, with spurts of independence, such as a few years after World War I until the Soviets incorporated Ukraine into the Soviet Union. Stalin’s rule was especially tragic with Nikiti Khrushchev, his satrap, being known as The Butcher of the Ukraine. The Ukraine was the breadbasket of the USSR. The later Kremlin bosses saddled Ukraine with the April 26, 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear reactor explosion. The Crimea Tatars were brutally expelled by Stalin and Beria. They were only allowed back to their ancestral homes a few decades ago. Later, Khrushchev as the leader of the USSR transferred the Crimean Peninsula to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954. The political boundaries had little political significance as long as the Kremlin made the decisions. Ukraine declared independence on July 16, 1990 during the collapse of the USSR. Its boundaries included the Crimea and other areas in the east with substantial Russian populations. Sevastopol in the Crimea is the base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The Russian foreign policy in the Mideast depends on access to the Black Sea, and then through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles to the Mediterranean. The Ukrainian economy has been collapsing in recent years. The government is essentially broke. The country needs outside financial assistance. The Ukraine is dependent on Russia for much of its energy and trade. Russia’s main natural gas line to Western Europe goes through Ukraine. Ukrainians, the non-Russian Ukrainians, have no love for Mother Russia. Yet, Vladimir Putin is about to place a Russian bear hug around Ukraine. The former KGB agent eyes a rebirth of the Soviet Empire, with perhaps the exception of some of the former Muslim republics. Putin went to war with Georgia a few years ago to seize part of Georgia. Any restored Russian Empire must include the Ukraine, which tragically has been joined by the hip to Mother Russia for centuries. The current Ukrainian unrest was triggered when Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych cancelled a trade agreement in November with the European Union. President Putin offered $15 billion to Ukraine. Ex-President Yanukovich is the spitting image of the thugs who ruled many of the Soviet bloc countries. Ukrainians have no love for Russia. They want to join the West, but geography is their fate. President Yanukovych became a Russian puppet. The Ukrainians, at least those in the non-Russian parts of the Ukraine, rebelled. The shooting of the protestors by special riot police did not quell the popular revolt. The Ukrainian military refused to use force against the dissidents. They would not fire on their fellow Ukrainians. The President fled Friday, and emerged yesterday in Russia, claiming to still be the Ukrainian leader. “Independent” Russian militia members “spontaneously seized the Crimean Parliament Building and later the local airport yesterday. Reports are that some “militia” wore Russian Navy Insignias. President Putin suddenly ordered a 150,000 strong “war Games” on the Ukrainian border. Normally a state, such as Ukraine, would send police and the military to suppress a revolt. That could well trigger a military conflict with Russia. The Ukraine has a large military. Will it fight the Russians against strong odds? The Kievan protestors will. The Crimea Tatars Probably will. The Crimea though is probably going back to Russia, perhaps with some of Ukraine’s eastern provinces. President Obama will do nothing of substance to prevent it.

They Shoot Squirrels in Berkeley: Don't They?

Will they shoot squirrels in Berkeley? Will Bullwinkle lose Rocky? The City of Berkeley deposited about 1.9 million tons of residential, industrial, and commercial trash on a 90 acre landfill on San Francisco Bay. The City covered it over and named it Cesar Chavez Park. Cesar Chavez deserved better than having an abandoned dump named for him, but I digress. The Park has become home to a prolific population of ground squirrels and gophers. The people of Berkeley believe in making love, not war. They love to feed the adorable squirrels. The squirrels and gophers love to borrow through the soft detritus of society by the Dock of the Bay. The bureaucrats of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board ordered Berkeley in 2009 to reduce the squirrel population at the Park. Bureaucrats versus squirrels. The squirrels will win. The bureaucrats claim the assiduous digging of the burrows breaks the cap on the dump and releases “garbage juice” into the Bay. “Garbage juice!’ I’ve heard of pond scum before, but garbage juice? Is that a scientific term? Should I now use “garbage juice” instead of “leachate” in my Toxic Torts class? What hasn’t garbage juice been a problem at the score of other dumps on the Bay? Is this just another example of the uniqueness of Berzerkeley? The Berkeley City Council has acceded to The Great Ground Squirrel Slaughter. The War on Squirrels has as much chance of success in Berkeley as the War on Drugs. Civil disobedience is expected, perhaps a Squirrel-in. The cry will echo through the hills of Berkeley: “Free Rocky the Squirrel.” The squirrels are like coyotes. The more you kill, the faster they breed. New colonies will migrate to the open spaces. Lebranstran for ground squirrels in Berkeley! The problem is how to dispose of them. I have a vague memory decades ago of a thriving ground squirrel population by San Francisco’s fabled Cliff House at the foot of the Bay. The tourists came to look at the entrance to the Bay, but fed the squirrels. Something happened to these squirrels. Was it a poison or infection? I don’t know. We also don’t know how Berkeley, with its hired exterminator, will expiate the squirrel population on a one acre test site. Poisons are out. They would kill desirable species, including a significant percent of Berkeley’s dogs and cats. State law prohibits the transplant of these mammals. They are condemned to live the rest of their lives in Berkeley. They could shoot the critters, but in Berkeley? The irony is that Cesar Chavez was opposed to violence. Suggestions include offering a dollar bounty for each dead squirrel the neighborhood children bring in. A corollary is to issue BB guns to the kids with the dollar bounty. The kids could probably wipe out the squirrels in a week. Another alternative would be to bring in gopher snakes. They love rodents squirreled in burrows. The theory is that the exterminator will trap the animals and then kill them offsite. Let me suggest an alternative. The captured squirrels and ground hogs could be placed on the menus of San Francisco’s Cliff House and Berkeley’s Chez Panisse. Ground Squirrel – a true San Francisco Bay Treat, boiled in garbage juice.

