There are reasons candidates win elections and there are reasons candidates lose elections. Mitt Romney lost this one.
Here's why in my opinion:
1. Occupy Wall Street
2. War on Women
3. Hispanic Voters
4. African American Voters
5. AARP Fight
6. ObamaCare Victory
7. Death of Osama Bin Laden
8. Bill Clinton’s DNC Speech
9. Auto Industry Bailout
10. The Tea Party Movement
11. Clint Eastwood’s Monologue
12. Horatio Alger Myth
13. Frightened Senior Citizens
14. Todd Akin’s Rape Comments
15. Cayman Islands Account
16. Mitch McConnell’s 2012 Goal
17. Tax Cuts for the Rich
18. Medicare Cuts
19. Rafalca the Olympic Horse
20. The 47% Comment
21. The Middle Class
22. Evangelicals
23. Term “Welfare Queen”
24. Not Mentioning Afghanistan
25. Michael Savage’s Vitriol
26. Tax Returns
27. Corporate Greed
28. Do-Nothing Congress
29. Ann Coulter
30. Gay Marriage
31. Foreign Policy
32. Abortion
33. Malia and Sasha
34. Right Wing Extremism
35. YouTube
36. Etch-a-Sketch Debacle
37. Calling a US President a “Socialist”
38. Climate Change Denial
39. Arab Spring
40. Sec of State Hillary Clinton
41. Immigration Issue
42. Bain Capital
43. John McCain
44. Seamus the Dog
45. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
46. Muammar Gaddafi Death
47. The 99%
48. Too Negative
49. Koch Brothers
50. Term “Crony Capitalist”
51. Phony Voter ID Laws
52. Oil Company Ties
53. Opposition to Green Energy
54. Support of Nuclear Energy
55. American Dream of Home Ownership
56. Sheldon Adelson
57. End of Iraq War
58. Sarah Palin
59. Fox News
60. Iran Sanctions
61. Offshoring Jobs
62. Chris Matthews
63. Herman Cain’s 999 Plan
64. Outsourcing
65. George W. Bush
66. Union Members
67. Obama Effect (Stockpiling Weapons)
68. Fuel Efficiency Standards
69. Birther Conspiracy
70. Basketball Ability
71. Housing Market Stabilization
72. Gov. Scott Walker
73. Veiled Racism
74. Gulf Oil Spill
75. Motor City Madman Ted Nugent
76. Oprah Winfrey
77. Seal Team 6
78. Citizens United Decision
79. Sen Larry Craig’s Wide Stance
80. NRA Tweet after Massacre
81. Facebook Sharing
82. The 1%
83. Ron Paul Snub
84. Business Banking Regulations
85. Mars Curiosity Rover
86. George Clooney
87. Small Donors
88. Stiff Persona
89. Libyan Attack Comments
90. Donald Trump Endorsement
91. “He’s Not One of Us” Argument
92. 24 Hr News Cycle
93. “Thurston Howell Romney” Moniker
94. GOP Israel Skinny Dip
95. Hong Kong Fundraiser
96. Romney’s Olympic Security Critique
97. Carl Rove
98. Super PAC’s
99. Michele Bachmann
100. Term “Death Panel”
101. Offshore Accounts
102. Newt Gingrich
103. Angry Looking
104. Netanyahu
105. Reverse Military Cuts
106. House Speaker John Boehner
107. Support of Coal Industry
108. Union Members
109. Rush Limbaugh
110. Corporate Greed
111. EPA Regulations
112. Teachers
113. Doctored Pledge of Allegiance Photo
114. “I love to fire People”
115. Stimulus Plan
116. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner
117. Cash for Clunkers
118. War on Women
119. “We Built It” Slogan
120. Campaign Infighting
121. No Specifics
122. Term “Marxist”
123. Media Bias Claim
124. Bill O’Reilly
125. Saturday Night Live
126. Fair and Balanced
127. Stock Market Recovery
128. Al Franken
129. Robert Reich
130. Voter Suppression Act
131. Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.
