Boeing goes "Separate But Equal".

The NLRA Lawsuit is a “Bastardization” of the law. (Sen. Graham) 

VIEW THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF SEN. GRAHAM’S STATEMENTS

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed suit against Boeing Corporation to stop the construction of a second plant being built in Charleston, SC on the grounds that it was violating the employees’ rights.

NLRB COMPLAINT:
“Specifically, the union charged that the decision to transfer the line was made to retaliate against union employees for participating in past strikes and to chill future strike activity, which is protected under the National Labor Relations Act.”

“Boeing violated two sections of the National Labor Relations Act by making coercive statements and threats to employees for engaging in statutorily protected activities, and by deciding to place the second line at a non-union facility, and establish a parts supply program nearby, in retaliation for past strike activity and to chill future strike activity by its union employees.”

LAW:
The action invokes provisions of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), specifically:
Section 7: The employees have the right to self-organize ...
Section 8(a): It is unlawful to prevent employees from exercising Section 7
Section 13: It is unlawful to discriminate and discourage membership in a labor organization.

EVIDENCE:
A Boeing executive was quoted as saying, "The overriding factor (in transferring the line) was not the business climate.  And it was not the wages we’re paying today.  It was that we cannot afford to have a work stoppage, you know, every three years."

Another Boeing official was caught saying that “we are going to punish you for striking and to prevent you from striking again.”

BOEING’S ANSWER:
The Washington Plant will remain open and will continue to get a majority of the 787 Dreamliner assembly business. In addition, they have added more than 2000 jobs in the Seattle Washington plant since 2009.

ROBERTS|JUSTICE’s analysis:
It appears that Boeing’s management is attempting to create the best of both worlds - a striking and a non-striking plant for the same class of workers. It’s a loose interpretation of the concept “Separate but Equal”. It is not clear whether the rights of those who do not wish to strike is actually protected. Because as so often happens, those who do not wish to strike are out-voted by a majority of workers who want to strike. So, their solution appears to be this: Move the non-strikers to Charleston but keep the strikers in Seattle.

VIEW NLRA COMPLAINT FACT SHEET

Save Buehler!

“Save Buehler”, one of our readers intoned. He was making a reference to DJ Rich, a character we developed on our blog who on a number of episodes used 80’s dance music to serenade a woman named Nina.

Today is the 14th, a day we usually celebrate with another Rich & Nina episode. Unfortunately, we are going to miss on that promise. I will point to one of my character flaws, a tendency to over-commit despite a long work-day that starts at around 6AM and ends around 11PM almost every day. My lack of journalistic training means that I am not as prolific a writer as I would like to be. At this point, writing composition is still a full-contact sport for me. Nevertheless, I have taken lengths to develop my writing muscles and have been pleased with the consistent improvement in that area. My immediate goal is to be able to publish a piece every day, 7 days a week, something that I have yet to do in the years that I have been managing this blog. Fortunately, with the number of issues that I am beginning to get involved in, there shouldn't be a lack of relevant things to write about.

We recently announced the creation of another site expressly for comic writing called COMIC+KINESIS where all the previous episodes of Yestradamus, Rich & Nina and Mo Tales and others will soon be found. I can’t tell you how much fun it has been for me developing those characters. And because they are my babies, conceived by a unique set of circumstances, I have made the personal commitment to continue writing about them, to mill the creative organs and make them grow well into the years ahead.

At this point, I felt that the emotions that I was trying to impart through our "Funny Blog Series" would be best served if a new home would be found for them. Imagine watching your favorite comedian in a war zone, while explosions and dehumanizing things are happening all around you. That was precisely how things were beginning to feel for me. I was personally involved in a case recently where a mother ended up losing her kids to adoption by court order. Although all her options have yet to be exhausted, and she may eventually find her case in the highest court of the land, my reaction was, “this isn’t funny at all!”

Also, we wanted to keep the credibility of the ROBERTS|JUSTICE Blog unblemished and unimpeachable. The fact that a number of our readers had confusion discerning fact from fiction was enough to give us serious concerns. There was really only one solution to that quandary. The simple act of relocating the characters from one site to another, I felt, would make a world of difference.

