They’re coming to take you away, ha, ha: Your job that is.

It is amazing how everyday there is a new statement from right-wing conservatives that is directed at the working man and their family, Federal workers, Union members, and the Postal Service.

These statements, often delivered in a manner that denotes no fear of reprisal for uttering them, show an arrogance that should scare the bee-jeebies out of the middle class. I could list these statements endlessly as there is no shortage of them but that would be over-kill and the list to long to keep the point focused. So here are some of the most egregious and recent attacks on the future of Postal Worker…YOU:

• Rep. Darrell Issa* declares: “No union has or ever will lobby for a layoff, so it’s up to USPS management and Congress to demand concessions.” Rep. Issa also said that he was against providing Health Care assistance to the first responders at ground zero because, it was just another plane crash…gdl
• Representative Darrel Issa*, who last week suggested that relieving the US Postal Service of its crippling $5.5 billion annual “prefunding” requirement would be a “bailout”, explained today on his FaceBook page that the overpayment, first discovered by the Bush Administration in 2002, is actually a “myth” recently concocted by the US Postal Service. Yet last year Congress, meaning Mr. Issa passed legislation to relieve the Postal Service of that payment last year…was that legislation ‘mythical’… Rep. Issa has since deleted that post from his FaceBook page…gdl
• "…most of these guys working in the Post Office should be driving cabs, and I think we should stop importing labor from Nigeria and Ethiopia. That's the skill level…"Most people employed by the United States Post Office...are thoroughly unskilled labor…there is no good argument as to why the government should be behind some kind of Federal monopoly in the mail service…”   “…the reality is that many in the American ‘middle’  like postal workers are really unskilled labor who should have been pushed down for market reasons…” comments of GOP strategist Jack Burkman** on “Money Rocks” Sept., 16, 2010 ”…no good argument as to why the government should be behind some kind of Federal monopoly in the mail service…” Here’s the good argument you idiot…its called the Constitution…read it…gdl
• “…does the Postal Service serve any other purpose, anymore, other than inhaling tax dollars and hiring thousands of tellers who seem to take pleasure in making me wait in insanely long lines…” Eric Bolling, host of Money Rocks   “…other than inhaling tax dollars and hiring thousands”?  who is this moron confusing us with? The Postal Service was mandated in the 70’s to operate on its own revenues, which has been the case since the 80s, in other words USPS receives NO TAX DOLLARS, we operate strictly from out revenues raised. Most of the Post Office has been under a hiring freeze for years…and has down sized significantly while increasing production…gdl
• .”…it [the Postal Service] probably should be privatized…” former Senator Al D’Amato If privatized, once you sold off the money making functions what private company is going to want to run the non-money making functions, which is the bulk of the vast infrastructure? None, then these functions would go back on the tax roles at great expense to the public. For example, what company would want to take responsibility for that 150 mile delivery route in South Dakota which only has 150 delivery addresses? None, how would they make a profit, charge $20.00 to deliver a letter?   gdl
• “The first, I think, bit of order that we've got to get in place is financial solvency. But yeah -- ultimately, we've got to transition out of the Social Security arrangement and go into more of a privatization."   Joe Miller, Tea Party Candidate, Alaska  “Prior to the creation of Social Security, old folks who couldn't afford to take care of themselves sometimes spent their final days as "inmates" in squalid poor houses.”

Attacks on not just Health Care Reform but also FEHBP, Workman's Comp, Social Security benefits [for those 55 and under], unemployment Insurance, minimum wage, have been made repeatedly by right-wing candidates. The repeated intent of many candidates has been expressed that they will not seek across the aisle cooperation and bi partisanship efforts foretells another two years of obstructionism or unrelenting attacks on your job security.

Notes:

*Rep Darrell Issa is the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform which oversees the Postal Service. If the Republicans gain control over the House he will, as chairman, have tremendous influence over legislation affecting postal employees and other federal workers — deciding which bills are considered and how they are handled.

**The quote above from Jack Burkman set off former Senator Al D’Amato and the other panelist to aggressively distance themselves from his racial references. What is lost in the flair-up that occurred is the numerous mis-representation of the facts, as limited as they were in regards to the Postal Service.

Related Articles/Post [links]:

• 'ZERO' FOR HEROES, SAYS NY-BASH POL 
• Congressman’s Call for Concessions Should Drive Postal Workers to the Polls: 
• Your Job Security Under Attack!
• Top 10 Darrell Issa Hall of Shame Moments
• In 1982, U.S. postage stamps became "postal products," rather than a form of taxation. Since then, The bulk of the cost of operating the postal system has been paid for by customers through the sale of "postal products" and services rather than taxes.