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last night i dreamt that gideon told me he was dying something to do with his liver and i asked if he couldn't have a transplant and he said "from who" like who on earth would help him and i said "well, i would give you part of mine - don't they only need part? i don't know that we are the same blood type but . . ." i urged him to ask the doctor and he was noncommittal. i hate these dreams. i wake up forgetting. i really can't begin to explain how painful it is to have to tell myself over and over again.

that's the only piece of my soul i have for you today - here is more on my ongoing 'how i feel about bailouts' diatribe. i said yesterday i'd look more into uaw and i did. not done - there is more to be found but.

before i go into it let me point out here that any criticism of the union is not intended to excuse management. the argument against management is obvious. no one has argued against managements culpability. and actually, for the most part i don't give a shit about whether the uaw is culpable either except for the arguments, and now reality, that we should pay for them to keep their jobs.

so i keep digging. if nothing else - tell me this; the uaw is 'not to blame' and 'shouldn't be punished'. why should the rest of us? what is my responsibility? hell, the only brand new car i ever bought i bought american. from the people who were brought in specifically to close the gap. the car made it to less than 150k miles; 9 years - course 2 of those it was almost never driven what with the leg and all. the engine seized. i was told somewhere around 100k that "oh, well, yes, the car begins to burn oil at an increasing rate as the miles increase". also, the car company that is all about customer service - consistently arrogant and rude. and my story is much better than kim's.

so here's one article i found
very clear; intriguing and i think full of intelligent arguments:
http://www.sundaypaper.com/More/Archives/tabid/98/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/3507/Whats-wrong-with-the-Detroit-bailout.aspx

i will highlight only one piece here:
"While outwardly preaching free-market values, President Ronald Reagan quietly sent a trade emissary to Japan in 1981 and used diplomatic counterweights in the region to pressure Japan to adopt voluntary export restraints, or VER. He had, without being widely known for it, instituted a form of protectionism and, ultimately, it would not be good for America."

it also goes into the fact that the biggest reason for the post ww2 glory days is that most of europe was incapacitated and japan well, we brought them to their knees.

i have, as yet, been unable to find the worker's rules book though a lot of articles refer to it. i did find the uaw contract from september 2008 where they gave themselves not only a raise but a retroactive one; as well as an equity adjustment. i'm a little unclear on the distinction. to ask workers to take one for the team over and over is unfair. to expect that they might take one for the team during the begging to washington - not nearly as unreasonable.

i did find one article with arguments that the uaw was not in any way to blame and in the interest of fairness i will include it here
http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/06/an-auto-gant-falls-and-workers-pay-the-price/ in the interest of snarkiness i will point out that the author writes for "socialist worker". in my opinion, most of the article is overly emotional and didn't sway me. the one good point she does make (or he - whatever) is that gm should really be focusing this money on the next step in transport. oh, and also, that this is somehow obama's fault. there wasn't much he could have done given what he inherited.