Happy Wednesday to one and all.

VIEW THE COMIC+KINESIS SITE

The 11th of September + 1

It was a perfect day yesterday, allowing me to wonder around the city unhindered by the heatwave like conditions we experienced several days ago. I am still without a car and may quite literally be a while away from acquiring one. Necessity being the driver, I have learned to enjoy walking, relying on my feet to transport me around this exceptional city. It has kept me in relatively good shape, serving as a great substitute for running and mountain biking.

My walks have became mini-adventures of sorts after I found a couple of coupons for free "Street Pitas" redeemable at a local Greek restaurant. In fact, it has become a game, a treasure hunt. In the last week, I’ve been able to harvest from the streets two pre-paid passes to the movies, a number of buy one get one free burgers from Fatburger, two free orders of french fries from Fatburger and two $3.00 off coupons for Daphne’s Greek Restaurant. All that simply by looking at the ground as I traversed. The timing couldn’t have been better. It was my son’s birthday on the 8th. We decided to get together this week so I told him it was going to be burgers from Fatburger and the movies.

The city was its usual self, yesterday. The Sunday activities weren’t out of the ordinary except for the subsonic presence of a date remembered - a terrible tragedy that happened ten years ago. Many can still remember it quite vividly because of the strong emotions that were aroused by those events. Television’s role in bringing the images live gave Americans a shared experience of such intensity. It wasn’t something that they merely read about, neither were they pictures simply perused after the fact. They were actually there, removed only by physical presence, yet psychically connected. They were feeling the danger, the fear, the panic, the sorrow and all the raw emotions conjured up by such a tragedy. Many were asking if someone they knew might be in close proximity to the burning towers. Their hearts and minds hoping and wishing for the best.

Many people I came across didn’t quite know how to express their feelings about September 11th. Doubtless, many knew someone, who knew someone who was related to someone who perished in the attacks. But there is really no proper way to express those shared experiences with someone else except to remember that day. We derive those feeling from the fact that those who were killed were Americans and any attack on an American is an attack on each of us all. Many watched the special presentations that various channels offered their viewers. I noticed there were football games on several circuit televisions at bars and outside patios of restaurants. People were living their lives but expressing, nonetheless, that they haven’t forgotten - through tweets, blogs and affirming posts made to others on their social networks.

America has never been the same since.

Vincit Omnia Veritas

Truth is incontrovertible, ignorance can deride it, panic may resent it, malice may destroy it, but there it is. (Winston Churchill)

A number of decisions were made yesterday about the ROBERTS|JUSTICE Blog. First, we’ve decided to keep the old template. We’ve considered migrating to another site so we can take advantage of a wider array of features not available to us at this time. When we established this blog in April ‘08, it was one of a number that were available. Google recently conducted a system-wide upgrade, taking away this template from the selection list. That means once we leave this template we wont be able to return to it. So, we came to the conclusion that we can live with what we currently have. In exchange, we get to keep a design that we have learned to love all these years.

Second, we made the decision to establish a new website for all the funny stuff. All of the related materials including postings under the “Funny Blog Series” will eventually be migrated to a site we are calling COMIC+KINESIS. A number of our readers have expressed concerns about not being able to distinguish between the actual events that we’ve reported and fictional stories featured on the “Funny Blog Series”. We didn’t see this possibility at the time we first created the series. However, because of the stakes involved, we didn’t want to leave our credibility to chance. We felt the change was critical in order for us to be able to call those responsible for our grievances to account. It must be said, despite our lack of editorial experience and a tendency to make very green journalistic choices, we are here to tell the unvarnished truth.

The complexities of reporting abuses in government, particularly by the members of the law enforcement community are daunting. The consequences include retaliation against their member(s) by those they’ve investigated in the past and who may be members of the criminal underground. For those wanting to report about police improprieties as we do, the penalties for disclosing the identities of undercover operatives are severe, including financial penalties, jail time or both.

