Rush Thrown For a Loss

Rush Limbaugh was thrown for a loss by the NFL players union when NFL Players executive director DeMaurice Smith "made a move to solidify the union against a bid by conservative talk show radio host Rush Limbaugh as part of a group that aims to purchase the St. Louis Rams," according to ESPN.com.

ESPN.com reports that:

In an e-mail to the union's executive committee on Saturday specifically addressing Limbaugh's bid, Smith said, "I've spoken to the Commissioner [Roger Goodell] and I understand that this ownership consideration is in the early stages. But sport in America is at its best when it unifies, gives all of us reason to cheer, and when it transcends. Our sport does exactly that when it overcomes division and rejects discrimination and hatred."

Good for Smith and the players union. And those words are difficult for me to write because I have a deep-seated suspicion and dislike for most unions because unions have been a major factor in the decline of the American steel and automobile industries and are a major impediment to improving education.

I have created a Web site that details why the United Auto Workers (UAW) is wrong for The New School and NYU, where I am a part-time faculty member, and why the UAW and unions are wrong for higher education.

As an academic, I'm outraged to be represented by a mechanics' union primarily because the union's mission and goals are totally opposite from those of universities. The union's push for seniority and guaranteed work loads stifle innovation and are antithetical to a teaching meritocracy.

On the other hand, the NFL Players union is doing the right thing by speaking out against the hatemongering, racist entertainer Rush Limbaugh being a partial owner of an NFL team on which over half of its players are African-American.

It would be better for the country if more unions and other organizations, such as church groups and social clubs, spoke out against hate mongering and racism by media bloviators such as Limbaugh and Glen Beck. Perhaps they could moderate the extremism better than the greedy media conglomerates and broadcasters that have abandoned the responsibility of being a public trust and caved into craven commercialism.

It is ironic that a union has taken on the role of speaking out against extremism when the media that distribute the extremist views of the Limbaughs and Becks are not responsible enough to moderate these exclusionary hate mongers.

Go NFL Players union!

Follow Charles Warner on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CHWarner

Comments

[gs-425]

Any particular reason you failed to mention that DeMaurice Smith worked for Obama on his transition team and for Eric Holder before Eric became AG.....or did that slip your mind?

[CharlesWarner - Huffpost Blogger]

I didn't know those allegations (perhaps facts), but if I had I still wouldn't mentioned them because they were irrelevant to the point I was trying to make -- that the NFL Players Union was doing the right thing as opposed to corproate media that allows hate mongers like LImaugh on the air.

[gs-425]

Irrelevant? You see a close political ally to the President and AG Holder pressuring an organization to blackball a private citizen because of his political commentary as irrelevant­.....reall­y? REALLY?

[gs-425]

Here, I'll help with what you should have known BEFORE you wrote your piece:

http://www.bizoffootball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=406:outsider-demaurice-smith-elected-as-exec-director-of-nflpa&catid=34:nfl-news&Itemid=53

[tweck]

I'm really sick of hearing the word "innovation" with relation to politics, unions, competition, cooperation, whatever. It's really easy to point to something and say, "That stifles innovation!" when your argument has no real substance.

If you REALLY want to talk about innovation, in a realistic sense, it only occurs on the individual level, and is a result of an individual's desire to be creative in a given setting.

So innovation is really creativity. If someone is uncreative, they will not innovate. If they are creative, they will, regardless of whether there are unions or not!

Unions do not advance or inhibit innovation, they protect workers from greedy bosses who would otherwise pay them little and work them to death. This has nothing to do with innovation at all, and everything to do with fairness for the workers.

Cooperation and competition are both good atmosphere's for creative innovation. It is simply dependent on the mindset of the person in a position to creatively innovate!

Every job I've had, I have always sought to innovate to make my job easier. "Hey, why don't I do it like this instead of like that? That'll save some time." Etc.

So let's stop using "innovation" as a catch-phrase to promote Capitalism, or to denounce Unions. It's a b.s. argument that has zero merit, and only serves to undermine the debate. Even though you're not. And anybody who understands the actual meaning and use of the word will know this.

