caroljane

I can't be sure either, that figure was told to me by a lawyer and not something I read and could check out. Probably it is too high, but \I do believe most fired people do not pursue legal action, or refuse the first settlement offer they get -- if they get any.

Carol: I am not sure that is as accurate as you think it is. I have not seen any numbers on it though. A...

Really, this is rich. You accuse me of invincible ignorance, and prejudice which denies facts, yet you expound on basic matters of employment law about which you have no clue.

Also here, again unlike California, employees can be fired at will. They can sue for wrongful dismissal of course, if they have the money to do that, and they often win and sometimes even get their jobs back. But 90 percent of fired employees just walk away with whatever money they are offered, if any, and employers know that, being much smarter than the people they want to get rid of.

"Most employer -employee relationships are not contractual". That may be true in California, you know best about that. But it is not true here, although the parties may not enter into a formal contract, under law if one person is paid for another to work, it is deemed a contractual relationship.

I am not a judge or an arbiter of the relative value of individual lives. To me individual life is always valuable and paramount. If someone is demonstrating intolerance or irrationality here, I do not think it is me.

I was not aware that George Z. was a rich person or a noted individualist, and I certainly am intolerant of people who kill other people with handguns, regardless of their status. Nevertheless you cannot expand the definition of Bigot to include everyone you don't agree with, and I repeat my request that you retract this description which does not characterize me.

For heavensake, read your own laws, or even some of my own posts on this. All employers have the absolute legal right to terminate any employee at will and without cause, at any time.

Mikee, as I have demonstrated no hatred or intolerance for individualists,rich people, etc,, ever in my life, I repeat my request that you retract your statement.

I apologize unreservedly, Michael. I have been set off enough by stories and ideas from different sources, that I should know better than to lazily post as I did. Forgive? (I could use a little of that right now)

Mikee, I take exception to your calling me a bigot, which to the best of my conscious knowledge I am not. It was a "by the way" comment and I request you also by the way, to retract it.

lol then you can stay home with me Mr T! Carol frequently-pitied fool

Really, Michael, if this is a new bee in Beck's bonnet I do not think it is going to fly.

I couldn't make out the words, but they might as well have been saying "Ulysses H Grant" in former schoolhouses and probably were.

As this thread started out about unions, I remember something Fred wrote, "Do you know everybody?" And of course I don't , but I do know a great many union members and leaders. You will be surprised to hear that they are all individuals. Some are intellectuals. All of them, that I ever met or knew personally, had actually thought about the theories and practices on which labour relations are based. Very few were Marxists or interested in mass wealth redistribution. They were interested in Toronto, Canada, here and now.If they can no longer provide a valid service to enough people, they know they will no longer factor in the economy. Sorry, the economies.

And as to Fred I kind of like him too, though probably you will not believe that. I like people who live their beliefs however much I think their beliefs are wrong. I have a personal dislike of gloating and bragging, but in the sum total of a person this is not very important.

I do not know any run of the mill persons or little guys, and I do not collectivize free-marketers in the way that you do. I certainly am here primarily to entertain myself, interacting with people who are smarter than I and know about things I do not know about, which is to me a form of entertainment. You and Fred have not provided me with any new basic information, but fleshed out theories I was already familiar with. If I have entertained anybody else besides myself I am overjoyed because that is a big part of my own entertainment. What part of "Online Community" do you not get?

7th grade is the absolute total best, or at least was in my time. I hope she loves every minute.

And so do you moralist! - Yang

Cancon note, the Trudeau mask was practically interchangeable with the \john S Macdonald mask, and often used in Halloween emergencies for Ebenezer Scrooge . Talk about postmodernism!

First they came for the rodeo clowns and the nymphomaniacs ....

It is outrageous that this guy should lose his job, indefensibly wrong. But as to seriousness, I can't connect the dots the way you do. It is a cultural idiocy and little more. My son used to have a Trudeau mask that scared the holy hell out of his younger brother, to the point where he would scream in terror whenever he threatened just to put it on. Luckily we were not fired as parents.

As to the last part of your post, you are psychologising me, I think unfairly. I do not write to bait, and I have never encountered the moderation process here and know nothing about it. I absolutely know that nobody should ever be moderating for insulting me, as I have never been insulted in a way I perceive to be personal or outside the bounds of heated debate, and anyway it is part of the Secret Plan to elevate Flame Warriors to the Best They an Be.

"Why are you here"? I like it here.