Alaska state employee's pull idiot move with Belarus birth certificate

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Just want to say that what why_me is saying about the seasonal and shut down variations in employment is 100% accurate for down here in TX too, Mark has said almost the same things ; my husband has done a lot of shutdowns and seasonal stuff for the oil industry and sometimes it's a feast ( 100+ hours a week and good money) and then it's quiet. Nothing for a couple of months. To be honest, he traveled a lot and we got fed up of that and now he has a job that's more or less fixed nearer home

Talking about up there in Alaska, he was headhunted recently to take on a contract up there. He was thinking about it......Brrrrrrrr...I told him how bloody cold it is. He's still thinking :/ Money looked pretty good, I guess.

Anyway, just want to say that down here in TX it's the same as up there in Alaska ( minus the cccccold).

I'll also say this, Mark could have applied also for unemployment and would have done if he'd not been hired for another contract. I can't fault anyone for doing that. As far as I know- if you've not paid into unemployment- you don't get it. he has paid in ( like why_me) and if he had applied and got it whilst looking for another contract....What's the problem? I cannot pretend at all that Mark wouldn't have applied.

Smart move on his part imo taking a job close to home. Nothing kills a marriage quicker than travelling out all the time. And if there's kids involved it's even worse. I'm hoping to get on with the Mat-Su Borough (our equivalent of a county) for less pay but year around work and it will be near home. I haven't traveled out since the wife got here and she's not too cool with the idea of me flying up north this summer to work while she's home alone.

Great pics Kip. I can't imagine working in those conditions.... as I sit here in the FL Keys sipping my morning coffee. It's in the 70's right now and I'm thinking about getting in the boat and going fishing in a few minutes.

You lucky fck! It's -27 here atm. We are so going to Florida one of these days...like hopefully within the next two years. The wife bugs me about it at least once a week. Between the Miami Vice reruns, CSI Miami, and that Schwarzenegger movie "True Lies", Florida is #1 on her hit list for places to see. She has a Ukrainian friend married to a German guy and they just got back from a cruise over there. They flew to Miami a few weeks back from Frankfurt for less than $600 r/t and then took a cruise to Costa Rica, Jamaica, and Mexico.

70's....

Edited January 27, 2012 by Why_Me

[slim 1,525]

Fair enough. Although you didn't address the second question, it's now evening.

- Is it ok to greet you a 'hello' or 'have a good afternoon today?'

My apologies for missing the question. I was too busy addressing the topic and I skipped right over pleasantries. Good morning would be in order although the way things are going it'll probably need to be like the Sgt. Major's good morning. "What are you a f'kin weatherman?"

Unless you're willing to tell us what YOUR job is, it seems unfair to attack someone else's.

He's not attacking the job. He's attacking the fact that this guy is on welfare when he's not working. (And yes, unemployment is welfare.)

So you get back to me on your plan on how to keep those workers and cut off their unemployment.

You know all those record profits you always talk about the greedy CEOs making?

Well, what if all the "free money" the government gave you guys was cut and you were forced to live within your means for the rest of the year? You'd need more money, right? Well, if the government isn't subsidizing your pay for part of the year and the oil companies still need workers.... they'd be forced to pay you more or else you wouldn't do the job.

It's amazing that you fail to see the connection between government interference and corporate profit. You're living proof of it's effectiveness.

Unemployment for us is actually a government subsidization of the industry.

You're so close!

One of these days it's just going to hit you and you're going to say, "holy smokes! Slim was right all along."

If you think he has it so great, why don't you follow in his footsteps and do as he does? It is an expected thing in his line of work in that area! Nothing whatever wrong with it! So how about you just STFU?

I don't think it's great, I think it's wrong.

Most of us put in 100+ hours a week on shutdowns and emergency jobs.

So... taken together with your slow periods and the few months you sit on @$$ doing nothing... that's about 40 hours a week, eh?

would you support legislation to end unemployment compensation for seasonal workers? Just end it.

I would.

No unemployment. Ever.

For the record I do budget my money. You pretty much have to in this line of work. You never know how long the job will last and if there will be another one around the corner after the current job is finished.

What's the difference between doing that for unexpected lack of work and expected layoffs?

You men are all capable of taking care of yourselves. You've shown us repeatedly in this thread how big your ####### is yet when it comes to the free money you turn welfare ####### because "that's just how it is." Like I've said repeatedly, I'm not calling you personally (or your union hall brothers) out for doing something that is perfectly legal. What I'm saying is the hypocrisy of your position(s) in regards to other folks who take free money (while taking it yourselves) is appalling.

I realize you take the moral high ground by claiming you "earn it" but you're failing to connect the dots that the money forcibly removed from all of our pockets to subsidize an industry ends up in the pockets of CEOs and other corporate types you claim to despise.

