As IF Times

link 2nd UPDATE: UK Hit By Nationwide Public Sector Strike – WSJ.com.

As sure as the shrimp is the first to disappear at a buffet table, public sector unions in western nations are up in arms over the changes being imposed on their entitlements by governments pressed to address horrendous budget shortfalls.  Of course, that’s only unions in western countries since it is only in western countries that there is the notion of entitlement.

The roots of the labour movement arguably began in Europe during the Industrial Revolution as economies moved from being historically agrarian to adjust to the new era of machines and systematized processes.  Labor became more of a commodity and the early industrialists were as likely as not to exploit the new labor dynamic.  Abuses of workers were likely common and eventually, trade unions were established to protect workers from abusive policies.  A more detailed discussion can be had at,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_movement

With the passage of time however, the labour movement evolved into a distinct component of most western governments but has morphed to become more of a home for leftists than they are defenders of the individual.  It’s no coincidence that labour parties have always been closely aligned with socialist/marxist and communist movements since these philosophies all pushed the notion of the oppressed, non ruling masses.  Whether or not one agrees with the philosophy or aims of the labour movement, one common flaw is glaringly common to all iterations of leftist political thinking.

They have no grasp of math.

Every little kid in every Asian country, from a very early age is competent in basic arithmetic.  The concept of the equals sign, “=” elegantly represented by two parallel lines of exactly equal length means that the values assigned on either side of the sign are the same in value.  Logically, this means that any change to one side requires a change on the other side otherwise the equation is no longer valid.  Somehow, this very fundamental and logical concept is lost on most leftist ideologues and union reps when it comes to socialized payout benefits.  To them, balancing input and outgo is an abstract exercise similar to calculating the value of pi.   This gap in reasoning must be attributable to a deficient education.

It makes sense then, that in order to restore reasonableness to much of society’s woes, that an emphasis should be placed on math from the very early ages.  In fact, when anyone runs for or is appointed to any position of political influence, they should first be required to take a math proficiency exam to ensure that there is a grasp of the concept of the equals sign.  We’re not talking differential calculus math, we’re talking, if Suzy had 3 apples and gave Johnny 1 apple math.  Not only would this eliminate math illiterates from attaining office, it will eliminate them being able to con the large segment of the population who are also math challenged, those that would believe blantantly false utterances and promises.

Only very coddled children, very naive individuals or simply wilfully ignorant demagogues can believe that an infinite amount of anything is available from a very limited pot.  Public service unions can march all they want, but the simple math says that for them to receive an ever escalating stream of entitlements erroneously pledged  by disingenuous leaders means that someone has to pay for them, especially if they themselves don’t.  It just doesn’t add up.  At some point, they really do run out of shrimp at the buffet table.

link U.S. News – Black Friday violence: 1 shopper critically injured after shooting, 15 others pepper-sprayed.

If there’s any evidence needed that much of U.S. society has crashed heavily through the rails of decency and common sense, then the recent plethora of news stories surrounding violence around Black Friday sales is exhibit A.  Only in America would the supposed celebration of peace and good will towards all men be prefaced by violence during the clamor to buy some trinket at a sale price in preparation for the peaceful festivities.

The whole tradition of this can be traced back to three men, the names of whom the majority of people today would not recognize; Balthazar, Gaspar and Melchior.  These were the famed Three Wise Men of biblical and historical fame who were the originators of the whole Christmas shopping tradition which manifests itself grotesquely today with Black Friday.

Biblical history tells us that an angel appeared which announced to the 3 men that a very significant event was taking place soon, the birth of the baby Jesus in the town of Bethlehem, a few towns over.  Given this important news, the three men decided that it behooved them to make a pilgrimage to see the baby, but not to arrive empty handed.  They collectively decided to bring items which were considered valuable in the day.  Money of course, in the form of gold is always a good gift.  The other items they thought of were frankincense and myrrh, essentially aromatic plant resins.   Actually, the latter two were quite thoughtful gifts because in those days, regular bathing had yet to be accepted as social convention.  Frankincense and Myrrh were used as perfumes and aromatics to help mask the fragrance of desert sweat and camel perspiration ubiquitous in the day.  You can imagine then the importance of these fragrance resins.  These items were the Ipads and big screen TV equivalents of today.  In fact, the one wise man was chastised for only bringing money since that meant he couldn’t trouble himself to stand in the checkout line at the bazaar to buy something thoughtful.  In the end, they all decided to give their gifts as a group rather than assigning any one item to any particular person.

