Corruption

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Liberals - State Government - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions Railroading Florida’s Rail Project

December 4, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Florida is right now at the vanguard of a new railroad project that could bring good news to those that care about solving bloated state budgets, common sense employment laws, and cutting the corruption that comes with unions by pushing for a non-union workforce with its proposed intrastate rail system. And the unions are incensed, naturally.

The new commuter deal would see the state buying 61.5 miles of CSX track, which would effectively sever that link from interstate commerce. Federal regulations require rail systems that cross state boundaries to employ union workers (and that is a law that should be overturned, too) but this new system would be entirely contained within the state of Florida. Since it is a intrastate project, this absolves Florida from being forced to employ a union workforce.

Additionally, the state is claiming that this is not a “railroad” project, but just another common transportation project and since the state of Florida is not forced to employ union workers on all transportation projects, it sees no reason to make an exception for the new commuter-rail line.
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Unions Railroading Florida’s Rail Project”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Jobs - Liberals - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Job Summit: Another Manufacturer Opts Out of U.S.A.

December 3, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

With President Obama carrying on his “jobs summit” this week blaming business for “not hiring enough workers,” it is interesting to see the reaction of at least one major U.S. business to the Obama administration’s actions during this economic downturn.

On November 11, David N. Farr, Chairman, CEO and President of Emerson Electric Co., announced at the Baird 2009 Industrial Conference in Chicago that President Obama has succeeded in chasing his multi-billion dollar industry right out of the U.S.A. Why? Onerous regulation, high taxes, and the over $1 trillion Obama debt should be reason enough for any business to consider shutting down U.S. facilities and seeking greener pastures overseas says Farr.

The federal government is “doing everything in [its] manpower [and] capability to destroy U.S. manufacturing,” says David Farr, chairman and CEO of Emerson Electric Co., in a presentation at the Baird 2009 Industrial Conference in Chicago Ill., on Nov. 11. In comments reported by Bloomberg, Farr added that companies will continue adding jobs in China and India because they are “places where people want the products and where the governments welcome you to actually do something. I am not going to hire anybody in the United States. I’m moving. They are doing everything possible to destroy jobs.”

During his slide show on the state of Emerson’s business, Farr noted that the “unprecedented job loss experienced in this recession will result in a much slower U.S. recovery” and the federal government is making matters worse. The slide reports that the job loss this time is by many magnitudes worse than previous recessions. Noted are job losses from several recessions: 1980 with 1 million jobs lost; 1982 with 2.8 million; 1990 with 1.5 million; 2001 with 2.7 million. Finally Farr notes that we’ve seen a whopping 7.3 million lost thus far (and climbing) in this 2008-2009-2010 recession.
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Obama Job Summit: Another Manufacturer Opts Out of U.S.A.”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Free Trade - Freedom - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - Senate - Socialism - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Unions a Danger to Good Government

December 1, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

What happens when a private sector union gets far too many benefits to the point where the business for which its membership works goes under or whose existence is threatened? Punishment. Unions either take a reduction of benefits or pay — or both — and cuts in time or jobs in order to right the ship and keep the business afloat occur. Just like punishment comes to businesses that make bad business decisions, private employee unions also realize punishment for overreach. At the risk of losing the whole enterprise both for unions and owners, the market serves to correct excess.

Unfortunately, there is no such corrective for union overreach for government employees. These unions rarely face any punishment for excess. And therein lies the reason that unions are antithetical to good government.

Of course, we’ve discussed this theme many times here at the blog over the past few years. But to buttress the discussion I’d like to relate some statistics. The Heritage Foundation’s James Sherk recently took a look at the most current reports from labor and found that 12.4% of the American work force is made up of union members. But he notes that, while union membership has fallen to 7.3% of private sector jobs, it has risen to a never before seen 37.6% unionization of government employees — and this number is growing. Government workers now make up 51% of all unionized workers in the USA.
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Unions a Danger to Good Government”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Liberals - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Obama: King of All Statists

November 30, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Almost 40% of William Howard Taft’s cabinet officials were from the private sector. Ike had nearly 60% of his appointees sporting private sector experience. Reagan had about 55% and George W. Bush about 53%. Even FDR and Truman had half their cabinet officials with private sector experience.

