NYTimes v. MIchael Moore

I can't believe I saw this:

In all, the salaries and benefits of state employees add up to $18.5 billion, or a fifth of New York’s operating budget. Unless those costs are reined in, New York will find itself unable to provide even essential services. --NYTimes editorial quoted at LegalInsurrection

Natch, the editorial goes on to lie about Walker, Kasich, and other Governors.

...In recent weeks, Republican politicians in the Midwest have distorted what should be a serious discussion about state employees’ benefits, cynically using it as a pretext to crush unions.

Au contraire, you feeble twits!

Not one PEU will be de-certed under the Walker plan unless the membership votes to do so.

Not one penny of salary or wage will be taken from current PEU members.

Not one day of "earned" time-off/vacation/sick pay will be subtracted from PEU member accounts. (That's up to FIVE WEEKS' vacation for State employees w/25+ years' tenure.)

Not one "working conditions" line-item will be changed in the immediate future.

Not one overtime-manipulation scheme will be outlawed.

No State/Local employee will lose seniority.

ALL State/local employees will be covered by Civil Service job protections.

If that's "crushing Unions," then you won't mind while I rain down your back.

BTW, Jacobson has a lot more on the NYT's willful blindness:

The cause of the problem is not just the terms of a particular public sector union contract, it is the system which allows public sector unions to pass costs onto future generations of taxpayers and union members.

Yes, folks, the young just-joined-the-union types are going to be flattened in the stampede.