Yet, in the end... you are the enabler of this process. You participate in it daily.

Stop supporting the CEOs.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

He's not attacking the job. He's attacking the fact that this guy is on welfare when he's not working. (And yes, unemployment is welfare.)

How much does the welfare recipient and their employer pay into welfare? And do they get taxed at the end of the year on said welfare benefits? Get back to me on those statistics when you find out. I pay into the system, as does my employer and I receive a 1099 on any and all unemployment Iv'e collected for said year RE as I get taxed on it.

You know all those record profits you always talk about the greedy CEOs making?

Well, what if all the "free money" the government gave you guys was cut and you were forced to live within your means for the rest of the year? You'd need more money, right? Well, if the government isn't subsidizing your pay for part of the year and the oil companies still need workers.... they'd be forced to pay you more or else you wouldn't do the job.

It's amazing that you fail to see the connection between government interference and corporate profit. You're living proof of it's effectiveness.

Write your Congressman and tell him/her how you feel about it and maybe some changes to the system will be made.

So... taken together with your slow periods and the few months you sit on @$$ doing nothing... that's about 40 hours a week, eh?

Get back to me when you have experienced a 120 hour work week that consist of hauling materials up six flights of stairs on the inside of a mod seeing how a crane won't do the trick from the outside. Otherwise I have no idea what I average from my time on and my time off.

What's the difference between doing that for unexpected lack of work and expected layoffs?

You men are all capable of taking care of yourselves. You've shown us repeatedly in this thread how big your ####### is yet when it comes to the free money you turn welfare ####### because "that's just how it is." Like I've said repeatedly, I'm not calling you personally (or your union hall brothers) out for doing something that is perfectly legal. What I'm saying is the hypocrisy of your position(s) in regards to other folks who take free money (while taking it yourselves) is appalling.

I realize you take the moral high ground by claiming you "earn it" but you're failing to connect the dots that the money forcibly removed from all of our pockets to subsidize an industry ends up in the pockets of CEOs and other corporate types you claim to despise.

Yet, in the end... you are the enabler of this process. You participate in it daily.

Stop supporting the CEOs.

When you get those statistics on how much welfare recipients and their employers pay into the system along with the question do those welfare recipitants get taxed for said welfare benefits then get back to me on that one. I pay into the system, as does my employer and I receive a 1099 on any and all unemployment Iv'e collected for said year RE as I get taxed on it.

Edited January 27, 2012 by Why_Me

[Krikit 1,164]

A number of posts violating the TOS have been removed from the thread. If you cannot hold a conversation without making a personal attack then you will be banned from the thread. One post, without the quoted vioaltion, has been returned below.

I respect someone that has opinions which sometimes differ from mine if at least they are thoughtful and honest in their arrival at those opinions.

Kip is doing nothing wrong. This is typical life for people in construction in northern areas which are affected by severe winter conditions. The option exists for any person to come up and join the crews. I have a couple steel jobs going on right now if you want to spend some days outside in the fresh Vermont air, a new home for Green Mountian Coffee Roasters...mmmmmmmm, smell the coffee?

[slim 1,525]

How much does the welfare recipient and their employer pay into welfare?

I don't care. All I care about is that I pay into welfare.

I shouldn't have to pay welfare for you or her.

[mox 298]

I'm all about working for a living wage. Show me the money and I'l be there. I didn't bust my ####### for nothing learning this trade, so ya, pay me for my skills. I'm all about that. I don't care where I get the money from...employer, government, Micky Mouse...just show me the $$$.

Wow. And *I'm* the entitled liberal? Sounds like an art history major demanding a job because they put all this effort into their education, society OWES them!!!

No pilot in their right mind would do what mox? Work for peanuts? I personally know a few pilots that fly for Alaska Airlines and I know what they make on average so where do you want to go with this?

You said no pilot would ever tolerate seasonal work. I agreed with you. And then I said that many pilots who lost their jobs with the airline, rather than taking welfare, figured out a way to put their skills to work. They didn't just sit back and leach off the taxpayers, thinking this is just how it is. They bucked up. They put their big boy pants on and they figured out a way to be payed for honest work.

Our guys follow the work a lot. Iv'e worked up on the slope for a 6 week hitch, flew to Anchorage (2 hour and 30 min. flight from the slope),and was on the next days flight to Nome building a ball mill for a gold processing plant for two months, flew back to Anchorage and was on a Lear jet from Elmendorf AFB to Shemya Island the next day (5+ hour flight) to work on the airbase aka Eareckson AFB on the end of the Aleutian chain right next to Russia. Flew back to Anchorage two weeks later and three days after that I was driving in the middle of winer for 4 hours through a mountain pass to work on base in Galena in -50 temps on underground missile silo's for two months. So do I travel where the work is? Most all of us in the trades to. I know guys from up here working in the oil patch atm in North Dakota. This job requires a sh*tload of travel.