Accordingly, we have taken a responsible approach to our storytelling. As an example, certain plots and events on the “Nut’ So Fast” installment - a true story - could be recognized in the “Yestradamus 010711” story that we have managed to veil in a conspicuous manner. We had intended to continue on that path until the FBI decided to deprive me of my van, when they concocted this scheme that got it towed away. That was so outrageous that it was difficult for me to contain myself. The emphasis changed from protecting them from being outed to protecting the public from them. They, the government, turned out to be the perpetrators after all. Nonetheless, in keeping with responsible reporting, we will write about their misadventures without naming names. But that’s really the best that we can do for them.

Finally, as a fitting send-off to the “Funny Blog Series”, We’d like to introduce a new character named Moon Tzu, who claims to be the long lost brother of Sun Tzu, the highly-regarded Chinese Military Strategist who lived around 544 BC. There was one slight chink in his story, though. The Chinese have their last names in the front of the names, making the family name Sun instead of Tzu. So, there is one question that must be asked. Is Mr. Moon truly the long lost brother of Mr. Sun? Or, is he an impostor who’ve gotten his story all screwed up? Look for his stories on COMIC+KINESIS. The site is currently under construction but will be available for viewing soon.

VINCIT OMNIA VERITAS (The truth conquers all things.)

VIEW COMIC+KINESIS SITE
READ ABOUT SUN TZU

FBI's UN Women - Nut' So Fast

When I told her that I was celibate, she looked to the heavens and said, “Thanks, God”. I looked to the ground, the general direction of hell and thought to myself, if I rode that honey trap there would be 5,000 volts between my legs and my nuts would be roasted almonds.

She was a “UN Woman” true and pure. I got the sense that she was raised by parents who did just that, raise girls into womanhood versed in tradecraft. She claims to have grown up in a family with a dozen members that included nine sisters. Although that could not be confirmed, I have met three of her sisters who I found to be very pleasant women.

She was blonde with brown eyes and a pleasant soothing voice. The first time I saw her, she came by the Cup and had coffee two tables away with a friend. The second time I saw her, she walked past me two or three times and said nothing. The third time I saw her, I was at a church gathering. Eventually, we bumped into each other around town and I took the opportunity to introduce myself. When we started hanging out together, it was at the height of my homelessness. She offered to drive me to the laundromat to wash my clothes. From there the friendship developed and expressions of kindness became the norm. She started bringing me snacks of fruits, cheeses and mineral water, giving me a taste of the good life and a welcome break from the usual faire of canned goods and old bread.

Two things occurred that quickly confirmed my suspicions. She would not have her picture taken and she wouldn’t tell me where she lived. That told me that she had other victims so I had to be extremely careful. It was an interesting battle of wits - a woman who was hell bent on having her target wrapped around her fingers and feeding off her hands. On the other side of the skirmish line was a man who made a serious vow of celibacy. When I told her that I was celibate, she looked to the heavens and said, “Thanks, God”. I looked to the ground, the general direction of hell and thought to myself, if I rode that honey trap there would be 5,000 volts between my legs and my nuts would be roasted almonds.

The conversations early on were actually funny that I had to figure out a way to engage her without laughing. The first time she expressed her interest in me, she brought me 3 large strawberries dipped in chocolate. And sometime during the conversation she threw in her line - “I don’t know why it is I feel so comfortable with you”. She looked into my eye and then she shyly looked away. So, I would look for ways to escalate just to see what she would do. In one of the conversations I asked her - “Shouldn’t you at least know why I want you? She gave me the goo-goo eyes and wouldn’t answer. But knowing she was calculating, I was curious whether the gaze was a 1000 yard stare from a veteran of wars who’ve seen unspeakable things.

By this time, I was already aware of what the FBI was trying to do and wanted to have a little bit of fun with it. They do such a poor job, it was so glaringly obvious. I’m generally unkempt and could not even purchase a lady coffee on most days. At some point I’ve lost the dental appliance that covers a front tooth I lost early in my life. I have a partially prepped front tooth that was supposed to get a crown just before I became homeless. It looks like a single vampire’s fang in the middle of my mouth. I haven’t been able to afford the balance of the work. Every time I open my mouth, I look belligerent. And she’s interested in me? That strikes me as ridiculous.