Congressman John Dingell, Jr., The Grand Inquisitor, Is Retiring After 58 Years: Finally!

Congressman John Dingell, Jr. joined today the herd of 3½ dozen Congressmen and Senators who have announced their retirement from Congress this year. His retirement is singular because he is the longest serving member of Congress, 58 continuous years through 29 terms. He was first elected in 1955, succeeding his father, John Dingell, Sr., who served from 1932 until his death in1932, Representative Dingell hopes his wife succeeds him, thereby keeping the seat in the family. Deborah Dingell is 30 years younger than her husband, and was a lobbyist for General Motors when they married. The 87 year old Congressman sais his health is good, but said “I do not want to be carried out feet first.” He added “I don’t want people to say I stayed too long.” Of course he did. He is a living argument for term limits. So are the other long term retirees, both Republicans and Democrats: Frank Wolf (R. Va.) 17 terms Howard Coble (R. N. Car.) 15 terms Buck McKeon (R. Cal.) 12 terms Tom Latham (R. Iowa) 10 terms Henry Waxman (D. Cal.) 20 terms George Miller (D. Cal.) 20 terms Bob Andrews (D. N.J.) 12 terms Jim Moran (D. Va.) 12 terms Carolyn McCarthy (D. N.Y.) 9 terms Mike McIntyre (D. N. Car.) 9 terms In addition, Senator Carl Levin (D. Mich.) is steeping aside after 35 years and Senator Max Baucus (D. Mont.) has left the Senate after 35 years to become Ambassador to China. Congressman Dingell was a dinosaur, carrying on the legacy of the New Deal and Great Society as the nation turned conservative. He was a bona fide liberal, being instrumental in the enactment of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Civil Rights Act, and Medicare. His life long dream of universal health care was achieved with the passage of ObamaCare. He should have retired with his good friend Bert Stupak (D. Mich.) in 2010. He finally realized that “This is not the Congress I know and love.” He added I find serving in the House to be obnoxious.” Of course it is a different Congress. The Democrats no longer control Congress. The Democrats controlled the House of Representatives for 40 years from 1954 to 1994. He was one of the Congressional Bulls, who chaired the powerful Congressional committees during the reign of Democratic hegemony. He lorded it over the Republicans until Newt Gingrich rallied them to fightback. Congressman Dingell chaired the House Energy and Commerce Committee from 1981 to 1994. He quickly acquired a reputation as The Grand Inquisitor, or more aptly as a bully. He used his Chair to terrorize scientists, business executives and government workers, often without cause. Democrats today complain of the House hearings chaired by Congressman Darrell Issa (R. Cal.), but Congressman Issa has the facts to question the Obama Administration on issues such as Fast and Furious. Among the eminent scientists crucified by Congressman Dingell are Nobelist David Baltimore, President of Rockefeller University, and Robert Gallo, who linked the virus to AIDS. Chair Dingell also “took out” President Donald Kennedy of Stanford University on false charges of irregularities in government grants. Congressman Dingell was a reliable liberal, except on two issues. First, he was opposed to gun control, at one point being on the Board of the National Rifle association. Second, he was strongly supportive of the automobile industry. His current Congressional District includes the Ford Motor Company headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. His largest campaign contributors are Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors. He has served then well. The Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives in the 2006 midterm elections. They deposed him as Committee Chair in 2008, being replaced by Congressman Henry Waxman, representing smoggy Southern California. He should have realized that it was time to go when his own party dumped him. Representative Dingell served under 11 Presidents, and watched the decline of both Detroits, the city and the industry, during his tenure in Congress. He represented the city of Detroit and its suburbs and served Detroit, the industry. Not well! Congressman Dingell had become a caricature of himself.

