Union shops.

I took a peek at the London Free Press tonight, to see what's going on back-home-a-ways, and saw a story that described how Unifor is looking to organize workers at Toyota plants in Woodstock and Cambridge. (Apparently it isn't the first time they've tried.)

Like an idiot, I took a look at the comments section below the article. At the best of times, they're inoffensive and stupid... but, of course, this being an article about unions, it brought out the labour-bashers in full force.

London has been a manufacturing town for a long time, but lately a lot of industry has left the area for Right To Work (i.e. "right to work for less") US states, Mexico, China, the whole nine. Now, you'd think that, in an environment like that, people would be in favour of organizations that look to protect workers and good-paying jobs, right? Wrong.

I saw a comment which went along the lines of, "If unions went away, that would make the cost of doing business less, which would make goods cheaper, and you could live on a lower wage and still buy these things." There are, however, several things wrong with this.

• Prices are, as economists say, "sticky downward" -- they go up quickly and easily enough, but they don't come down without a big fight.
• You mean to tell me that some company which is chintzy enough to cockblock their workers' (totally legal) right to unionize wouldn't just pocket the difference between union and non-union wages as profit?
• They obviously would.
• If they didn't, and their shareholders found out, that company would have a mutiny in the boardroom.
• Your motivation for denying people their right to organize and flex their collective muscle is because you want to be able to buy a couple of things a little cheaper?

All of this, of course, is against a backdrop of overall declining union enrolment, especially in the private sector. What I don't get is how people (a.) notice things are generally getting shittier for working people, (b.) see the decline in rates of unionization, and (c.) don't put (a.) and (b.) together.

Could it possibly be that unions help raise the standard for all workers? Think about it... two companies, X and Y, run widget factories. X is unionized and Y isn't; Y pays lower wages than X for the same job. Now, if the gap between wages at X and Y is too big -- i.e., Y is too low -- Y isn't going to be able to attract enough workers, because they'll all go to work at X. (If they settle for Y, they're probably not going to be as happy or productive, and their output suffers; you get what you pay for.) Therefore, wages at Y are tied to the wages at X, and a rising tide lifts all boats, q.e.d.

Rolling Stone's top ten albums of 2013.

First off, I have a pretty cruddy cold. Just puttin' that out there.

When I read Rolling Stone, I often get a little discouraged. All those words spilled about the likes of Miley Cyrus, Drake and Eminem? Who the hell cares! Nobody's going to care about them in 20 years, which is why I usually listen to old stuff: has it stood the test of time, or is it disposable and ridiculous? (I'll do you a favour and tell you to stay the hell away from the Billboard charts. They're depressing.)

But, alas, their editorial staff have given me hope. They've rated the top 50 albums of 2013, and while the three artists I've mentioned above do indeed appear in the list, they're not in the top ten. So that's something, at least.

Without further ado, here are RS's top ten albums of 2013.

1. Vampire Weekend -- Modern Vampires of the City
I admit I don't know a whole lot about this band, but what I've heard sounds interesting and quirky. (I have a KEXP compilation album on which they appear, live in the studio, and it's a good cut of a good song they did a few years ago.) Definitely worth checking out.

2. Kanye West -- Yeezus
Haven't knowingly heard a single note from this album. Don't feel the compulsion to check it out. Didn't he just name his kid North? Moving on.

3. Daft Punk -- Random Access Memories
I'm not much of a fan of electronic music, but what I've heard of this album is interesting and weird and kinda funky. I'm not going to run out and get this album, but I can appreciate its place.

4. Paul McCartney -- New
I was driving somewhere a couple of weeks ago and heard the title cut from this album on the radio. My first thought was, "Hey, whoever this is, they sure as hell like the Beatles." Then the voice kicked in, and I thought, "Hold on a minute, is that Paul McCartney?!" And then, without a word of a lie, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. For someone who idolizes the Beatles, to hear what could easily be a cut from that band in 2013 if they still existed... wow. Amazing.

5. Arcade Fire -- Reflektor
There are a few reasons why I'm not much of an Arcade Fire fan, which I've outlined before. But, y'know what? The title cut of this album ain't bad at all. I can deal with this.

