GO, CENK!

Please watch this blistering broadcast from Current.com where Cenk Ugyur blows his stack over the situation with union rights in Michigan. You don't usually hear newscasters say "goddam", but Cenk is quite right to be furious about recent events there. Michigan's governor campaigned saying that he didn't want to strip union rights, but right before newly elected democratic state legislators are set to take office, he abruptly changed his mind and signed a "right-to-work" law which cripples unions. The state senate snuck it through quickly and Gov. Snyder signed it hiding behind police guards without even giving a protest movement an opportunity to organize. 12,000 protesters showed up at the state capitol the next day but unless they keep up the fight and we all join them in their efforts to support workers' rights in Michigan, at Walmart, etc., then our rights will be stripped away next. I don't know if you saw the latest unemployment figures but they are slightly down. However, that good news is diminished by new figures that show the average paycheck amount is down. And old figures clearly show that worker productivity is up and wages are down. In other words, work your ass off for peanuts if you're lucky enough to have a job.

Obama claimed in his first campaign that he'd put on his walking shoes and march right along with strikers if union rights were challenged. Instead, he offered a weak statement and essentially turned his back on the issue. And while he spoke out days ago against the right-to-work law in Detroit, he also met Gov. Snyder at the airport for a seemingly friendly exchange. Especially after letting unions down in his first term, the president needs some of Cenk's passion as seen here. With Michigan sneaking through right-to-work laws and making abortions harder to obtain going in a completely opposite direction from what Michiganders want, it's another example of our broken democracy in which lawmakers represent corporate interests over their own constituents.