The UAW Seeks a Mulligan in Chattanooga, Tennessee

The UAW lost its attempt to organize the Chattanooga, Tennessee VW plant by a 712-626 vote on Friday, February 14. It filed an appeal with the National Labor Relations Board a week later. It needs a Mulligan from the NLRB to save it. The South, including the border state of Tennessee, is notoriously anti-union, championing right to work laws. The Northern states favored closed shops, whereby employees have to join a union. . The South lost the Civil War, but it is winning the economics battles. Even some bedrock progressive states, such as Indiana and Michigan, have become right to work. Michigan’s Governor Rick Snyder was opposed to right to work legislation until the UAW led an unsuccessful effort in attempting to get the voters to approve Prop 2 in 2012. Prop 2 would have placed in the Michigan Constitution the right of private and public unions to organize and collectively bargain. It failed 58-42%. Enactment of right to work was the Republican payback to the UAW. The UAW is blamed, rightly or wrongly, for the decline, if not collapse of Detroit, both the industry and city. The traditional Big Three have been losing market shares and sales for 4 decades and closing dozens of UAW plants as the UAW membership plunged from 1.5 million dues paying members 35 years ago to 380,000 members today, a drop of 75%. No wonder the UAW is seeking a 25% dues increase. 130,000 of the UAW members work for the Big Three, the shrinking General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. GM has dropped from over half the American auto market to around 18-19% today. Chrysler and General Motors went bankrupt 5 years ago, but the taxpayers bailed out their UAW health insurance plans. Conversely the Southern states have witnessed a boom in automobile production as the German and Japanese car manufacturers have built new assembly plants in their states – all non-union. The UAW leaders understand what is happening. Union President Bob King recognized two years ago that the union’s survival depended on organizing the Southern plants. He said “I don’t think there is a long term future for the UAW” unless it organizes the South. Previous efforts to organize Nissan and Honda failed, but this time the new VW plant in Chattanooga was targeted with Mercedes in Alabama to follow. They thought VW was the best chance to unionize an import plant in the South. The UAW spent two years organizing the workers. VW was not opposing the union’s efforts. Indeed, it even let union organizers on the floor. Yet, the UAW failed. The UAW faces three obstacles in organizing the Southern Plants. First, the German, Japanese, and Korean manufacturers vigorously oppose unionization, with the sole exception of VW. Second, they don’t have much to offer the workers, who see the unionized plants as losers. The VW workers make about $27/hour and benefits. Third, the South is hostile to unions. The campaign against the UAW was promoted by outside forces, including politicians. Senator Bob Corker (R. Tenn) said shortly before the close of the voting period that he had been told that VW would not add a second assembly plant to build SUV’s if the workers unionize. VW disavowed the Senator’s statement, but VW’s choice is between Chattanooga and Puebla, Mexico. The Tennessee Senate leader threatened that VW would receive no further tax incentives if the plant unionized. The state and local governments had extended $577 million in subsidies to VW to get it to locate in Chattanooga. The political battle is over the future of the economic south, where jobs are growing. The Republican politicians in control of much of the South fear the money the UAW and other unions could raise locally through dues and then fund Democratic candidates in the South. The political and business leaders as well as many workers see the collapse of the heavily unionized industries and the decline of the northern union cities, led by Detroit. Thirteen anti-union billboards were placed near the plant. They had such messages as “United Obama Workers,” “Detroit: Brought to You by the UAW,” and “The UAW spends millions to elect liberal politicians, including Barack Obama.” Bob King was “deeply disappointed” with the “unprecedented interference by Republican politicians and political groups.” The UAW’s petition to the NLRB claimed “Senator Corker’s was shameful and undertaken with utter disregard for the rights of the citizens of Tennessee and surrounding states that work at Volkswagen.” The UAW will be pouring millions of dollars in trying to prevent a Republican takeover of the Senate this year. Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, said the unions will continue their organizing efforts in the South. The irony is that Trumka’s union, the United Mine Workers of America, is being destroyed by President Obama’s War on Coal. The UAW’s complaint to the NLRB is based on an organized campaign of intimidation by politicians and outside special interest groups. Such activities might constitute an unfair labor practice if conducted by the company fighting the union. However, it would be a novel theory for the NLRB to set aside an election because politicians and private citizens exercise their First Amendment Freedom of Speech. It is also based on inaccurate facts. About 1,000 votes, out of 1338, were cast, before Senator Corker uttered his statement. The UAW’s best hope is that the Obama NLRB will come to their assistance. It had earlier acted against Boeing for building a non-union plant in South Carolina to build 777’s. His appointees will not be bound by established law. Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina responded to the VW vote by saying Chrysler, Ford and GM union jobs are not welcome in South Carolina. “We don’t want to taint the water.” That expresses the Southern approach to the traditional, industrial unions.