[CharlesWarner - Huffpost Blogger]

Union work rules in the case of The New School where I teach do inhibit innovation because of kill fees -- the school has to pay half of the of the compensation to a teacher when it cancels a course because it doesn't make. Therefore, departments are reluctant to try innovative new courses because if they don'e make it will cost them money.

[tweck]

So basically, when a teacher is hired by the school to teach a course, and that course is cancelled, they still have to pay the now out-of-work teacher 50% of the salary they'd committed to? Or is the teacher not out of work, and teaching a different course, and being paid for teaching that course?

Because if the teacher is out-of-work, then it's fair that they receive 50% of the salary they'd been promised, and actually seems like a compromise from the 100% they would have received.

But if the teacher is simply moved to a different course, then logically there should be no kill-fee, because that teacher is still being paid.

Or am I missing something completely?

So the New School isn't making enough money to take these kinds of risks? And are these courses necessary?

[gs-425]

Pressured to work to the LCD, is not going to get any innovation going....unless you quit and go elsewhere.

[Joe The Nerd Ferraro - Huffpost Blogger]

Mr Warner,

I don't know what you teach off hand, but the purpose of unions is to provide protections for the workers. It is a counterbalance against bad management. I don't know what kind of institution the New School is, if it is state run or private, but have you ever been curious about the ratio of part-time to full-time instructors?

While academia has it's own irvory towers, it is still a business and won't survive if it doesn't hold costs down. One way I have noticed educational systems addressing this is to have low-paid part-time instructors without benefits.

Seniority and gauranteed work loads are germane to the auto industry. Academia uses tenure as a rough form of seniority. I am sure the tenured staff get first pick of the classes to teach, and you manage your department in a certain way.

What happens when your school needs to make cuts and layoffs? How is it determined who goes? Do you have health benefits? What do you do if the New school decides your co-pay is going from $40 to $75 and you will now pay 70% of the premiums? Do you and your staff in the ivory tower currently have a plan to do something about it?

[CharlesWarner - Huffpost Blogger]

The New School is a private institution. Only the part-time faculty are unionized -- the United Auto Workers -- the same union the NYU has for part-time faculty. The New School has a medical insurance plan for part-time faculty that is generous and good, although I don't enroll because I get less expensive coverage from Medicare and AARP Medigap insurance.

In terms of what happens when a university has to make cuts and layoffs, if there were no union involvement, those cuts would be made in many cases based on merit -- who were the better teachers -- not based on seniority, which has nothing to do with merit. Unions in general and the UAW in particular have no interest in teaching or merit or transferring knowledge to students, their interests are in establishing seniority and getting teachers paid for not teaching, which is wasteful.

[carolo]

Our NFL players are true, blue American citizens. Why would they want to play for a team purchased by a person who is not only a racist but speaks out against our President constantly? Why would they possibly want to play a good game knowing who they were playing for?

[CharlesWarner - Huffpost Blogger]

Right on!

[Dengold]

Just for the sake of accuracy, it should be noted that the NFL Players' Association has not been polled on the question of whether Mr. Limbaugh should be allowed to be part of an ownwership bid. Moreover, the Executive Committee of that organization was not polled either in advance of Mr. Smith's decision to discuss the matter with Commissioner Goodell. Mr. Smith informed the Executive Committee after the fact. It should also be noted that Mr. Smith had no previous experience with the NFL prior to taking his current position. He does have ties to the Obama administration, however. My own opinion is that any statement coming from the NFL Players' Association would have carried more weight and credibility IF the Executive Committee AND the players had been polled ahead of time. The issue did not require any immediate response since the St. Louis Rams have not even been offered for sale yet. I would also encourage Mr. Warner to offer proof of any racism charge.

[John Garner]

Keep drinking that koolaid, bub. For the record he told an African American caller on his radio show to "take the bone out of his nose". If thats not racist I don't know what is

[tweck]

If you need proof that Rush is a racist, then you apparently haven't actually listened to the things he's said.

[CharlesWarner - Huffpost Blogger]

Go to Media Matters for America's Web site and search for quotes from Rush that are clearly racist. There is no doubt that he is a racist hate-monger. Mr Smith of the players union would not have issued the statement if he did not have support of the majority of NFL players.