6. Queens of the Stone Age -- ...Like Clockwork
Josh Homme can be a prickly SOB, but I'll be damned if he doesn't write some interesting music; Songs for the Deaf has aged quite well. I know people who hate this band, but frankly I can't figure out why -- they do know he has a sense of humour, right? There aren't that many bands that are both heavy and melodic at the same time, and this is one of them.

7. Lorde -- Pure Heroine
Look, I get it -- she's precocious. So were Tracy Chapman, Fiona Apple, Adele and Amy Winehouse. What I've heard from her has been... well... alright, I suppose. Not terribly compelling. But then again, I don't listen to lyrics, and the electronic-y instrumentation of "Royals" doesn't really thrill me.

8. The National -- Trouble Will Find Me
I'm a little torn on this band, frankly. They sound kinda moody and gloomy, which doesn't usually sit well with me, and their singer sounds like Morrissey after a couple of roofies. But I went to a show they put on at Yonge Dundas Square in the summertime, and it was actually really, really solid. The true test of a band is their live show, which is why it's baffling to me why anyone would ever want to see an electro-whatever band (or a rapper, for that matter) in person. What's there to watch? Someone at a laptop, hitting F3 over and over? I guess if you're tripping on MDMA, I guess it doesn't really matter.

9. Arctic Monkeys -- AM
Full disclosure: I hated this band when they were 19 and telling women how good they'd look on a dance floor; they were loud, fast, and not particularly good. But have you heard anything from this album? They've grown up, they really have. And it's much, much better.

10. John Fogerty -- Wrote a Song for Everyone
Well, he re-recorded a lot of CCR stuff with a bunch of guest artists. I suppose that's alright, but I've always thought it was weird when bands re-did songs they already laid down, years later. I'd hope that the original remains the definitive version, but... ah well. I guess he took decades away from his CCR stuff during all those legal battles and really wanted to play those songs again. Can't fault the guy for that; they're great songs. Still seems weird, though.

There's good music out there, folks. You just won't find it on too many pop radio stations, is all.

Prince Fielder, we hardly knew ye.

Personally, I always really liked the guy. Stand-up fella.

But, trading Fielder to Texas for 2B Ian Kinsler opens up some interesting options. Consider...

• Cabrera can be moved back to 1B, where he's a decent fielder (unlike, well, Fielder). He's better at 3B than people give him credit for, but let's face it, Prince was a modern-day Dr. Strangeglove.
• This also allows Victor Martinez to put in some time at 1B, if Cabrera shifts back to third or DHs for a game; V-Mart showed himself to actually be a pretty nimble defensive first baseman in limited time there this year. (He wasn't much of a catcher, admittedly.)
• The elephant in the room, of course, is Nick Castellanos. From all reports, he wasn't ready to make the move from 3B to the outfield anytime soon, despite spending most of his time in LF this year in both Toledo and Detroit. Having him at his natural position makes everybody breathe a little easier, not in the least being Dave Dombrowski.
• What to make of Omar Infante, then? He's got a little pop, and plays solid defence at second... but, of course, his contract is up and he's a free agent. Do they re-sign him and plug him in at third, to buy time until Castellanos proves he's a ready-for-prime-time player? My guess is no, because Infante's too valuable on the open market. Someone's gonna snap him up, and that someone isn't Detroit.
• The Tigers just put Jordan Lennerton on the 40-man roster. I saw him this summer in Toledo, albeit briefly, but he seemed to carry himself pretty well. (He's Canadian, too.) He's not what you'd call a prospect per se, but DD must see some sort of future for him, and he knows the game pretty well.

Add to this the fact that, over the weekend, I bought planet tickets and reserved both hotel and car for a Florida spring training trip in March, and... baseball's back, baby!

The mayor, continued.

Well, Mayor McCheese has decided to stick around, "move forward," and not go anywhere.

It's inconceivable that he wins next year; Fordites have been interviewed all over the place, and a lot of 'em are of the opinion of, "Well, I support him, but he should take a leave of absence, at the very least."

Council -- even his traditional allies -- turned against him months ago. He couldn't get an agenda through 100 Queen West if he put it in the back of a dump truck and rammed through the front doors. And, he's an international embarassment.

But no, there were the Brothers Ford this afternoon on CFRB, on their weekly straight-to-the-taxpayers media outlet, proudly stating that Mayor Fat Fuck isn't going anywhere. Furthermore, they thanked all the people who have called or written to them and offered support.