I was sure that her past targets were affluent and influential men who, for the most part, exercised much better hygiene than I did. So on one of our walks, I showed her my appreciation and did something most any important men of power would never consider doing, I gave her a foot massage. We were walking for a little while and came upon this bench in front of a Ralph’s Supermarket. She leaned on to the the huge water dispenser looking haggard allowing me to her to place her foot on my lap. Suddenly, her slippers came off. And for a number of minutes, it became my vocation - to put a smile on her face through her tired and weary feet. I knew she enjoyed it because the next time we were at the El Pollo Loco Restaurant, her feet mysteriously wondered between my legs looking for more heartfelt expressions of my gratitude. I think that was a fair expectation. She was paying for the chicken. Unfortunately, I had to disappoint her because I was eating with my hands.

My experiences with her showed me the range of emotions that her craft requires of her. You really can’t call yourself a “UN Woman” unless you can can inflict some sort of devastating psychological pain on a man. I knew it was coming and I didn’t have to wait for a long time. One of the most significant setbacks that occured to me during this whole adventure was the loss of my storage space the second time. One day she approached me asking if I could assist her with moving a piece of furniture to her storage space. She didn’t even have to ask. I was eager to help her out.

She told me that the storage was somewhat full and needed to be rearranged. So, off we went to where the FBI PsyOps Team calculated it would create consternation if not some form of depression on my part. Walking through the Aliso Viejo Storage Facility, a place that now rests as one of my personal Waterloos, where the last pieces of personal belonging that reminded me, in fact connected me to a more accomplished life, as a Mortgage Banker, were lost. Walking through the facility gave me a somber feeling, a feeling one might get when visiting a historical site, where a long and costly battle occurred and where much had been lost. It wasn’t a welcoming feeling.

It was almost predictable. Her storage space was in the same building, on the same floor and the same corridor. In fact, it was a couple of doors from my old storage space. When we opened the door, it was packed full with personal effects that nothing could have possibly been wedged in to add to its content. She didn’t even attempt to move anything. She just stood there looking at me, waiting for a reaction, waiting for some expulsion of steam, an emotional release, of anger, of dejection, of utter defeat. She got nothing.

I have been an indigent for several years now and have built up a strong mind. So, that event was actually laughable, but a good try nonetheless. It’s not to say that it didn’t bother me to lose all my things, because it did. It’s just that I didn’t have time to feel sorry for myself. In my current lifestyle, losing a can opener is a more serious problem than losing all my suits and Nordstrom shirts. So, I sent the FBI PsyOps Team back to the drawing board.

The next phase of her work required a level of emotional closeness and the introduction of male competition. On another posting, I’ll introduce our readers to what was conjured up to be an unfair competition for her affections. The episode is called the “Brown Recluse Spider”. It’s a play on words that entails a network of people all playing a part in a story that ends predictably. It will call for some form of male competition meant to leave me dejected, humiliated and an emotional wreck. Hence, the phrase “Wreck Lose”.

VIEW THE STORAGE FACILITY THAT WAS LOST

LAST UPDATED: September 7, 2011 - 0138PM

FBI's UN Women - Wine 'O

I was never really much of a drinker. In those days I was seriously into running. That one morning I was scheduled to do a training run. I ended up bailing out on it because we had a couple bottles of Chardonnay between the two of us. I woke up the next morning and every part of my body said, “we are not doing that anymore.”  

The clue was the timing of our first encounter. It was right after the time I did a loan for the self-confessed Mexican Mafia named “Curly”. That’s when the Task Force really started showing up - the FBI, DEA, OC Sheriffs and Costa Mesa PD. I can’t explain what it was but she and I  immediately hit it off and became fast friends. In those days we were still both married but were as close as two people can become without fooling around. We used to spend hours together, just talking about anything and everything, sometimes well past into the late evening, to the annoyance of our spouses.

After a while I moved away and so did she and we simply lost track of each other. All that time, I entertained the question of what it could have been had we decided to do something. We hadn’t seen each other for a while until one day I saw her at a parking lot saying goodbye to one of her friends. It was completely unexpected and a chance to rekindle our friendship. It wasn’t for another several days until we met up at a restaurant one afternoon. We were both already divorced. From there, we started having long conversations on the phone, hours at a time. The strange thing was, we both lived in the same city but she insisted on having these conversations on the phone - hours at a time. I didn’t key in on this until well after the fact. Our conversations were being listened to.