How does that average out over the whole year? I'm sure you work hard, I don't doubt that at all. In fact, I couldn't/wouldn't do your job for any amount. But it's not the point.

Iv'e never been on welfare in my entire life, nor do I know of anyone in my family (and I have a large one) that has been on welfare.

Semantics. You get a check from the government for not working.

You want fuel for your vehicle then you pay us.

I'm happy to pay you for a service or product. You give me fuel for my car, I give you money. That's a fair deal. What's not a fair deal is, I give you money, you provide nothing in return.

btw you don't work any less than 84.5 hours a week on the slope. Your there to work. Most of us put in 100+ hours a week on shutdowns and emergency jobs.

So let's do the math. Let's give you an even 85 hours a week during the on-season. Let's also say you work 9 months out of the year. So over the course of 9 months (36 weeks), you work a total of 3,060 hours. Now let's average that over a whole year, to include the time you're not working, 52 weeks. 3,060 hours divided by 52 weeks is about 59 hours/week. Still more than 40, but then I don't know a lot of people who work 40 hours/week anymore anyway. 59 hours a week is roughly what I work, and the government doesn't pay me a dime not to work.

[mox 298]

Really Mox? And would you support legislation to end unemployment compensation for seasonal workers? Just end it. That way people would HAVE to do what you suggest and you could tell them "Too bad for you" when they have no money, no way to live. Right?

Yep. And if you were a true independent like me, you would do that too. Let the markets decide. If the oil companies can't find anyone to work for them because they've all moved on to jobs they can live on, then the oil companies will start to pay these guys a living wage. That's how market-based economies work. Adam Smith said it best when he said, "#### government handouts." (paraphrased)

As for Kip, he is making use of a system that has been out in place by our government, it has been defended by the current President and Congress, it has been extended over and over again by the current congress. Lots of people in construction do this.

Why do they not follow Mox's sage advice above?

** THAT!!!!!!!! They don't have to because they can use the system that has been established by people like Mox. They can buy their big screen TVs in summer and watch that at your expense all winter.

Sounds like Socialism to me. Support the President, support the Congress, don't change the system because that's the way it's always been. Pay people to not work, don't encourage them to save responsibly, because the government will always be there to save them. And whatever you do, don't encourage people to make positive changes in their life that will keep them from being dependent on handouts.

[visaveteran1 33]

Great pics Kip. I can't imagine working in those conditions.... as I sit here in the FL Keys sipping my morning coffee. It's in the 70's right now and I'm thinking about getting in the boat and going fishing in a few minutes.

II totally agree. As the American Indians like to say: "Walk a mile in a man's shoes before judging him."

I think criticizing a means of survival in unique circumstances is way off base. Kip's not driving a beer truck in the lower 48...he's almost in a combat zone with Mother Nature the enemy, so to speak.

[visaveteran1 33]

This raises the question: Especially when the coffee hits, how (and when, and where) does one relieve one's self? Without a catheter system of some sort, it would seem that responding to urgency (or an emergency) would be inconvenient, if not impossible.

I think some cats on here might be called pissy. You know, the kind of guys who use the sink for a urinal.

[visaveteran1 33]

He's not attacking the job. He's attacking the fact that this guy is on welfare when he's not working. (And yes, unemployment is welfare.)

No, he's attacking the man's choice of work...therefore, he attacks the man. As are you. Couch it as cleverly as you wish...you're on his case.

If you what to lecture us on taking freebies from Uncle Sugar, how do you feel about veteran's entitlement programs? Are you down with vets not paying their own way in college? Compensation for wounds OK with you? Special home loan benefits? Free medical? After all, the vets decided to join up, nobody made them. By your arguments, vets should man up and work and compete with everyone else sans benefits.

For the record, I totally support ALL veterans programs, even knowing some vets game the system for benefits. Unemployment? I judge it case by case. Much of it I don't like. Sometimes it makes sense. In Kip's case, we need men with certain skill sets to continue in their line of work in a harsh area for the good of the local or national interests. Kind of like how the military offers extra re-up money for certain MOS positions. Is it a great system? No. Is it necessary? Yes.

[mox 298]

If you what to lecture us on taking freebies from Uncle Sugar, how do you feel about veteran's entitlement programs? Are you down with vets not paying their own way in college? Compensation for wounds OK with you? Special home loan benefits? Free medical? After all, the vets decided to join up, nobody made them. By your arguments, vets should man up and work and compete with everyone else sans benefits.