* * * * * * *

Look, there are plenty of things that I dislike which, apparently, lots of other people love:

• seafood
• Nickelback
• Japanese cars
• dumb blockbuster movies

And I can see why someone might find each of those things appealing, for the most part. Hell, I can even see why someone might like Stephen Harper, at least on the surface. That's because each of the items listed above does have, even if it's hard to see, some sort of redeeming quality which outweighs all the other negatives.

Rob Ford, on the other hand... well, I can see how his "I fight for the little guy" rhetoric could be appealing. But then when you look at all the horrible stuff he's said and done over the past couple of decades, (a.) it easily outweighs any sort of oft-trotted-out platitudes he trumpets every chance he gets, and (b.) even if he does do as he says, you can't help but question plenty of other choices he's made in his life with clearly hamper his ability to be a successful office-holder.

Last night at a banquet dinner for our slo-pitch team, I sat with a teammate -- a Toronto police officer who works in Etobicoke, no less -- and we came up with a list of easily 15 really big, really public, really awful things that Ford has done. And we just sorta shook our heads and pronounced ourselves amazed that this guy is (still) the mayor of the fourth-largest city in North America.

A few things.

First off, here's some lovely mood music by Heinz Kiessling you may listen to, as you read this post. You might recognize it. (You may also recognize this and this.)

And now, the things.

1. My Detroit Tigers lost Game 6 of the ALCS last night against Boston, thus ending their season. It was a good season, I would say; taking the best team in the league to six games in the LCS is no small feat. Still, you can't help but point to the glaring miscues and underperformers (coughcoughPrinceFieldercoughcough) and wonder what might have been. I think there's enough left in the tank for another year with the same core guys -- minus Jhonny Peralta, of course, but this Iglesias fellow makes some pretty nifty plays at shortstop -- so we'll see how 2014 goes.

2. I think my 0-to-100 "Do I ever want to have kids?" meter has clicked down a notch recently. It's somewhere in the mid-70s, I think -- tough to read the dial sometimes -- but I've heard a few stories told by current-parents in the past week or so which have made me a little more skittish. But hey, if I meet the right woman tomorrow and we're married in six months and spittin' out babies nine months later, would I be surprised?*

3. This season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is right up there with any other. Season 8 was a little shaky in places, and I'm not saying season 9 is perfect by any means, but they're definitely making high-quality cringe-worthy television. I'd say it's the only TV series I follow these days.

4. I had dinner with an old high school friend of mine on Friday night, along with a friend of hers. She lives in the NYC area these days, and the other person works in a highfalutin' finance job with CIBC, and I didn't pick the restaurant... so I ended up paying more for dinner there than I believe I ever have before. (With tip, and including two beers, it ended up being in the triple-digits.) It was at a restaurant which looked like it attracted a lot of Bay Street types, and I am definitely not one of those... but let's just say I clean up halfway decently, so it's not like I rode my tractor up to the front door and left it idling the whole time. (Besides, it's in the shop; it needs a new Johnson rod.)

5. I brought absolutely zero work home with me this weekend. This feels incredibly bizarre.

That about covers it. Next time, we'll take a look at the evolving situation in Syria, and compare it to Real Housewives of New Jersey. The parallels, you'll see, are striking.
___________________________________________
* Yes, I would.

American politics are stupid.

Today is the second day that the US federal government is, for the most part, shut down.

Let me try to summarize what's happened, in the most objective way I can.

• Barack Obama got elected in 2008, and one of the things he promised he'd do -- and what people seemed to vote for -- was a dramatic overhaul of the health care system.
• He and Congress put a watered-down, but still significantly-different, plan in place so that, among other things, (a.) people could buy reasonably-priced health insurance, and (b.) private insurance companies couldn't turn people away for pre-existing conditions, which they'd been known to do, a lot.
• The Republican party, especially the Tea Party faction of it, hated this. By the midterm elections of 2010, this faction managed to get a lot of seats, especially in the House; from 2010 until today, the Democrats have controlled the Senate, but the Republicans have controlled the House.
• In order for bills to get passed through both the House and the Senate, they have to agree on various tweaks and amendments that get made, and a bill might bounce back and forth a couple of times before it gets signed by the President, who can simply veto it unless the final vote on it is really big in favour of it.
• Because cooperation between houses of Congress is required for anything to really get done, the government can get deadlocked if one house puts up a big fuss.