We started dating now and again and somehow, I found myself as a part-time associate at the business that she had been building for years. I was in transition, or so it seemed. She was in financial services and through presentations she made and my own research found a way to parlay my mortgage banking experience. I wanted to really get to know her.

She was really the first romantic interest I had since my divorce in 2002; and the only real threat to that little complication called a “vow of celibacy”. I was married for 10 years and came out of it a broken man. I told myself that I was going to remain celibate for the same number of years that I was married. My celibacy started in 2001, a year before my divorce.

She was definitely one of the most attractive women that I have ever dated, at least in those days. She was blond, blue eyed with an amazing smile and a great personality. She was also an accomplished public speaker with the presence of a successful corporate executive. Still, a vow is a vow. However, at this point I was so completely taken by her that I was willing to make an exception, even break it if I needed to. I remembered the long evening chats we used to have. The talks had such a soulful quality that sometimes it made me feel as though dreams were actually taking shape.

She claims to have been raised in South Orange County, but everything about her was anything but. People don’t realize how difficult it is to pull a deception like that off. Living in South OC is one thing. Being raised here is another. It’s an attitude about life and a lot of other things. But I played along with it. If I had to make a guess, I would say that she was raised and educated somewhere in Illinois. And you have to ask why she was assuming another identity. Did she leave because she had just concluded another mission and had successfully discredited another target? For the UN Women, that usually means devastation at some level.

On one date I brought her a huge bouquet of flowers and took her to an exclusive club that I used to be a member of in Costa Mesa. A few days later, I delivered a vase of flowers to her door steps and then called her on the phone a half an hour later and asked her to open her door. She said that she loved it.

That’s around the time when all the strange things started happening. The order may have gotten to her a number of ways. But it would have likely been by phone. The man’s voice would have been distinct and gruff. He would have said - “take the guy down”. From that point forward it was a Dr. Jekkyl and Mr. Hyde scenario. For a long time during our friendship she was one of the sweetest people that I have ever known. Then, as if a switch was flipped, she became one of the most ridiculously mean-spirited that it was surreal.

FBI psychologists (mind breakers) understand that healthy human relationships and a good self-image are essential human needs. It was a tough assignment for her because I had accomplished much up until that point. I certainly had a very good self-image. I was a successful salesperson, a somewhat accomplished runner and the object of my children’s affections.

Her job was to undermine all that I have accomplished. The job turned out to be comprehensive and systematic. It began with the choices I made. For example, in those days I used to drive a Mercedes Benz C230 Kompressor, arguably the least expensive cars in their line up. I chose that car because of my sporting orientation and its fuel economy. Mercedes Benz fields the C Class in the DTM (Deutsch Touring Car Championships) because of a platform that is best suited for motorsports. When I took delivery of it, it was one of only four cars in California listed on the dealership inventory system that had a stick-shift. Naturally, it wasn’t good enough. She had to say that it was cheap, that it was a stick-shift and it was only a C Class. When I heard her criticisms I dismissed it as a lapse of judgment, but it simply kept on escalating.

She was slightly taller than I and found ways to take pot shots at the height differential. One afternoon, I hit it off with one of the women working with her who was even taller than she was. I remember talking about sports with her colleague. It may have been NASCAR or something else that somehow alienated her because she was not familiar with the personalities we were discussing. Sometime during the evening we found ourselves alone and she said, that her colleague has a boyfriend who is taller and bigger and he can sit on me. I can’t recall exactly what I said, but it was to the effect of, “let him try”.

We don’t remember the many days in our lives when we got drenched by rain. But I bet that if you were walking down the street and barrel of water from the sky gets poured on you, you’ll never forget it. I had a strong background in selling and have built up a rather thick skin. Words never really get to me that much. What bothers me, though, are the things that hit me in the pocket. In FBI parlance, that’s called economic sabotage.