And Obama?

Less than 10%.

That means that only about 7% of Barack Hussein Obama’s cabinet appointees ever worked in the private sector. So is it any wonder that Barack Obama has become the president responsible for an unprecedented bloating of the federal government and a take over of power on a scale never before seen?

Nick Schulz published a great graph revealing the private sector experience of the appointees of every president since 1901. (Also heard Jerry Agar talking about this over the weekend on Chicago’s WGN)

Remembering that Barack Obama himself never held a real job his whole life the fact that he surrounds himself with government hacks, placemen, and hangerson yet is expected to be the one to fix the private sector economy and, well, we can see why he is failing so miserably. He has no life experiences to draw on and neither does anyone he’s asked to advise him.

No wonder America is on the fast track to socialism.
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Obama: King of All Statists”

Anti-Americanism - Children - Conservatives - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Elections - Founders - Liberals - Republicans - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston - Western Civilization

Why Conservatives Have Trouble Getting Elected

November 28, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

The reasons that I could never get elected to any government position is the same reason why conservatives have a tough time getting elected and, if they end up elected, can’t govern in this era of the ill-educated voter. First I’ll lay out my main principles…

Leave me alone
Stop taxing me
Shove your regulations

That’s about it. Though there are complexities and nuance contained in them, these are the main tenets of modern conservatism simply put. And therein lies the problem. How can one get elected when his basic tenets are that government should do less, stay out of our lives, and mostly go unnoticed and unseen? In essence a conservative is saying: “Elect me and I’ll do nothing for you.” It’s a tough message to sell in a day when people have lost touch with the American principles that are contained in those very tenets.
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Why Conservatives Have Trouble Getting Elected”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Campaign Finance - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Freedom - House of Representatives - Liberals - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Unions, Energy Industry Tops in Political Contributions

November 25, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

According to FollowTheMoney.org unions were some of the most generous with donations to political candidates and causes during the 2007-2008 donation cycle, the last cycle full reporting is known for. A close second place goes to the energy industry with Indian interests coming in third.

Out of the top 50 highest amounts given to political efforts unions donated $223,533,678 to political causes showing that, while unions make up less than 20 percent of the American work force, they account for some of the largest in political donations.

Unfortunately, many of those top donors are public employees unions meaning that our tax dollars are caught in a revolving door with tax money going to public employees who then turn around and donate some of that tax money right back to politicians and their campaign funds in order for those politicians to themselves turn right back around and pass laws that give public employees unions more money!
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Unions, Energy Industry Tops in Political Contributions”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Liberals - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Ohio’s Ben Konop Wants Kids to Starve so he can Give Gov’t Payoffs to Unions

November 24, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Ruinous PLAs Coming Your Way Lucas County, Ohio!

Magie Thurber is reporting that Lucas County, Ohio County Commissioner Ben Konop is trying to force unions on non-union labor in his jurisdiction. What about freedom to chose? Forget it. Konop as big brother knows better.

On Tuesday, the commissioners will discuss an agenda item ominously entitled “Incorporating Project Labor Agreements into Bidding Specifications for all County-Supported Projects.” (Download PDF) Apparently the commissioners will be pursuing PLAs in all contracts in Lucas County’s future.

What is a Project Labor Agreement or PLA? I discussed this back in February right after President Obama signed his Executive Order 13202 pushing PLAs and in October after New Hampshire faced this situation. Obama’s EO demanded that every federal construction project force a PLA on its contractors. Essentially, a PLA requires all hired contractors and their employees to pay union dues, work under union rules, and pay into union pensions (even though they will never get any benefits from them) whether they belong to a union or not. This forced unionism is to be enforced despite that up to 84 percent of all contractors in the country are not part of a union.
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Ohio’s Ben Konop Wants Kids to Starve so he can Give Gov’t Payoffs to Unions”

Barack Obama - Business - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Speech - Jobs - Liberals - President - SEIU - Socialism - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions Abusing Members to Force Them to Toe the Line

November 23, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

It’s called “pink sheeting,” a practice employed by union bosses to bully their membership to vote the “right” way. The practice consists of forcing employees to reveal deeply personal information about themselves — such as abusive relationships, addictions, or legal trouble — so that these items can be used against the employees at a later date to elicit cooperative behavior.