Robert McKevitt, the Twix Vending Machine, and His Network Moment

“I’m mad as Hell and can’t take it anymore.” We’ve all faced that Howard Beale moment, especially these days with an infinite series of robotic prompts, followed by the sounds of silence on a service call. Robert McKevitt had his last October and made a costly decision. We can identify with his battle with the money gouging vending machine. We have one of those machines in the law school. He put a dollar in the machine at the Polaris Industries warehouse in Milford, Iowa for a $.90 Twix Bar. Robert had had “a rough day.” His girlfriend was nine months pregnant and “it was rough.” The Twix was visibly hung up on the way done. He placed another dollar in the machine. Same result. It’s time for the tried and true Plan B kicking and violently shaking the machine. More frustration. Now it’s time to think outside the box. It’s time to fight the frustrations; it’s time for relief. “Man Against the Machine.” Deux ex Machina This man will beat the vending machine with a stronger machine – his forklift. The forklift lifted and dropped, or should I say “allegedly lifted and dropped,” the felonious vending machine six times, two feet each time, onto the cement floor. Robert hid the Twix Jackpot. The machine disgorged three Twix bars. Robert had won a small victory for man against the infernal vending machine. A victory we can all savor. Robert McKevitt then had to face a bigger foe, The Polaris Industries Human Resources Department. HR had no empathy or sense of humor. Robert was fired 5 days later, two days after the birth of his daughter. He had one moral victory. Polaris Industries replaced the vending machines. His subsequent application for unemployment was denied. The administrative judge held Robert McKevitt was justifiably fired for misconduct for acting in willful disregard of his employer’s interests. Apparently the judge frowns upon employee morale boosting activities. Robert earned $16/hour at Polaris. He now makes only $9/hour at Walmart. He also lost his girlfriend and had to move in with his brother. Where did Robert go wrong? First, he apparently never watched the 1976 classic movie “Network,” now out on Blu-ray. He would have seen that it ended badly for Howard Beale, who uttered the memorable line “I’m mad as Hell and can’t take it any more.” Second, he blew; he let his emotions control him. Find an outlet to release the pressure in a manner that is not anti-social. Take it out on a punching bag or golf club. Shoot 1,000 free throws. Clean the garage or basement. Listen to early Bob Dylan. Throw darts at a picture of the vending machine. Make a Voodoo Doll with the machine’s name on it, and then stick pins in it – anything short of actual violence. Third, understand that “It’s the minor frustrations that make life interesting.” As the saying goes “If You Have a Lemon, Make Lemonade.” (A wonderful book by Warren Hinckle). Read the book, or even the extensive owners manual for the forklift. Watch Martini McBride’s wonderful music video for “Even God Fearing Women Get the Blues.” But don’t emulate Roger Pion, who was so upset at a ticket in Vermont that he took out 8 Orleans County police cruisers with a tractor in August 2012, a feat emulated last December by a 38 year old man in Burnaby, British Columbia, who totaled six police cars and then flooded the Burnaby Hospital’s basement. Forklift rage is as bad as Road Rage. Fourth, Robert failed to understand that the law only tolerates “self help” to a very limited extent. For example, you don’t blow up the cell tower because you hate your carrier. Yet, even if only for a second, you have to think “Well done, Robert. Wish I had thought of that.”

