Jenny Brown
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Nope. Despite my dower rhetoric on the national front, I did my best to convince my shop buddies to get off their ass and vote against the recall, and for Bustamante.
One guy voted against the recall and for nobody. When I pressed him about why he didn't vote for Bustamante, he said, what? To hell with that fat little Mexican! And this was from a guy from a mixed Native American and Puerto Rican family. So, I gave him a hard time. Shit, Larry, what do you have against Bustamante? He could even be your uncle. This got a laugh out of the other guys.
His reason for not voting for Cruz was complicated. It had to do with battles his wife also Native American (a radical from the Alcatraz take over) and a school teacher and union rep was having in the school district and in tribal councils. Some complicated thing about which Indian tribes were involved with the Bustamante campaign and where he stood on Indian affairs in the state. Well, it was a political reason and a long way from apathy, so I let it go.
Joe and I both voted the same and watched the Terminator win and then made trashy jokes about LA saving their SUVs.
The Terminator's threat to reform (dismantle) Workers Comp is pretty serious. It is one of the few social supports (dating from the 1920s) left that works more or less as intended. I've been injured several times on the job and was very thankful I didn't have to worry about or pay for getting minor wounds cleaned, sewn up, and a prescription for antibiotics. The other three guys in the shop are all in much worse shape and suffering from minor but chronic disabilities, thanks to a lifetime of manual labor: knees, backs, and wrists. They've all used Workers' Comp claims in a big way.
Anyway, on the other front, I liked Max Sawicky's blog, posted by Yoshie. It's a better response than my dark broodings:
``How do we get out? By getting out. It's painful but simple. Out means out. You put one foot forward, then the other, and keep going until you're in New Jersey eating a Big Mac...''
Chuck Grimes