131. Term “Appeasement”
132. Day One Promises
133. The Norquist Pledge
134. Nathan Sproul
135. WI Collective Bargaining Law
136. Cato Institute
137. Anti-Mormon Bias
138. Free Enterprise System
139. Hugh Hewitt’s Book
140. Bush’s Record
141. Atheist Ayn Rand
142. School Vouchers
143. Romney’s Car Elevator
144. Offshore Drilling
145. Ann’s Couple of Cadillac’s
146. Insult Government Workers
147. Anyone Can Beat Obama Mantra
148. Comparing Obama to Jimmy Carter
149. Likeability Factor
150. Unpatriotic Language (Size of US Govt)
151. Conservative Doctrine
152. Michele vs. Ann
153. Cheerleading Fall of US Economy
154. Buyer’s Remorse
Copyright 2012 Bob Oedy All Rights Reserved
Friday, September 28, 2012
Friday, August 17, 2012
VFXSuccess: VFX Industry Commentary
VFXSuccess: VFX Industry Commentary: Watch this brief (2:40 min) video for my latest commentary on the state of the VFX industry.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
An Open Letter to the Citizens of Crestline
This letter is in response to an article printed in a local paper July 19, 2012, when a Director of Crestline Sanitation District (CSD) was quoted as saying “I was disappointed the employees felt a need to be represented by a union” and a five percent raise was allotted for employees. Here is a little background for the community.
When an initiative was put forth for CSD to become independent from the County, every employee was in agreement that the district would be better off. All the employees contributed to purchase signs that were put up for the break away vote. We gave that money to the candidates running for directors in the event the ballot passed.
After the ballot passed and CSD broke away from the County employees met with the new Board of Directors. We asked questions about the future and the Board assured us salaries and benefits would remain the same and the future would be better. They told us they would deal fairly and in “good faith”. We thought this was good and as long as they were open and would deal fairly we did not need the representation by the San Bernardino Public Employees Association that we had. So we stopped being represented. Presently, a rumor has been circulating that the directors wanted to lower our salary by an average of 200 dollars per pay period, we were perplexed. This seemed incredible due to the fact that we are the lowest paid employees in our classifications anywhere on the mountain by an average of 20 %. Furthermore the District was putting about 1.3 million dollars into a reserve account bringing it up to about 8 million dollars!
To date there have been no meetings between the Board and employees since the first one, only secrecy and behind the back planning. We, the employees are not able to attend the meetings because they are at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and we get off at 4:30. This and several other notions by the Board brought us to the realization that we needed to be represented. We chose the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to represent us. If IBEW representatives had not attended the Board meeting in May we would now be an average of 27 % below local agency pay scales for like classifications.
Now the 5% offer. The 5 % referred to was put there to give the Board enough room to give increases to some classifications and not others. Some people who are 20 to 30 % below the average might get 9% while others might get 1% or nothing. We have discussed this and feel it is fair to give an across the board increase to all employees. This keeps morale up and is fair to all. We only wanted a 3 ½% raise due to the increased cost of living. We did not ask for a salary adjustment to bring us up to what other local agencies are paying. We only asked to be treated fairly and that has not happened.
The employees of Crestline Sanitation District are a professional and dedicated group of highly skilled people, which 90% of whom live on the mountain. They solve problems that arise during everyday work and under the harsh conditions of mountain winter storms and some very adverse conditions. The average length of employment is fourteen years for each employee. The employees work here because we like it here, like the area, like the management and work well together as a very cohesive and able team.
In closing, we would like to thank the citizens of Crestline for their support and encourage everyone to attend the Board meetings even though we know it is difficult due to the time of day they are scheduled. You, the citizens of Crestline, are the ones that need to participate and take note of what is happening at these Board meetings because ultimately it is your money being spent.
Thank you, The Employees of Crestline Sanitation District
When an initiative was put forth for CSD to become independent from the County, every employee was in agreement that the district would be better off. All the employees contributed to purchase signs that were put up for the break away vote. We gave that money to the candidates running for directors in the event the ballot passed.
After the ballot passed and CSD broke away from the County employees met with the new Board of Directors. We asked questions about the future and the Board assured us salaries and benefits would remain the same and the future would be better. They told us they would deal fairly and in “good faith”. We thought this was good and as long as they were open and would deal fairly we did not need the representation by the San Bernardino Public Employees Association that we had. So we stopped being represented. Presently, a rumor has been circulating that the directors wanted to lower our salary by an average of 200 dollars per pay period, we were perplexed. This seemed incredible due to the fact that we are the lowest paid employees in our classifications anywhere on the mountain by an average of 20 %. Furthermore the District was putting about 1.3 million dollars into a reserve account bringing it up to about 8 million dollars!