Veterans entitlement programs aren't "freebies," and we're talking about the defense of our country, not free-market capitalism. I think asking somebody to potentially die in the service of their country is a fair trade for the benefits. America compensates our fighting men and women fairly and justly, and the oil companies should do the same thing for their employees without subsidizing their profits on the backs of taxpayers.

Now, if somebody joined a privately funded military and then expected taxpayers to subsidize their entitlements, I'd have a problem with that.

In Kip's case, we need men with certain skill sets to continue in their line of work in a harsh area for the good of the local or national interests.

Great I agree. So let the oil companies pay them. How can you possibly defend a system where Why_Me can't even make enough to get through the year without government handouts, and yet the executives who run his company are raking in hundreds of millions? You're paying these workers out of your own pockets, while the bosses at his company are buying Jaguars, yachts, and sending their kids to private schools. How can you possibly defend a system like that?

Kind of like how the military offers extra re-up money for certain MOS positions. Is it a great system? No. Is it necessary? Yes.

No, it's nothing like incentive programs in the military. Nothing at all. The military actually pays a living wage.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Veterans entitlement programs aren't "freebies," and we're talking about the defense of our country, not free-market capitalism. I think asking somebody to potentially die in the service of their country is a fair trade for the benefits. America compensates our fighting men and women fairly and justly, and the oil companies should do the same thing for their employees without subsidizing their profits on the backs of taxpayers.

Now, if somebody joined a privately funded military and then expected taxpayers to subsidize their entitlements, I'd have a problem with that.

Great I agree. So let the oil companies pay them. How can you possibly defend a system where Why_Me can't even make enough to get through the year without government handouts, and yet the executives who run his company are raking in hundreds of millions? You're paying these workers out of your own pockets, while the bosses at his company are buying Jaguars, yachts, and sending their kids to private schools. How can you possibly defend a system like that?

No, it's nothing like incentive programs in the military. Nothing at all. The military actually pays a living wage.

You know how much the oil work the oil companies account for in union trades? I would say less than 2% nation wide. Alaska and a few other states being well above that average. The private sector total? I would say 15 - 25% tops.

What's the meat and potatoes of union construction? Federal and state jobs. Who pays the ticket on those jobs? The tax payer. So up our wages, and cut off our unemployment and and chances are pudgy little people who troll are going to pay even more out of their pockets...like way more.

Hospitals, schools, court houses, military bases, air fields, docks, road system including bridges, ...who do you think builds that stuff? And who do you think pays for it?

I was in the army straight from high school. I would easily say that Iv'e done more for the defense of my country working the trades than I ever did when I served. I never saw any action when I was in the army, but in the trades Iv'e built underground missile silo's, radar stations, airplane hangers, runways, medical centers on base, you name it.

Fed jobs, state jobs, county jobs...it all comes to us and is built by us.

And about those "semantics". Post on here how much welfare recipients pay into it along with their employers and while your at it let me know how much taxes they pay on welfare.

Also I'm not sure where you get this 9 months out of the year estimate. Where did you pull that one from? We have snow on the ground by Oct. 1st and it stays on the ground until the middle of May...and I live in the southwestern part of Alaska, not the northern part. When their making their first cut in the hay fields back in the midwest, were still shoveling snow out of our driveways.

Edited January 27, 2012 by Why_Me

[visaveteran1 33]

The military actually pays a living wage.

Oh really? So why are so many enlisted folks on food stamps? And, hey, there's another "freebie" they're getting. How about giving GIs food stamps? Welfare!

[slim 1,525]

I think criticizing a means of survival in unique circumstances is way off base. Kip's not driving a beer truck in the lower 48...he's almost in a combat zone with Mother Nature the enemy, so to speak.

Then his employer should pay him what he deserves to be paid or he shouldn't do the job.

how do you feel about veteran's entitlement programs?

They're a condition of employment from the employer.

Why_Me's situation would be akin to Guardsmen working their drill weekend and then getting unemployment for the rest of the month. "But if you want guardsmen then you have to pay them what they're worth."

Oh really? So why are so many enlisted folks on food stamps? And, hey, there's another "freebie" they're getting. How about giving GIs food stamps? Welfare!

It always baffled me how guys could get married and have kids and get EXTRA money for being in the military. Yet another example of military spending that shouldn't be happening. If they can't support their kids, they shouldn't have them. Military folks aren't exempt from making stupid decisions. Stupidity is equal opportunity!

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Oh really? So why are so many enlisted folks on food stamps? And, hey, there's another "freebie" they're getting. How about giving GIs food stamps? Welfare!

Ya I didn't get that one myself. I remember having great credit while I was in, but no cash. Broke didn't even begin to explain it. Maybe the army has changed...I'm sure it has, but when I was in none of us were making out money wise. The main reason I got out was because of the money. The economy took a turn for the good and I saw what everyone else was doing and I knew it was time to jump and jump quick.