I took a couple of pictures out of curiosity, but I’m not a news service. I did, however, take the opportunity to take a look through a copy of the Senator’s book, “Take This Job and Ship It.” I’m a speed reader, so I plowed through it pretty quickly. It’s a light but enjoyable read, with lots of anecdotes in it that are a good read but typically have a sad ending.

I can’t say that I disagree wholly with the Senator or much of his book, actually. I vote Republican on moral and economic grounds and shudder at the thought of the Dorgans of this nation getting control of the government. I do, however, agree that he does make some good points in this book. Those points entail where the system isn’t working, and he’s got lots of anecdotal evidence to back it up. But that’s where our agreement ends. You see, Senator Dorgan has some pretty bad ideas about how to solve the outsourcing of jobs.

One of these brilliant ideas is an increase in labor unions. Labor unions are driving jobs out of this country…look at the airline and auto industries! Car manufacturers pay more per car for employee benefits than they do for the steel to make it. Meanwhile, union employees at General Motors get paid to NOT work. Literally. I was a union shop steward…I saw stoners get paid as much as (or more) for screwing around than guys who wanted to work hard and stay at their job for the long term. Unions don’t work any better than welfare. They cost a lot of money, nobody gets rich because they have a union job, and unions kill any incentive to work hard. Thus the unions are part of the problem, not the solution.

I remember hearing a story of a guy who got fired at Melroe for stealing tools, saw blades and drill bits, or something like that. As the story goes, by the time the union was done with Melroe, the guy was back on the job, with back pay to boot! Tell me again how labor unions make America great.

One problem he does NOT go anywhere near in the book, to my recollection, is illegal immigration. Back in Washington he did, however, try to attach an amendment to the Immigration Reform bill to limit worker eligibility. But his colleagues didn’t like that, and it failed when put to a vote. Why he can’t represent his state and take a hard line against illegals entirely is no secret; he’s towing the party line.

I agree with the Senator that it’s awful when the United States sells out to China, with its awful human rights record and all. But let’s not forget, the President he defended from 1992 to 2000 sold military secrets to China and tried to sweep it under the rug. Then Senator Dorgan attempts to hint at President Bush and the Republicans being the problem. He doesn’t do it outright, though… apparently someone reminded him how this state votes when it comes to Presidents and state legislators.

It’s one thing for Senator Dorgan to write a book outlining these problems, and another for him to vote the way his book makes him sound. By the way, 92% of his campaign money comes from OUTSIDE of North Dakota. From those evil corporations AND labor unions, too. Instead of voting with North Dakotans, he votes with ultra-liberals such as Ted Kennedy 82.8% of the time; John Kerry 88.5% of the time; and Chuck Schumer 95.8% of the time.

He does try to throw a bunch of this at the feet of the Republicans…but let’s be honest: all of Washington’s finest are up to their elbows in it. Al Gore owns oil stock while he’s out there telling us little people to stop using petroleum. Ned Lamont tells us little people that Wal Mart is unfair, yet personally purchased enough of Wal Mart’s stock to pay off most of my house. Hillary Clinton has the same anti-Wal Mart rant when she’s talking to her faithful, yet she served on the Wal Mart board of directors. Washington’s broke all around, and it isn’t the Democrats who are going to fix it.