How I Became an IE6 User All Over Again in 2010

ie6 In my day job I do a lot of network tracing to understand packet flow.  As it turns out, the tool I needed only works on Windows XP, and all of my systems are running Vista or Win7.  But this is no problem for me – the OSes are basically the same.  So, I downloaded a copy of XP from my MSDN license, and within a few minutes I was installing it again.  How nostalgic!

Two hours later, my shiny, new Windows XP was rearing to go.  And bundled for free was a brand new copy of Internet Explorer 6 – arguably the most despised web browser of web developers everywhere.  Sure, it’s 10 years old, but thousands of users (like me!) upgrade to it every day (it is the world’s most popular operating system, you know).

Time To Bust The Public Labor Unions

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of unions.  But I’m even less of a fan of public-sector unions for two reasons:

  1. As a taxpayer, I’m on the hook for the bill.
  2. Politicians simply can’t resist giving unions money in exchange for votes.

I apologize to the firefighters, police officers, and teachers.  Your jobs are extremely important.  But we can’t afford your unions, and we need your help to bust them apart.  Unions are the same cancer which bankrupted America’s once-largest-company, General Motors.  Why do we let this cancer invade our state?  (Oh yeah, Jerry Brown did it – so don’t vote for him now)

Shedlock puts it well:

In the case of public unions, if politicians strike a bad deal, taxpayers foot the bill. In the case of private corporations, if management strikes a bad deal, the company goes bankrupt, shareholders take a hit, or the jobs move elsewhere, as soon as the contract is up.

If you aren’t convinced, here are some articles to read:

Here’s The Real Problem With Labor Unions

The Beholden State

Plundering California

Public-sector unions bankrupting America