[lisaman]

http://mediamatters.org/research/200910150029

Rush's sour grapes. Oh whoa is him, LOL.

[lisaman]

Here is the link for his comments.

http://mediamatters.org/research/200910130049

Dengold, notice that the word said is highlighted, click on that word and you can actually hear Rush make those racist statements.

[MarianneEvans11]

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND, Rush.....and it's coming back around to you......Wait up for Beck to get his next! You guys need to look in the mirror while rehearsing for your talk shows. All you say is about yourselves....You never look back...no one is there...no one is following....any listener calling in who calls you out on what you have said, either gets ridiculed, a hang-up ON YOU and yes, sometimes, I have heard you DROP THE LINE on them as well. When it doesn't serve you, Rush, you don't want to debate it. I guess you listen to your mentors who said, Never fight a battle you know you will lose...so a hang-up is your answer to those losing battles. More to come...I'm listening so I can have my laughs on the way home from work...Comedy hour....between Rush and Hannity....

[Dengold]

I'm there and I'm listening. That's one reason I know that Mr. Limbaugh is not a racist. The other reason I know that is because his enemies have to manufacture ficticious quotations and/or take actual quotations out of context in order to accuse him. None of that would be necessary if he really were a racist.

[CharlesWarner - Huffpost Blogger]

Wake up! You're in denial.

[jorjan]

Since you are not for unions, I wonder how you feel about forced child labor, people working in deplorable conditions in coal mines and textile factories where workers end of dying of lung diseases, CEO's like Henry Ford hiring goons to murder people who talked unions, etc, etc, etc. Because of them people like you receive a way higher salary than you would have otherwise because as with companies like Cigna and Wellpoint, you simply cannot count on them to do the moral thing. Did the unions have corruption, yes they did but then so did management and now you are seeing what you have without a strong union - GM and Ford building plants in China where they can reap bigger profits off the backs of their peasants. Only problem is when they start importing them to U.S. noone will be able to afford one.. To say that the unions is the downfall of these industries is ludicrous. They fell because of GREED. If working conditions had not been so deplorable before unions they would not have been needed. A lot of people lost their jobs and even their lives organizing them and it is a darn shame that Reagan virtually destroyed them.

[CharlesWarner - Huffpost Blogger]

The UAW did not get me a raise that was much more than enough to cover my union dues. You're right that the death of the auto industry was caused in part by stupid, ossified management who gave in to absurd union demands. There was greed on both both sides. Unions were necessary at on time in our history, but in today's economy, unions need to be flexible and work with management to help industries survive with retraining programs, not be inflexible and insist on work rules that kill industries. The teachers union in New York City has made schools and education virtually impossible and unbelievably wasteful.

[lisaman]

While the Player's Union comments may have had some part in the decision made, I believe the group Limbaugh was a part of simply dropped him. They did not want Limbaugh to hurt the chances of the rest of them.

I am a moderate democrat and I support Obama 100%. Having said that, I will get some slack because I agree with you about Unions. And after over 21 years of membership in 2 different Unions, I speak from experience. I don't trust them and in many cases I question whether they help or hurt. It is my opinion, sorry if some are offended.

[CharlesWarner - Huffpost Blogger]

Some unions are good and enhance productivity, and some don't. The UAW that I have to join as a part-time teacher at The New School in NY does nothing for me and the restrictive work rules they advocate are wrong for education.

[lisaman]

I think Education has become an afterthought to many Americans, especially politicians. I believe Obama wants to change that, I hope I am right. I hate to hear about any teacher not getting what they deserve. What kind of restrictive work rules?

[Doug Watt]

Darn, I was with you until you posted this:

"I have a deep-seated suspicion and dislike for most unions because unions have been a major factor in the decline of the American steel and automobile industries and are a major impediment to improving education."

And then I realized that you are that Right Wing guy who thinks Google is behind everything bad, among a host of other conservative talking points.

Good luck with that.

[BoiseLib]

Agree Completely.

