State Government

00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Liberals - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - State Government - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions Gain Heavy Among Government Workers

February 1, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

As we reported a few days ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported its newest stats on union membership for 2008. These stats show that union membership has increased for the second straight year. But where it has increased is of key importance.

The report shows a gain of 428,000 members, the largest in the last 25 years and since such statistics have been gathered. Alarmingly, a rising number of union workers are employed by government.

The union membership rate for public sector workers (36.8 percent) was substantially higher than the rate for private industry workers (7.6 percent). Within the public sector, local government workers had the highest union membership rate, 42.2 percent. This group includes many workers in several heavily unionized occupations, such as teachers, police officers, and fire fighters. Private sector industries with high unionization rates include transportation and utilities (22.2 per-cent), telecommunications (19.3 percent), and construction (15.6 per-cent). In 2008, unionization rates were relatively low in financial activities (1.8 percent) and professional and business services (2.1 percent).

This was a rise from numbers seen in 2007 and previous, as well. State and local government worker unions are steadily on the rise and therein lies the danger to good government. The singular problem with unions and government is that unions do not make for good government.

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00Publius Contributor - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - History - Liberals - News - Patriotism - President - Society/Culture - State Government - Warner Todd Huston

Arkansas Dems Say USA ‘Founded By Slaveowners’ — Were ALL Founders ‘Slaveowners’?

January 31, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

To answer the headline: NO.

According to the historically illiterate Democrats in the Arkansas legislature, the USA was “founded by slaveowners,” and so they said in a resolution celebrating the election of Barack Obama. Not surprisingly, a few Arkansas Republicans objected to this stilted and historically misleading language and voted against the thing and those few Republicans deserve a pat on the back.

The resolution congratulating President Obama was killed in the Arkansas House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs this week when Republicans raised objections over the language in the document that claimed the United States as a nation was “founded by slaveowners” as if every founder was a slave owner or slave owning was a chief reason for creating the nation.

Opposition led by Rep. Dan Greenburg, R-Little Rock, and Rep. Ed Garner, R-Maumelle, centered around language in the resolution that described the United States as a nation founded by slaveowners. Greenburg and Garner wanted the language stricken or amended, noting that not every founding father was a slaveowner.

Apparently, Democrats in Arkansas are unaware that a large number of the Founding Fathers not only didn’t own slaves, but abhorred what would come to be known as the peculiar institution. Famous Founders such as John and Sam Adams, Ben Franklin and Thomas Paine were very much anti-slavery. Paine, for instance, was a founding member of one of the first anti-slavery societies in the country, founded in 1775 in Philadelphia.

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Jobs - Liberals - Media Bias - News - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - State Government - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Union Hires Off-Duty Cops as Street Thugs?

January 25, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has been in a struggle with its sister union, the United Healthcare Workers (UHW), for quite some time over the eventual disbanding of the UHW and its absorption into the larger SEIU based in Washington D.C. Needless to say, the local folks of the UHW in California are not pleased to lose their local control of their own union affairs to the far off Washington offices of the SEIU.

The clash has been growing increasingly heated with UHW officials speaking out in dismay at the combined unions yearly convention in Puerto Rico last year after which both sides began to file lawsuits against each other for various offenses real and imagined. It’s a real donnybrook and this week the situation took one more step toward vitriol and turmoil.

Now it seems as if the SEIU has hired off-duty policemen to hang around outside the UHW’s Oakland offices photographing members coming and going and engaging in harassing comments and behavior.

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00Publius Contributor - Budget - Business - Communism - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Jobs - Media Bias - News - Socialism - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

L.A. Goes Enviro-MENTAL With Insider Dealings, Waste In Solar Plan

January 19, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Los Angeles, California has a new initiative underway called “Measure B” that would basically award a monopolistic, no-bids contract to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union (IBEW), the union that would be given the task to install the things in the city. Campaigners for the initiative have so far raised $267,000 with two-thirds of that coming from the very unions that would benefit from the unfair set asides that would exclude outside companies from being able to bid on the installation.

It’s a bit convenient that the group that would benefit most is almost fully funding the drive to get this measure passed, isn’t it? Especially given the fact that solar cell technology is still far too expensive to install and maintain to be cost effective. A recent study claimed that, for home use, it would take a homeowner 100 years to recoup the costs of installing solar cells. Now, pile on top of that basic fact the many millions that will be wasted by giving the installation job to a union, and pile on top of that the other corruption taxes that a big city adds to any project, and we can easily realize that this is nothing but a giant boondoggle to the tax payer and, of course, another undeserved but giant boon to the unions.