Union members are denouncing the practice of pink sheeting while union chiefs, particularly those of the hotel employees union UNITE HERE, are either denying that they use the method or saying that the practice has been stopped.

More than a dozen organizers said in interviews that they had often been pressured to detail such personal anguish — sometimes under the threat of dismissal from their union positions — and that their supervisors later used the information to press them to comply with their orders.

Naturally, UNITE HERE officials claim this practice doesn’t happen.
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Unions Abusing Members to Force Them to Toe the Line”

Budget - Chicago - Cook County - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Illinois - Liberals - Police - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - State Government - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Another Union Thief, This One a Cop

November 22, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Chicago, Ill. — The president of the Chicago Police Sergeants’ Association has been caught stealing over $600,000 in union funds, authorities say.

Sgt. John Pallohusky, 53, spent the stolen funds on gambling trips, lavish dinners, and online stock trading.

He spent more than $163,000 on Ameritrade and $75,000 at restaurants including Ruth’s Chris, Smith & Wollensky, Kinzie Chophouse, Petterino’s, Gibson’s and Lawry’s, the arrest warrant said.

This is just another example of the illegitimacy of unions, really. This guy has been doing this for two years. Did no one miss all that cash for two years? Were there no other union officials paying attention? And if none of this money was missed for 24 months, WHY does the union need this cash in the first place? Obviously no one needed all that money all this time if no one noticed so much was missing.
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Another Union Thief, This One a Cop”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Business - California - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Health - Liberals - President - SEIU - Society/Culture - State Government - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

SEIU Fixing the Vote in Fresno, Too

November 21, 2009 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

A few weeks ago we reported on how the Services Employees International Union was attempting to fix the vote in Sonoma County, California so that Sonoma’s in-home healthcare workers would end up with SEIU representation instead of NUHW representation.

Well, Sonoma wasn’t an isolated case. The SEIU used the same vote fixing tactics in Fresno County.

Andy Stern’s SEIU is playing hardball, using techniques that harken back to the mob-infested old days in order to win the game of representation. And THIS is the guy that President Obama is taking close counsel from? A goon. A thug. A mob-like hitman.

Its the Chicago Way, alright. From Chicago to Fresno and Sonoma Counties all the way to the White House. This president and his cronies are instituting mob action everywhere they go.
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SEIU Fixing the Vote in Fresno, Too”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - George W. Bush - History - Humor - Liberals - President - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

BushdiditBushdiditBushdidit

November 21, 2009 by

On Friday, Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner blamed the Bush Administration for the country’s woes…. again.

Oh, you can’t blame Tim “I Don’t Pay taxes” Geithner for this reflexive fall-back position of blaming all his failures on Bush. After all, this narrative comes from the top. It’s an Obama mainstay, of course. But contrary to those who say Obama is ignorant of history, I’d say he has learned from history’s blamers and obfuscators…

Anti-Americanism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Liberals - SEIU - Society/Culture - State Government - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Union Thug Attacks Young Boy Scout

November 17, 2009 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

**UPDATE** 11/20/09

17-year-old Kevin Anderson wanted to add another Eagle Scout badge to his well-earned collection and so spent some 200 hours over several weeks to clear a walking path along the river in east Allentown park in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Little did young Mr. Anderson know it but he was about to prove once again that unions have a pernicious influence on governments everywhere. After Kevin’s good deed the city’s public employees union went gunning for the poor kid with threats and gyrations meant to shake down the city and scare off any citizen that might dare to imagine that they could perform any act of charity or community service for their fellows without the union getting its piece of the action.

In his best Sopranos impression, the thug president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Nicky Balzano began to issue his threats.

