The warm sunshine woke me up this morning as last night was a perfect night to leave the windows open while I slept. My mom and I are still doing well but isn't able to go to church with me yet. It used to bother me in a sense going to church alone when I would sit behind a couple holding hands but I have gotten over that. I have since met other single friends at the church and I always feel a supernatural recharge when surrounded by like-minded people who love Jesus.

This may not be postal related by this is about fellow union workers and their families. Some of you reading this blog probably didn't hear about the protest action against the closing of the General Motors plant in El Paso. It wasn't on the front page of the daily paper, nor on the TV news. The media motto, "If it bleeds, it leads," pretty well explains why. There were no riot police here, firing rubber bullets or tear gas canisters into the crowd. Participants did not get dragged into police wagons or collapse to the ground in agony. Incredibly, the UAW's rally -- which drew tens of thousands of trade unionists and supporters, including me -- was considered a non-event.

The UAW held this rally in the Sun Bowl Stadium.  Outside, speakers were blasting out tunes by John Mellencamp. Inside, an exuberant crowd displayed a very tangible sense of collective pride and solidarity: the bonding of people gathered together in support of a common cause. The stadium was an undulating mass of banners, placards, and every color of the rainbow. Many protesters were wearing rain capes in hues of blue, bright yellow or day-glo orange, with slogans like "Protest of the Century." And the rally didn't just bring in labor groups. There was very visible support from other groups and seniors. The Raging Grannies were also there, dressed in their familiar flowered hats. What I find disappointing is that the media in general failed to provide information about the reasons why the UAW rally galvanized people from such a cross-section of society and across political boundaries, obviously there's more to this issue than what met the media's eye.

Inside of the struggle are the 7,800 workers at the GM plant in El Paso that will lose their jobs. They won't have the benefit of transferring or being "excessed" to another plant. For those that can partially retire, they will lose all of their health care benefits and 50% of their pension. Meanwhile, their sister plant across the river in Juarez Mexico is running at full production churning out SUVs with plenty of overtime to its workers.  The only mention of this story came from a soundbyte from John McCain's visit here that day. The reporter asked him about the plant closing down and about NAFTA and the economy. "Trade and national security are interconnected with each other," McCain says, "So, we shouldn't think about renegotiating NAFTA because Canada has 2500 troops in Afghanistan?" That's why they call him Insane McCain.  I know the guy claims not to understand economics, but I had no idea he really just didn't get it at all. The reporter asked about the GM plant closing down and that was his response. I can think of 15 errors with that response - some more obvious than others.

NAFTA was a bad idea laced with good intentions. Instead of wasting time with this agreement, it would have been more productive to cut tarriffs and quotas and abolish many of the monopolistic trade restrictions that injure hard working American consumers and coddle inefficient producers. I suppose I should be used to that idea because I work for a management that coddles inefficient producers.

I should have remained on my original subject of a beautiful Sunday morning. I will end this and enjoy the rest of my day outside. The weather is perfect today to let me know that God had a hand on what's store for today - and tommorrow.