Solidarity Forever? Joe the Plumber Joins the UAW

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, was thrust into the public limelight in 2008 on the outskirts of Toledo, Ohio when he questioned Senator Obama on his claims of fairness. The Senator was there for a friendly meet and great, or so he thought. Jot the Plumber questioned the candidate on his proposed tax increases. Senator Obama responded “When you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” Everybody, that is, except for those being taxed. It was a moment that laid bare for all to see, if they wished to, that the candidate was a typical progressive income redistributionist. Economic growth was not his goal; he ran to redistribute income, to bring “justice” and “fairness” to America. The President’s 20 years of Liberation Theology with the Reverend Wright, his Senate voting record as the most liberal Senator (beating out Senator Ted Kennedy), and the exchange with Joe the Plumber presaged the past 5 years of the Obama Administration in action. ObamaCare is just an advanced form of income redistribution. The proposed increase in the minimum wage is another form of income redistribution. The surge in food stamp recipients, including ads in Mexico, represents income redistribution. It’s all done in the name of fairness, a compelling, seductive claim of fairness. Joe’s 15 minutes of fame, or infamy in the eyes of Obama Supporters, unleashed media scrutiny and invasions of privacy. His life was flyspecked by government officials. Helen Jones-Kelly, the Director of the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, and an Obama contributor, ordered a search of Wurzerbacher on the state’s computers. She subsequently resigned as her misconduct became public. An independent contractor for the Ohio Association of Police Chiefs used his connections to run an illegal personal check on the private citizen to retrieve personal information on the state's computers, including his DMV records. Joe Wurzerbacher, inadvertently thrust into the public limelight, took advantage of it. The unlicensed plumber’s assistant became a “poster boy” for the McCain-Palin campaign. Alas, neither Joe the Plumber nor Governor Palin could salvage the McCain Campaign. He gave promotional speeches, wrote a book, ran ads, and unsuccessfully sought a Congressional seat in 2012. He was opposed to public unions and the government bailout of General Motors. Joe is a workingman, who needs to work. He is a single father who needs to support his son. Joe the Plumber now has a new job. He is employed by Chrysler at the Jeep assembly plant in Toledo, Ohio. Ohio is a union-shop state, not a right to work state as Michigan recently became. Joe the Plumber has become a cardcarrying member of the United Auto Workers. He supports private unions. The response to his new job is mixed, as shown by the comments posted on line. Many supporters of the conservative Joe are dismayed. Some liberals and union members are apoplectic. They want him gone. They display no solidarity with their new union brother. One fellow worker during a work break called Joe a “tea bagger,” a phrase with several meanings. This response, in light of the Union’s failed attempt last week, to organize a Tennessee VW plant, further projects a negative image for the UAW. Joe is pleased to have a job, presumably a steady job, but Chrysler has had three near death experiences in the past three decades. Joe will not be pleased that UAW President Bob King has proposed a 25% increase in union dues from the equivalent of two working hours per month to 2½ hours per month, The Union wants to rebuild its strike fund. Joe has not said what he thinks of the Union contributing large sums to the Obama Campaign as well as other Democrats in the 2008 and 2012 elections. The UAW officials in Solidarity House have yet to comment on their new member.

Action Alert: Acton Camel on the Loose

Friday was Valentine’s Day, but the one hump Acton camel thought it was Hump Day. He escaped his pen, along with a buffalo and ostrich, who went their separate ways to blend in with the other escaped exotic animals in the Antelope Valley. The wayward dromedary was lost and confused. His hump was but a dilapidated, sagging half hump, and he had never been free to wander the high desert before. He didn’t even have a name, not even Joe Camel. We think he’s a he, but no definitive report has yet been released. He was musing about Valentine’s Day. No camel had ever been his Valentine, and certainly not today. The Camel With No Name was on a journey through the High Desert - Free At Last; Free At Last. But no! A 72 year old denizen of the desert tried to single-handedly corral him. The fool thought all camels were domesticated. Not this nameless one. He charged the man, knocked him to the ground, stuck the human head into his mouth, bit down and then remembered he was a vegan and not a carnivore. He stomped the human for good measure. Some other neighbors offered him food, the straw that broke the camel’s nerve, and led him back to his pen. But then, just as in the movies, a band of deputy sheriffs arrived. Our camel wanted no piece of the law and bolted again. He charged the deputies, he charged the cars, he charged anything that moved. He did not notice though the NBC4LA traffic helicopter hovering overhead. Angelenos are jaded by highspeed chases (so passé), but there had never before been a low speed, careening camel chase. OJ was in a low speed, white Ford Bronco pursuit in the O.C. two decades ago, but this is LA, or at least the far northeast fringe of LA County. A BOLO went out for the gallivanting camel. The marauding camel was news; it even made the London Daily Mail, which dates back to the time of the Sopwith Camel and Camel cigarettes. A camel capture ensued with sheriff cars and fire engines surrounding him in the Wild West of northeast Los Angeles. The camel is now penned in Lancaster, being held by the Los Angeles Sherriff, the new Sherriff from the O.C., as “evidence.” The camel has now found a purpose in life. Maybe he’ll regain his hump in life. He is evidence against his owner, whoever that might be. The owner is unlicensed to possess camels, which is as great a crime in California as the unlicensed practice of the law. The unlicensed camel owner is AWOL, fleeing the police, presumably not by camelback to the Camelback Resort.