“We’ll be looking into the Cub Scout or Boy Scout who did the trails,” Balzano ominously warned the City Council.
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Union Thug Attacks Young Boy Scout”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Chicago - Congress - Cook County - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - House of Representatives - Illinois - Islam - Islamofascism - Liberals - President - Religion - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Terrorism - Warner Todd Huston

Illinois’ Gov And Senator Think Terrorists Bring ‘Good-Paying Jobs’

November 16, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once again we see how clueless Democrats like Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Senator Dick Durbin are on matters of national security. With Barack Hussein Obama’s decision to treat the terrorists at Guantanamo Bay as if they are common American criminals, as the president bestows all American rights upon them, and with his decision to spread these monsters out across the U.S.A, we see Quinn and Durbin idiotically asserting that terrorists equal “good paying jobs.”

These jobs might come from the sale to the federal government of the Thomson correctional facility in west central Illinois where Obama could send some 100 detainees in preparation of closing down the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba facilities. Obama is struggling to figure out what to do with these detainees after his hastily made, ill-informed decision last January to close down the terrorist detainment facility.

After the idea was announced both Quinn and Durbin found themselves all excited to welcome these monsters into their state and both imagined that the occasion means that Illinois gets jobs. Durbin is quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying that this is a dramatic opportunity.
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Illinois’ Gov And Senator Think Terrorists Bring ‘Good-Paying Jobs’”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Liberals - Republicans - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Obama to Fire All Civil Servants, Replacing Them With Obama Loyalists

November 13, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In the Washington Examiner Mark Tapscott is decrying the Obama Administration’s bold new directive to rid government of anyone that was hired during the Bush years so that Obama can replace them with his loyal operatives.Tapscott is saying that this violates the spirit of civil service and brings back the spoils system instituting a “partisan political factor” to civil service jobs.

Well I say it’s about time. Unlike Tapscott, I say bring back the spoils system and do away with the professional civil servant. Let Obama fire every Bush appointee and put in his place political hacks, buddies, and friends. And then let the next president do the same… and so on, and so on.

First let’s explain what happened. As Tapscott reports:
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Obama to Fire All Civil Servants, Replacing Them With Obama Loyalists”

Anti-Americanism - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Jobs - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Reason TV Takes on the FedEx/UPS Fight

November 12, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The best one-liner? “It tells us who the real villain is here… a federal government that is big enough and powerful enough that it can absolutely, positively guarantee that it can crush any business over night.”

Of course, we talked about this FedEx/UPS argument last June.

Anti-Americanism - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Jobs - Liberals - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Women Becoming Majority of Union Workers

November 12, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Associated Press had an interesting article reporting that women are fast becoming the majority of union members and will be the majority in 10 years if current trends continue.

As it stand now, women make up 45 percent of union members today, up from 35 percent in 1983. Apparently white men now only make up 38 percent of the union workforce, down from almost 52 percent in ’83.

The AP notes that this preponderance of women is changing the goals of union negotiators.

“When you have a majority of women in the labor movement, issues like work-family balance, paid sick days and paid parental leave become more important,” said John Schmitt, an economist at the left-leaning think tank and one of the authors of the report.

And what has caused this change? The growth of public, government unions. At this point, the AP reports, that 49 percent of all union members are now working for local, state, and federal workers in public employees unions. 61 percent of public employees are female.
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Women Becoming Majority of Union Workers”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Jobs - Liberals - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

A Victory Against Obama’s Unionism in New Hampshire

November 11, 2009 by 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a victory for free labor, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has cancelled its solicitation for bids to build a new Jobs Corps Center in the state of New Hampshire. Why is it a victory? Because initial plans to receive bids would have discriminated against non-union construction companies per President Obama’s orders. Over 80% of all construction companies are non-union.

Executive Order 13502, signed early in Obama’s term, was applied to the New Hampshire construction project and instituted what is known as a Project Labor Agreement (PLA). A PLA is a way to force all companies working on a construction project to agree to union rules, dues, pensions and payments whether they are union shops and their employees are union members or not.