...which brings us to the present. House Republicans, especially the Tea Partiers, hate Obama's health care bill. They see it as "big government," an intrusion on privacy and people's right to choose health insurance (or indeed not to choose it at all). So far, however, despite the fuss the TP has put up, this health care plan has passed scrutiny with the voters (who re-elected Obama in 2012; even John McCain, a moderate Republican, has mentioned that recently), and the Supreme Court a few months ago said it was altogether abiding by the Constitution.*

There. I think that about covers the summary of things so far. Now, the editorializing.

As McCain pointed out, the US public has been pretty clear: this health care plan is a good thing. The Supreme Court said everything was a-ok. And because a few far-right nuts feel like they can take over the entire conversation -- despite the previous two sentences I just typed -- they've made this new law out like it's the worst thing to ever come down the pipe. (Indeed, a House Republican recently called it "one of the worst laws ever to be crafted by mankind" -- which, as Jon Stewart points out, puts it in the company of the old English law which would allow the King to nail your wife on your wedding night.)

Look, there are a lot of laws passed in any given jurisdiction in any given year. And yeah, this one is a big one. But just because a small number of Congresspeople don't like it, that gives them the right to hold up the entire business of the nation? (That is, they wouldn't allow a budget to get passed, which means the government can't spend any more money, save for vital things like air-traffic controllers and the military (of course).) Seems pretty bananas to me.

Which it is.

Because I'm fucking right, 100% of the time.

The kids are alright.

It's not just a mod anthem from the Who, it pretty accurately describes how things are going down at the ol' schoolhouse this year.

Class #1: Grade 12 Earth and Space Science

Whenever I tell anyone that I teach this class, their first response is usually, "That's a thing?" And when I respond that, yes, indeed, it is -- although not all schools offer it, and it's only been around for the past eight-ish years -- people wonder what's in it. Technically it's 3 units of earth science (rocks and minerals, processes, earth's history) and 2 space (cosmology, solar system)... but, let's face it, I'm an astrophysics guy, it's half-and-half.

With 20 kids in it, this might be the biggest one we've had so far. But I'll tell ya, these are 20 of the quietest kids I've ever seen. Normally you can count on any given class having 3 or 4 real characters to liven the place up, but this class really doesn't have one. Having it in the morning doesn't really help either, because a lot of kids are still half-asleep, especially if the schedule of the day makes it first period. Also, I may or may not have called this assemblage of kids "a bunch of cardboard cut-outs." To them.

Class #2: Grade 9 Science (morning)

They're young, they're dumb, and collectively they have the worst taste in music I've ever seen. They were born in 1999 (excepting the couple of kids who are in grade 10 and taking this course), which is ridiculous -- and also explains their terrible taste in music.

But alas, I think about myself at their age, and... well, yes, I knew some Beatles songs. But I clearly recall the summer between grade 8 and 9, practically wearing out my Poison album -- and no, I don't mean the hair-metal band, I mean the album by New Jack Swing vocal group Bel Biv DeVoe. (Look, it was a dark time in my life.)

I can't go around judging 14-year-olds by adult standards. They don't know what the hell they're doing. I just don't really know how best to point them, musically, in the right direction without just straight-up making fun of who they listen to. Perhaps I'll figure out five songs they need to hear, and dispatch them to YouTube. But that's tricky; you can't just give them a huge dose of awesome right off the bat, you've gotta work up to it.

As for the actual science-y stuff? They're doing fine.

Class #3: Grade 9 Science (afternoon)

It's bigger, louder and perhaps not as academically strong as its morning counterpart. But that's alright; their friends in the morning class probably tell them what's on tests and whatnot. Believe me, they need the help.

One thing I refuse to do is yell. Remember the mom from "Malcolm in the Middle"? Her normal speaking-voice was a yell, and the kids learned to tune that out pretty effectively. Same goes for teaching. Hell, when I really wanna rattle 'em, I pause for a long time and then speak really quietly. Freaks 'em out good.

High school teaching: Psychological warfare with teenagers, three times a day.