From this gesture began the entire tradition of bestowing gifts at Christmas time to small children, which then expanded to include everyone else.  Which brings us to today where the importance of getting the ‘it’ gift has become literally a blood sport as reported by all the news accounts of rabid shoppers at the malls.  This can’t be good for society.  Maybe it’s a good idea to go back to the gold, frankincense and myrrh tradition.  Here’s the solution, give money,  Old Spice and Chanel No. 5.

link Climate change: vulnerable countries consider occupying Durban talks | Environment | The Guardian.

Again for amusement, note the new moniker now widely used in place of the Global Warming label when the hysteria was first fabricated.  Climate Change is officially version 2.0.  This was of course necessary in the face of historically cold conditions afflicting the planet over the past 5 years.  As a protester, it was somewhat problematic to be holding a global warming sign while wearing mittens and a toque selling the notion that the world was minutes away from a perma heat wave.  A branding company was hired, and voila, Climate Change was adopted.  That way, everything was covered.  Freak snow in July?  AHA! Climate Change!  Rain in the Sahara? The end must be near.  Fewer bees in the backyard? Again, climate change.  They began claiming links between people’s mood swings and soaring crime rates to the effects of climate change; the opportunities  for expensive academic studies in this field  are endless.  One thing could be tracked for sure, the correlation of stupidity and the cacophony of Climate Change bleaters.

Now the gang are adopting a tactic from the Occupy crowd and apparently diplomats are going to stage sit-ins at this year’s conference site of choice, Durban.  As I’ve wondered before, why don’t they ever hold these conferences in less expensive places, Siberia for instance? This kind of event would do wonders for the local economy.   Of course having diplomats doing sit-ins rather than the rag tag hippies that usually populate these things may not sell as well since they’ll likely have assistants bringing them canapes and mixed drinks.

Numerous spokesmen have earnestly decried the lack of ‘tangible’ solutions.  This guy, Jorge Arguello who is the august chair of the powerful “G77 coalition of 131 countries and China” (is there anyone left out?) states the following:

“…[We] trust to see in Durban a fair and equal treatment of all issues that are important to all parties. A serious imbalance in the progress of issues can clearly not be conducive to a successful, comprehensive and balanced outcome…”

The only thing clear is that he does not have a command of English.  This statement is the usual political gibberish which in itself is a contributor to noxious hot air.

Of course, the usual warnings are pushed out again, since they seemed to arouse so much passion before.  The expected ‘imminent and catastrophic’ warnings are used again.  That kind of stuff didn’t work for the crazed Preacher Harold Camping this past May, see http://www.asiftimes.com/2011/05/22/mass-delusion/ when he was predicting the end of the world this year.  Actually, wouldn’t that be more urgent than a bit of extra sunshine?

And finally, the conclusive proof that a humanitarian disaster is just around the corner; according to a credible person quoted for this article,

“…Sheik Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh, said: “Climate change caused over 300,000 additional deaths last year. We the vulnerable countries suffer the most for our limited coping capacities. Bangladesh and other vulnerable countries cannot wait for international response to climate causes … we are implementing 134 climate change adaptation and mitigation action plans…”

How this is determined is very interesting.  So they are telling the public that in a part of the world where non dirt floors would put you in the middle class, where water has to be sourced by buckets and where washroom facilities are wherever you can find an empty hole, that climate change has been a contributor to deaths.  Is there a tick box on the death certificates under a list of possible causes such as cholera, infection, dysentery, crushed by an ox, which specifically categorizes Climate Change as a cause?  Holy cow!  Is it contagious?  If so, I wonder if you catch it from standing around in an Occupy protest?  Up to now, you could only catch ringworm or herpes from them.

So as usual, the hysteria and hyperbole machines are in high gear again, trying to convince people to fund laughable schemes of ‘sustainability’ but which actually means money transfers from the U.S. to the rest of the world…much like the financing model for the U.N.  The cause would be aided greatly if these earnest charlatans  got from place to place in rowboats and bicycles instead of planes, trains and automobiles.  Until then, it’s like Occupiers texting on iPhones to find the next protest site.