In effect, a PLA turns every employee and company working on a PLA enforced project into a unionized force. Naturally, this drives up costs, lengthens deadlines, and forces employees to fork over dues money even if they don’t belong to a union.
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A Victory Against Obama’s Unionism in New Hampshire”

Anti-Americanism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Warner Todd Huston

What’s Happening in Treasury? For $522,886 They’ll Tell You

November 11, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Want to know what the Treasury Department is doing? Fork over $522,886 and they’ll tell you… maybe. At least that is what Noah Wood has found with a Treasury Dept. reply to his FOIA request.

In 1966 president Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a law that requires the federal government to provide information on its inner workings to citizens that request it. Of course, these FOIA requests aren’t free. Oh, there is no fee for the request, mind you, but there are fees for the copies and the administrative time necessary to conduct the records searches. And therein lies the rub for Noah Wood, a Missouri attorney trying to recover his fees from a Libyan-backed company whose assets were frozen by the government.

Wood is trying to sue this Libyan-backed company and has requested from the U.S. government records on the purported millions of dollars of once-frozen assets owned by the company. In pursuit of this information, Wood sent an FOIA request to Treasury and received a cordial reply asking for the aforementioned fee to comply with his request.

Oddly, Treasury reported that it only charged $527,000 for all of last year’s FOIA requests.

One can only imagine that someone at Treasury is attempting to give Mr. Wood the raised middle digit and discourage him from further requests. After all, how is it possible that the administrative costs and xeroxing of these files could cost as much as all of last year’s FOIA request fees for thousands of FOIA requests.
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What’s Happening in Treasury? For $522,886 They’ll Tell You”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Liberals - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Truth in Accounting: America’s Official Debt Will Soon Top $12 Trillion

November 10, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

This week, the official debt of the United States of America will top $12 trillion. In just one short year, The Treasury Department has borrowed more than $4,600 for each citizen. U.S. government debt has risen to an unprecedented $12 trillion. That’s up from $10.6 trillion just one year ago. Debt held by the public has grown by nearly $1.4 trillion or a whopping 13.58%. “To increase the debt at this alarming rate is just plain scary,” said Sheila Weinberg, founder and CEO of the Institute for Truth in Accounting, the Northbrook Illinois based accounting watchdog organization. What’s worse, the nation’s real debt-including Social Security and Medicare obligations– is at least $72.6 Trillion or more than $235,000 for every man, woman and child.

The absolute and relative size of the nation’s obligations are alarming.

“There is no parallel to this amount of debt in American history, even during our wars and recessions,” said Weinberg. “For example, the U.S. debt the end of World War II was $258 billion or just $2.8 trillion in today’s dollars[Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator].”
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Truth in Accounting: America’s Official Debt Will Soon Top $12 Trillion”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Business - California - Chicago - Communism - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Speech - Health - Liberals - Republicans - SEIU - Socialism - Society/Culture - State Government - Video - Warner Todd Huston

Union Violates Free Speech, the Right to Vote and Smashes Common American Democracy

November 6, 2009 by 5 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

There’s not much that union supporters and I can agree upon. But here is one incident where I can wholeheartedly support the aggrieved members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) who have found themselves victims of their own union.

The SEIU wanted to renegotiate a contract with officials of Sonoma County, California for its in-home healthcare workers supported by county funds. SEIU representatives met with and crafted a new contract with the assistance of County officials. This was all done behind closed doors without the general knowledge of or the assistance of the workers themselves.

But that isn’t the main problem here. It’s how the contract was approved that shows how little the SEIU cares for democracy, member’s rights, and the American way.
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Union Violates Free Speech, the Right to Vote and Smashes Common American Democracy”

Conservatives - Economy/Finances - Elections - GOP - Liberals - Republicans - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Right To Work Prez Calls Out Newt’s Hypocrisy

October 31, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

National Right to Work President Mark Mix is calling on Newt Gingrich to rescind his endorsement of Dede Scozzafava, the liberal candidate chosen by New York’s GOP powermen for the special election for the 23rd District Congressional seat. The reason? Scozzafava is a supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act and Newt has said he isn’t.