To date there have been no meetings between the Board and employees since the first one, only secrecy and behind the back planning. We, the employees are not able to attend the meetings because they are at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and we get off at 4:30. This and several other notions by the Board brought us to the realization that we needed to be represented. We chose the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to represent us. If IBEW representatives had not attended the Board meeting in May we would now be an average of 27 % below local agency pay scales for like classifications.
Now the 5% offer. The 5 % referred to was put there to give the Board enough room to give increases to some classifications and not others. Some people who are 20 to 30 % below the average might get 9% while others might get 1% or nothing. We have discussed this and feel it is fair to give an across the board increase to all employees. This keeps morale up and is fair to all. We only wanted a 3 ½% raise due to the increased cost of living. We did not ask for a salary adjustment to bring us up to what other local agencies are paying. We only asked to be treated fairly and that has not happened.
The employees of Crestline Sanitation District are a professional and dedicated group of highly skilled people, which 90% of whom live on the mountain. They solve problems that arise during everyday work and under the harsh conditions of mountain winter storms and some very adverse conditions. The average length of employment is fourteen years for each employee. The employees work here because we like it here, like the area, like the management and work well together as a very cohesive and able team.
In closing, we would like to thank the citizens of Crestline for their support and encourage everyone to attend the Board meetings even though we know it is difficult due to the time of day they are scheduled. You, the citizens of Crestline, are the ones that need to participate and take note of what is happening at these Board meetings because ultimately it is your money being spent.
Thank you, The Employees of Crestline Sanitation District
Monday, July 30, 2012
VFXSuccess: Raising the VFX Flag
VFXSuccess: Raising the VFX Flag: Mysteriously anonymous and often controversial activist VFX Soldier talks about the larger mission. By Bob Oedy IBEW International L...
Friday, July 27, 2012
Blogger Succeeds Where Oprah Fails
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Visual effects industry awaiting release of exclusive interview with the mysterious VFX Soldier
HOLLYWOOD, California July 27, 2012
Lead organizer Bob Oedy of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) scored a ground breaking interview Thursday with anonymous visual effects (VFX) blogger VFX Soldier beating out the likes of former TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey and other Hollywood insiders. How did this relatively unknown union activist convince the reclusive VFX Soldier arguably the most influential writer in the visual effects community to an exclusive interview? “I sent a lot of emails saying I want to help visual effects artists”, said Oedy. “Oprah’s people are probably afraid of being labeled stalkers, but I’m not.” Oedy plans to publish the interview in its entirety on his VFXSuccess.com blog at exactly 3:14am PST on July 30th , a time mutually agreed to by both parties.
As far as the identity of the VFX Soldier, or whether the person is a man or a woman; Oedy isn’t saying. “I’m sworn to secrecy “, Oedy says. “All I can tell you is it’s a secret, but I will say this... if the industry knew they’d freak out!” Oedy adds, “I’m taking this one to the grave!”
VFX Soldier remains anonymous to avoid being black listed by the entertainment industry. The writer is widely recognized as being supportive of the idea of unionizing visual effects artists and has gotten the attention of Variety, and the LA Times lately. The blog is often read during work hours and shared amongst coworkers. Topics such as film subsidies, efforts to lure film production away from Hollywood, and students being charged while working on blockbuster films are regularly covered on the blog.
VFX workers are the ones who give the Hulk his muscles, make Spiderman swing, Batman well...bat....and sculpt J. Lo's butt for music videos, it's not black magic but very valuable Hollywood magic. VFX artists are the only part of the talent totem pole not part of a union which is why they end up at the bottom of the credit list and sometimes the creditors list. VFX Soldier was born from the ashes of burned out artists.... as the new voice in the fight for VFX artist rights in the shadow of the Hollywood sign.
About VFXSuccess.com
VFX Success is a website designed to help workers succeed in the visual effects industry. For more information send an email to vfxsuccess(at)hotmail(dot)com or call (818) 212-1508.
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Sunday, June 24, 2012
Sanitation Workers To Unionize - Mountain News : News
Sanitation Workers To Unionize - Mountain News : News: Afternoon meetings for the Crestline Sanitation District's board of directors used to begin with a friendly, lighthearted feel, maybe even a j…
Union May Be in District's Future - Mountain News : News
Union May Be in District's Future - Mountain News : News: The old TV game show, Who Do You Trust?, might be a good description for what's currently going on between the Crestline Sanitation District's…
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