I had arranged for a client of mine to take a look at their line of financial products. One of the investments that was being offered required a cash-out refinancing of her home. The proceeds were to be re-invested into an annuity as a way to diversify her investment portfolio that was concentrated in real estate. We had an understanding that I was going to arrange the loan and earn the commission if she decided to proceed with the plan. Because I wasn’t always at their office as a part-timer, I later found out that the company did the loan and arranged for the annuity. In effect, I was left out of the transaction and a commission. Unfortunately years have since elapsed and the statutes of limitations have probably already ran out barring me from filing an action against her individually. However, on the basis of outrageous actions by the FBI as her employer, this shameful act of economic deprivation will most certainly be added to a fast expanding list of civil rights violations.

The UN Women are very skilled at documenting communications, particularly someone asking them for a date. If they were to call the cops and say that the person was stalking them, they can produce all these communications that showed a man doing what society expects him to do - be persistent. It’s like a game for them and an object of professional pride. Manipulative suggestions like “I want a man who never gives up” are all part of that fishing expedition. A man is easily pulled into that, hunters that they are. Unfortunately, for some men, it does not end very well.

She never had a chance to pull off any of those on me. One day, we were riding in her car after a business meeting out of town. I told her that I couldn’t do it anymore. And that was it and it was final. No calls. No conversations. No texts. Nothing. When she sought my friendship on Facebook, it wasn’t even responded to. It was a risk I wasn’t prepared to take.

If you want to know why I called her Wine ‘O, it’s because she was a miserable drunk in need of a serious alcohol intervention program. She also owes me a commission check.

UPDATED SEPTEMBER 3, 2011 - 0720PM

MONTHLY REPORT | SEPTEMBER 2011

There were suggestions. And there were also ideas. In all, the most actionable feedback we received has to do with the confusion that readers sometimes experience when reading the RobertsJustice blog. They say the line that distinguishes between fiction and reality is often obscured requiring that we take a look at our format and make adjustments.

The characters in the blog were created as a way to release the often distracting comedy that mills around my head. It’s true what they say about hardship being the cradle for the best humour. I can say without reservation that the funny stuff has really saved me. Some of the skits I’ve posted are likely not even that funny to most, but I can assure you that I have had my share of quality entertainment writing about it. It is concerning sometimes because ideas would pop into my head at the most ill-chosen moments. Picture a guy, grungy and by all appearance homeless walking or sitting alone laughing his ass off. If mental illness does not come to mind you haven’t lived in a city.

So, under consideration is the creation of another blog that will serve as the home for all the funny stuff. We’ve had a string of tragedies occur the last several weeks - revolutions, earthquakes, nuclear reactor melt-downs, a massacre in Scandinavia, bombings, injuries and deaths. It seemed that publishing humorous pieces on the RobertsJustice blog while this was all happening expressed a lack of sensitivity to the plight of those touched by the events. Having said that, the final decision about creating a different site hasn’t been made quite yet giving our readers the opportunity to throw in their two cents. So, let me know what you think.

In another news, a meeting occurred yesterday that may move this blog into an interesting direction. I met up with Felix Torres, a disbarred attorney who graduated from Boalt School of Law (UC Berkeley) to explore the opportunity of working on projects together. During the conversation, I asked him why he was disbarred and he said that it was because he called a prosecutor a “fat bitch.” It was more than that, off course. But the feisty way in which he explained what happened was so contagious and oddly funny I took serious notice. As a result, we are discussing the possibility of helping him with his fight to regain his license. You already know we like that kind of stuff - the worthwhile and seemingly impossible fights. So, we’ll let you know as we move further along.

In our continued efforts to improve your reading experience, we have taken a branding initiative and are now testing different platforms. The way in which information is now consumed differs from the way it was done as recent as a few years ago. Who would have thought that one day entire articles would be read using a phone? Or how about news reporters in the middle of riots filing updates via Twitter? We want to embrace all that and will continually look for opportunities to innovate so our voice, as well as yours could be heard by those who can affect the changes so desperately needed in this country.

Here is a preview of the new site that is being developed. Let me know how you like it.

http://rjtvblog.blogspot.com/

All the best,

Robert Lacambra
Advocate/Blogger