Liberal Republican Scozzafava has announced her support of the EFCA and its card check feature, a bill that will give unions a free hand to intimidate workers during the election period for voting on union representation. On the other hand, Newt Gingrich is in such opposition to card check that he once sponsored a petition against the EFCA.

Back in March, Gingrich created a video for American Solutions decrying card check and informing the viewers that hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost with card check. Newt strongly supported the American Solution petition drive titled Freedom Not Fear drive.
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Right To Work Prez Calls Out Newt’s Hypocrisy”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Liberals - President - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

It’s NOT Your Tree Mr. President

October 30, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Call it the democrat in me (small “d,” people, small “d”) but every time I hear this president talk about “my house” when he is discussing the White House, I bristle. It isn’t “your house,” Mr. Obama. It is the people’s house. You have just been fortunate enough to have been selected to sleep there for a few years. The arrogance of this man claiming the White House to be “his” house is galling.

Well, now he has apparently decided that all the vegetation surrounding the White House is “his,” too. Or at least one tree is, anyway. Today near the northeast side of the White House on the North Lawn Obama disturbed the grass with a few shovels full of dirt where was planted a new tree; a 25-foot Tilden tree originally from New Jersey.

As the tree was being set, Obama talked with reporters.
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It’s NOT Your Tree Mr. President”

Business - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

A Reminder About What Teacher’s Unions Do in California

October 26, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Larry Sand gave a little talk at a local tea party in Antelope Valley, California event wherein he reminded us all of the political use of state teachers union dues and how that money supports an agenda that is essentially so anti-American.

The California Teachers Union, for instance, supported with its member’s dues money SB 1322 which was a bill that would put communists in the classroom! Arnold sensibly vetoed that bill, but the Teachers union (CTA) donated money to float this proposition.

Sand lays out a whole series of things that the CTA supports with member’s union dues all of which should set your blood to boil.

This isn’t just a California problem, though. This sort of abuse of union dues goes on in the teachers unions of every state.

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Liberals - President - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Why Does Obama Hate the Poor? Part Two

October 26, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

On August 13 I posted a piece wherein I facetiously asked “Why does Obama hate the poor?” Then I pointed out that the cash for clunkers program was likely to cause the price of used cars to skyrocket in the near future. I also asserted that the reason this will be so is because Obama’s clunkers program was set to destroy hundreds of thousands of otherwise perfectly functional cars all of which would have ended up on the used car market were it not for Obama’s interventionism.

It really is the most simple principle of supply and demand, so simple a ten-year-old could follow it — not that any Democrat is smarter than a fifth grader.

Here is what I wrote in August:

There’s little doubt of what will happen later in the year as cash for clunkers expands. Many thousands of lower end, used cars will be entirely eliminated from the market place as the government destroys them after they’ve been redeemed via that cash for clunkers program.

These will be the many thousands of cars that will not be available for people that have less than $10,000 with which to buy a car because so many perfectly good cars that would have ended up on the used market will have been destroyed by the government. Because all these cars have been artificially removed from the used car market — and all at once at that — there will be thousands fewer cars left for sale. Worse, the ones that are left will rise in price as there will be far more customers for them than units for sale.

This means that many millions of people that make less than $50,000 a year will now not be able to afford to buy a car at all.

I noted that Obama was condemning lower middle class folks to going without a car. He is also dooming many used car dealers, mostly small businesses, to failure because they won’t be able to get stock to sell not to mention for for being priced out of the market.
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Why Does Obama Hate the Poor? Part Two”

Anti-Americanism - Democrats/Leftists - Freedom - Gay Marriage - Liberals - Marriage - Morals/Sex - Rights - Socialism - Society/Culture - UN - Warner Todd Huston

UN Says Gender ‘Not Fixed,’ Is ‘Changeable’

October 21, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

UN “Special Rapporteur” Martin Scheinin recently filed a report with the UN titled “Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms While Countering Terrorism” in which he states that human gender is not a fixed thing but a mere “social construct” that is “changeable over time.”