[mredder4]

"when the media that distribute the extremist views of the Limbaughs and Becks are not responsible enough to moderate these exclusionary hate mongers."

Well, it certainly didn't take any union to bring media and journalism to its lowest point in history. Nope, nothing but pure, unadulterated corporate conglomeration, rampant greed, and an obsessive fixation on share prices helped pull that one off.

Yay capitalism?

[CharlesWarner - Huffpost Blogger]

Yes, greed and conglomeration. I agree.

[IllinoisTexan43]

Hmmmmm Hmmmmm Hmmmmm Good!!

[mcmchugh99]

Rushton Hundson Limbaugh
MMMMMM....­MMMMMMMMMM­MM....MMMM­MMMMMMMMMM

Rushton Hundson Limbaugh
MMMMMMMMM.­...MMMMMMM­MMMMMMMM..­..MMMMMMMM­MMMMMMMM

What goes around, comes around, rush. You thought you were going to be BMOC and finally have a vicarious football career, but what have you got now?

[gs-425]

You do know that is a parody based on the song a class of children sang...don't you?

[Pansey]

Rush is a disgrace and embarrassment to America. I stopped listening to his program many years ago. He and Glen Beck have kicked the nastiness up a notch -- for higher ratings and more money. But I think it's starting to backfire on them; people flat out hate the vitriol spewing from their mouths. Geesh.....­.......I'v­e got to go take a shower now.

[sunny123]

I, for one, have never listened to Rush Limbaugh, but all I read about him and Glen Beck and FAUX News do not entice me to give it a try.

I do believe in education, I believe some unions are useful because there are lessons to be learned from working together. I am a retired member of NTEU and believe me, it is a necessary protection for workers because of so many personalities in management.

I have a son who is a principal in an elementary school and he has some interesting stories to tell about teacher's' unions.

I like you post and look forward to hearing more from you!

[CharlesWarner - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks for the intelligent comment. I, too, think some unions are OK -- but not for education, in my view.

[Aunty M]

Ever since we retired we have been listening to Rush Limbaugh. At least 18 years we've been listening.
I cannot believe the media telling so many evil lies about Rush. HE IS NOT A RACIST! His sidekick is black, and Walter Williams subs for him. I guess that is why we left the MSM, because they left us. We have heard so many lies on ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN that we just gave up on them. At least on Fox we get both sides of any story. Moving back to the states 20 years ago from living in Europe, we definitely got Culture shock.

[Vermifax]

I don't need the "evil media" and their "eveil lies" or whatever...

I have two ears, two eyes and a brain that tells me that Rush is a racist, a traitor and an over-paid, druggie, astro-turfer.

If it wasn't for Shep Smith, FOX would be completedly one-sided.

[CharlesWarner - Huffpost Blogger]

Way to go, Vermifax!

[mredder4]

Please, please, PLEASE stop allowing Shep Smith to lend any kind of credibility to FNC. I admit that he's a straight shooter most times, but he has to see the writing on the wall and still chooses to work for that network. The terms that cover that kind of behavior would include "collaborator" and "complicit".

[sunny123]

I am so sorry for your narrow minded focus on our nation and world. Please listen a little closer to the hate he spews. The NFL doesn't even want him because of his devisiveness and I never thought I'd praise the NFL owners.

[CharlesWarner - Huffpost Blogger]

Right on, sunny 123!

[Hnorc]

Maybe you do not consider what he says racist, because...

[Cambridge9]

At least on Fox we get both sides of any story

I just spit my coffee out.

While Fox covered every detail of the tea parties where were they during the LGBT rally in DC last week. Not a peep out of them.

When was the last time you heard ANYONE (except Shep Smith) admit this administration has done anything right for the PEOPLE of this country? Equal Payfor equal work; closing Gitmo, renewing our conversation with other countries; trying to get health care for everyone; the stimulus; removing troops from Iraq; forcing some banks to help with foreclosures; extending unemployment benefits; beginning a conversation with other peoples of the world. Shall I go on??

Since when is arrogance, sarcasm, snide remarks and downright opposition giving BOTH sides of any story?

[BoiseLib]

They're some of the "good ones."