Eric Cantor sighted in Ann Arbor

Damn it! He came into my place of business yesterday, walked right up to me and stared at the counter, but didn’t say a word in response to me when I said hello. I couldn’t figure out who it was, but he was flanked by two Secret Service agents, who were much more personable than he was. He had is daughter with him, I suspect she’s going to U of M. They came in, used our restroom, and walked out without purchasing anything, all the while their SUV’s parked illegally out front.

Damn. I really, really, wish I had been able to place his weasely face while he was there. I mean, he was three feet from me, and I could have posed any question I wanted. I’m positive he would have ignored me and walked away, given the general look of distaste he had on his face, but it sure would have been fun…

I could maybe have someone draw for me. I don’t know if my stick figure drawings would do the situation justice.

I prefer the hollywood types to slime pols lurking about

He’s like Boehner, but without the character and guts.

And, yes, that’s a joke.

Don’t you think it’s odd, that his daughter comes North to Ann Arbor? I mean, it’s so not like him here? Kind of like, in your face, Daddy moment?

And he’s apparently still in town. A friend of a friend saw him eating at Angelos this morning.

From Electablog:

Get that? Eric Cantor says hurricane victims will have to wait for the money for assistance to help them after this natural disaster until Congress can figure out where to take the money from so that it can be directed to help them. Never before has such a condition been placed on helping out those who were devastated by a hurricane or earthquake or tornado. Not until this year.

These evil bastards are so desperate for Irene to be “Obama’s Katrina” that they are willing to create a crisis to blame on the president. That means people will needlessly suffer while they play political games designed only to hurt the president.

Maybe he’s just terrified to go back to his constituents.

David Madland on Cantor’s memo:

The memo—a “pre-buttal” to President Barack Obama’s scheduled jobs speech on September 8 —lays out the House schedule of votes for the remainder of the year on the “10 most harmful job-destroying regulations.” The first and last votes on the schedule are on regulations that protect workers’ basic union rights, which indicates that the House Majority thinks workers having too many rights is a core problem causing current joblessness in our economy.

Even people skeptical toward unions should recognize this agenda for what it is: a shameful blaming of workers for problems they didn’t create that proposes solutions that only help the rich and the powerful.

Repackaging a tired, antiunion, pro-CEO agenda as a plan for job creation is a sign of just how far off base the House Majority is. Eliminating these regulations will not create jobs. Instead, they will hurt workers, the middle class, and the economy.

The first item up for vote is H.R. 2587, scheduled for the week of September 12. H.R. 2587 is a reaction to a National Labor Relations Board investigation into allegations that The Boeing Company broke the law and retaliated against workers in a Washington state factory by opening a new factory in South Carolina after workers at its Washington plant conducted legally protected union activities. But the bill’s effects would be far broader than the single case.

All Americans have the basic right to organize a union and bargain collectively, including the right to strike, and the NLRB is empowered to stop companies from moving operations or eliminating work to punish workers that exercise these rights. Under the bill it would still be against the law for employers to move work to prevent union activity, but the NLRB would no longer have much power to do anything about it. Imagine if Congress passed a law saying that even though stealing was illegal, the judicial system would no longer prosecute it.

Allowing companies to outsource the jobs of workers who exercise union rights would effectively eliminate the ability of workers to collectively bargain—leaving workers with little ability to come together to try to improve their jobs.

The idea that this is the top regulation to create jobs is ludicrous. So is the memo’s claim that failure to pass the bill will deter future investment in the United States.

First, the case hasn’t even been decided yet. The NLRB has not issued a ruling on this case, and the final verdict is unlikely to be reached for some time. And no matter how the Boeing case is resolved, it is unlikely to affect the total number of jobs in the United States. At worst, the jobs question in the Boeing case is where in the United States—Washington state or South Carolina—they will be. At best, jobs could be maintained in both South Carolina and Washington, because Boeing could still make planes at the South Carolina plant even if the NLRB rules against the company and requires it to maintain a second production line in Washington state.

Second—and to the broader issues raised by the bill—the existing law is clearly not the cause of our current jobs problem. The National Labor Relations Act has been in effect for 75 years. During that time, the United States has seen tremendous investment and job growth. Throughout this long time period, related cases came up, and some required work to be moved back from where it was transferred. Plus, other countries that have much stronger laws protecting union activities and are much more heavily unionized, such as Australia, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands, are doing better or at least as well as the United States in this economic downturn.

All of which suggests that the most important item in the House Majority’s jobs agenda is just a cynical attempt to achieve antiunion goals on the backs of workers and the unemployed, who need serious help.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/09/cantor_jobs.html

Glad to hear that you made it out, Chelsea.

From AnnArbor.com: A group of local workers and students is expected to protest a speech by U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, in Ann Arbor on Monday.

In honor of Cantor’s Halloween visit to the University of Michigan, numerous groups will be holding a “Funeral for the Middle Class,” protesting what they call Cantor’s “radical and destructive votes” on economic and social issues.

The noon protest is expected to include a funeral procession and eulogy given by a Cantor impersonator, according to a press release.

Cantor is expected to speak at 1 p.m. at the Michigan League as part of a lecture series organized by the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

http://www.annarbor.com/news/us-rep-eric-cantor-to-face-protest-in-ann-arbor-on-monday/

Hooray! Eric Cantor was thrown out of office by the voters of his district! They chose the Tea Party backed candidate over him. Bye bye, Eric.