In this paper Scheinin, the “Special Rapporteur” — I do get a kick out of the pretentiousness of that grandiose title — and the UN leadership (a word I use advisedly) wants terribly to deny both genetics and simple reality. Page eight of this report asserts that a man is not necessarily a man and a women… well, maybe she’s something else entirely… but what ever they are their gender is but a temporary designation determined at the whim of society.

Catch this PC garbage:
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UN Says Gender ‘Not Fixed,’ Is ‘Changeable’”

Anti-Americanism - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Free Speech - Liberals - Rights - Socialism - Society/Culture - The Law - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Union Threatens Blog Against Using Union’s Name

October 21, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In an interesting take on what is or isn’t legal, a union is threatening a critical blog for using the union’s name in its blog title. The American Federation of Teachers had its lawyers send a cease and desist letter to the operators of a blog called AFTexposed.com.

Now right off the top, this is an idiotic attempt to use legal threats on a blog. Imagine if this proscription became a legal precedent! Imagine a movie reviewer not being able to use a movie title in an article critical of the movie. Imagine a TV news station not being able to use the name of an organization it is investigating. Obviously this is more union thuggery on display, attempting to use the threat of law to stop people from criticizing them.
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Union Threatens Blog Against Using Union’s Name”

ACORN - Anti-Americanism - Business - Chicago - Communism - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - Freedom - Health - Jobs - Liberals - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Union Plans Voted Down by Home Healthcare Workers

October 20, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

If CBS News has it right, the majority of in-home healthcare workers in Illinois voted not to join a union despite the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Governor Quinn’s best efforts to force the issue.

Earlier in the year, Governor Quinn signed Executive Order 09-15 that gave away the private information of every in-home healthcare worker in the state to several unions so that they might begin a campaign to cajole these workers into joining a union by calling them on the phone and visiting them at their homes.

In-home healthcare workers receive a stipend from the state in order to help them care for developmentally disabled or medically at risk family members.
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Union Plans Voted Down by Home Healthcare Workers”

Budget - Business - Chicago - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Illinois - Liberals - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Union Fees Might Cause Another Trade Show to Exit Chicago

October 19, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

One of Chicago’s top five trade shows may be leaving the gigantic McCormick Place Convention Center and taking up business with Orlando, Florida. Why? Because the extremely high costs forced on Chicago by the various unions that have a hammer lock on the service side of the trade show business are driving trade shows to other states.

Crain’s Business reports that the Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. is considering the move to sunny Florida as a cost cutting measure. The show has been held in Chicago since 1971 but organizers are considering the move because of a “need to maximize the return on investment for both exhibitors and attendees.”

That means that setting up a trade show in Chicago is not worth the expense. And that expense means union fees.
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Union Fees Might Cause Another Trade Show to Exit Chicago”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - California - Democrats/Leftists - Judges - Liberals - President - Race - Senate - Society/Culture - State Government - Supreme Court - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s Newest Racemongering Judge: California’s Edward Chen

October 16, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

President Obama has gone out of his way to “diversify” the federal bench with his spate of nominations of various minorities chief of which was his successful seating of the “wise Latina,’ Sonia Sotomayor, on the Supreme Court. Obama’s nominees* for 10 district court openings include four African-Americans, three Asian-Americans, one Latino and four women. One of those nominees, San Francisco U.S. Magistrate Judge Edward Chen, received a favorable vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington today.

So what sort of judge is Edward Chen? Well, for one, the left-wing American Bar Association rated Chen a “well qualified” nominee and many of his associates at the ACLU speak highly of him. As an ACLU lawyer, Chen was known for opposing English-only policies and for pushing discriminatory affirmative action ideals. He even came to the aid of gang members in one case. Chen was quite the ACLU activist between 1979 and 2001.

His ACLU history would suffice to make many wary of him, of course. But for a segment of America, working for the ACLU is not a disqualifier. So in order to judge Edward Chen one must look at his past. Discovering what Judge Chen thinks of the country upon which he apparently assumes to sit in judgment is a telling exercise. Sadly, it seems he has quite a low opinion of the nation that he will be serving.
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Obama’s Newest Racemongering Judge: California’s Edward Chen”