'Miracle on Hudson' co-pilot withdraws money from M&I

[Jimbo S]

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Jeff Skiles, the co-pilot in the famous "Miracle on the Hudson" landing in January 2009, has been involved in the budget protests that engulfed Madison in recent weeks.

On Tuesday, he took another big step, choosing to withdraw what he said was hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money from M&I Bank to protest the actions of bank executives there who backed Gov. Scott Walker.



Read more: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/118085079.html

[Ian David]

1. Sullenberger is a Republican. Let's see if he does it too. n/t

[The Second Stone]

2. Sullenberger lives in Danville, California

and probably banks here too.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Interestingly, Sullenberger was very active in his union, ALPA.

The funny thing about airline pilots is that many of them are simultaneously politically conservative and hard-core union supporters. I don't know how they can handle that much of a mental disconnect.

[ret5hd]

6. By not thinking of it as a "union", but rather as a "professional association". That's how.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Yeah -- but you should see how worked up they get

if management doesn't comply with the exact letter of the contract; if that happens they sound just like a hard-core blue-collar union member.

[Arugula Latte]

11. They want the union benefits AND the tax cuts.

[Veilex]

12. While I'm inclined to agree...

Remember that the Conservatives of yesteryear (and republicans for that matter) are nothing like the extremists that are called conservatives and republicans today.
Perhaps he had a grain of sanity at one point.

[firehorse]

17. Agree... moderates from not that long ago are nothing like right wing extremists today

[jacquelope]

19. I used to be a Republican.

I still remember the way "we" used to celebrate Lech Walesa and the Unions and their war on Communism.

Nowadays? I doubt these neo-cons even know who Lech Walesa was. The confused b@stards would be calling him a "communist libt@rd" or whatever. Idiot Republicans. Dumbest days of my life.

[No Elephants]

27. Yes, but "war on Communism" is key. Republicans never were pro U.S unions.

At least not since J.D. Rockefeller's heyday. Don't know about before that.

But hot and cold wars, enemies of Russia? Sure Republicans are in favor of all those (with deferments and U.S. Air National Guard for them and theirs, of course). U.S. unions and U.S. workers, not so much.

[jacquelope]

31. Point taken. Machiavelli rules the GOP.

They also supported Osama Bin Ladin. The enemy of their enemy, and all that.

[No Elephants]

23. Self delete Dupe.

[No Elephants]

24. One thing's sure: Rethugs have been worse than Dems for at

least 81 years.

And I do believe all the nostalgia for folk like Goldwater, Eisenhower and Nixon is misplaced. Besides, Sully ain't all that old.

[No Elephants]

25. Pilot's union does very well for members.

[av8rdave]

26. Easy...we're not all hard core conservatives

Those that are somehow see our situation as being "different.". I always point out that the corporate elite don't care what it takes to get this job or what's required to keep it, or even the responsibility involved. They can't accept that we are actually union labor.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. Oh, heck, I know that.

I work with you guys, and I know that there are many pilots who tend towards the liberal. I'm just always flummoxed when some fire-breathing ALPA supporter turns out to be a little to the right of Darth Vader where politics in general are concerned. And there are a lot of those, too.

[av8rdave]

32. There are indeed a lot of them

I seem to fly with every one of 'em.

For the most part, their "politics" are Hannity/Beck talking pointsnthat they've repeated so much that they truly believe them. They make no attempt to reconcile this with their union membership.

[marasinghe]

35. perhaps part of it is - many of you guys come out of the armed forces, into commercial flying.

many guys find it difficult to divorce themselves from the ongoing brainwashing that's SOP for paramilitary groups.

[marasinghe]

37. anyway, here's to Jeff Skiles - a hero with brains. (n/t)

[av8rdave]

38. I came from the military

At least in my day, there wasn't political brainwashing going on. Also, I fly with a lot of civilian only backgrounds...the political breakout is about the same among them based on what I see.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

39. My favorite comment, from a very liberal pilot, re: unions vs. management:

"You may be the captain, but you're not the boss."

[October]

42. All pilots should read "Flying the Line" (Not much has changed...)

Great history of the formation of ALPA

[underpants]

33. You need to watch his testimony in Congress

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kePiiZ8_YA

[October]

41. +1 /nt

!!!!!!!!!

[eleny]

3. I heard that the bank had to close early since so many were taking their money out

[FBaggins]

9. That turned out to be wrong.

That could have been a compliance issue for them, so I spent a bit of time looking into it.

But they were shut down by the protestors. It was such a large crowd that police asked the bank to close for safety reasons.

Similar effect, but not regulatory issues.

[eleny]

30. Thanks for the clarity - it's best to know exactly what happened

:hi:

[valerief]

5. Bravo, Jeff! nt

[studmoose]

7. Right On!

[madmax]

10. Thank you, Sir

More like him need to do the same thing to bring attention to the importance of what happened in WI.

Name recognition is a definate plus to any cause, if they've done something good or brave.

[NEOhiodemocrat]

13. Thank you Mr. Skiles

[Kingofalldems]

14. K and R all Pro Union threads

[Dookiestix]

15. Let us sincerely hope...

...that this is a sign of things to come. One of the few powers the American people have left are their pocketbooks. It's obvious at this point that their votes don't mean jack.

[Shining Jack]

16. Hit them where it hurts!

[myrna minx]

18. Excellent. K&R n/t

[SoapBox]

20. Bravo Mr. Skiles!

[Gman]

21. You don't have to be progressive/liberal to belong to a union, in fact...

Overall, union membership pretty much mirrors the general public and local communities. Depending on the industry, there are some pretty hard core conservatives that are union members. I've know many. They usually make the very biggest bucks. But when it comes contract time, they are also the most aggressive union members in supporting the union.

[No Elephants]

29. That's very true today. Once, though, labor was Dem, bosses were Rethug, almost

to a man and woman. After The Sixties culture wars, the Civil Rights Act and Roe v. Wade, things began shifting massively politically. JMO

[Gman]

36. Which is why labor has never and will never take positions on

abortion, guns, and all the other wedge issues. They only take positions on things that directly affect pay, benefits and working conditions.

[louslobbs]

22. Good, solidarity in action.Last month, we took a large portfolio of paper out of the hands of

wall street, converted it to cash, and put it into a smaller local bank. The broker was stuttering as I demanded it be done asap, was asking me why, and telling me to rethink my decision lol. I told him that I don't keep my investments with companies who support Democrats, and he assured me that they, are on the side of the Republicons. I then said "great, I want my money moved today", you see I'm an independent and I don't want my money in the hands of people who are bent on destroying a whole class of people while enriching themselves and forcing through Draconian laws. He stuttered some more, I thanked him for his assistance, and the transaction was verified later that day. If we all did this, on a large scale, things would start to transform for the better, very quickly. I'm glad I made my decision and I won't look back. Also, I got out before all of this instability in the market lol.

Lou

[AllyCat]

34. A double hero!

[Iwillnevergiveup]

40. Well, good on Mr. Skiles

But I keep wondering why people are not dumping their (especially) BofA accounts in droves. And the other swellfare bailouts that are back to business as usual.

Credit unions are the bomb.

[joanbarnes]

43. Use a credit UNION

Why do people have any money in a bank anyway? I have never used one.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

44. Credit unions aren't labor unions - totally different, unrelated concept.

However, I totally agree that they are much better than banks.