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - GOP - News - Society/Culture - State Government - Warner Todd Huston

Republican John Millner: The Only Ill. State Sen. Voting Against Gutting Ethics Bill

January 18, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Meet Illinois State Senator John Millner (R-Carol Stream). He is the only Senator that voted “no” against a startling weakening of an Illinois ethics reform bill on January 14. In the worst ethics mess in Illinois history, when the eyes of the nation are on Illinois, not even one other Senator joined Senator Millner in voting against this cynical weakening of the state’s new “pay-to-play” ban — not even another Republican.

Supposedly, the “pay-to-play” ban was watered down in a 56-1 vote to exclude road building companies because federal transportation officials told the legislature that the ban as worded could put federal funds for transportation projects in jeopardy. One has to wonder why this was never realized all the way back last September when the bill was first introduced?

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00Publius Contributor - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Ill. School Board Member Creates New, Tax Funded Job Then Takes It Himself

January 18, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In these tough financial times it is no surprise that school districts all across the country are crying poor and some of them probably even are. Corners are being cut, positions go unfilled by new applicants, budgets are cut; it is an everyday occurrence these days. Justified or not, the same is no less true in Big Hollow School District 38 in Lake County, Illinois (North of Chicago).

Lennie Jarratt of the Education Matters blog has an interesting story of probable influence peddling by the Big Hollow School Board. Like school districts everywhere, for months the school board has turned down hiring a school nurse and has resisted filling other empty positions citing budget concerns. But that didn’t stop the School Board from inventing a whole new position, essentially in secret, and then picking one of its own members to take that position at an undisclosed salary.

So, a school nurse isn’t necessary but a new position for one of their pals on the school board is indispensable? This seems a bit hard to swallow.

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - History - Media Bias - Race - Religion - State Government

King’s Papers Prove He Was Not a Scholar or a Christian!

January 16, 2009 by

-By Don Boys, Ph.D.

A person is not a Christian because he professes to be or because he belongs to a “Christian” Church or because he was baptized. One becomes a Christian when he or she repents, believes in the death and resurrection of Christ. King, according to his own words was not a believer!

We can know much about a person if we study what he has written, and I have spend days reading King. His seminary papers are very revealing as to what he believed and what his motives were. The following papers by King are courtesy of the King family and prove that he was not only not a Christian but far from being a scholar!
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00Publius Contributor - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - News - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Georgia Legislator Wants ACORN’s Tax Exempt Status Revoked

January 15, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

NBC Augusta is reporting that State Senator Jeff Mullis (R- Chickamauga) is sponsoring legislation to revoke the tax exempt status of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) because of the wide spread voter fraud that the group has been perpetrating over the last few years.

“An organization that chooses to undermine the integrity of our nation’s election process should not be entitled to tax exemption benefits,” said Sen. Mullis. “The excessive amount of evidence against ACORN engaging in fraudulent activity demands that the organization to be held accountable for taking advantage of hardworking taxpayers, and I call on the IRS to ensure that justice is executed in this case.”

Well said. These criminals should not be favored by government with OUR tax dollars either in direct payments (which it woefully receives) nor in tax breaks (which it also gets).

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00Publius Contributor - Budget - Conservatives - Economy/Finances - GOP - News - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Illinois County Auditor Launches Promising Transparency in Gov’t Effort

January 14, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

OK, we all know how corrupt and venal the various governments in Illinois are, right? Well, let’s talk about some good news in the Land of Lincoln for a change.

Republican Bob Grogan, County Auditor of DuPage County, Illinois (The populous county just to the west of Chicago’s Cook County), has launched an impressive transparency in government effort on the county website. Grogan had pledged recently to “provide the citizens and taxpayers of DuPage County with timely and pertinent information regarding the operations of DuPage County Government” and it looks like he is making good on his promise.

Only one month after starting his new, elected position, Grogan has launched a section of the website where county expenditure reports can be viewed by anyone. The reports are broken down in several ways; by department, vendor or individual project. Each report has a search feature and Grogan’s office will be updating the reports monthly.

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