Corruption

00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Business - Communism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Liberals - News - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

What do Obama and Unions Have in Common? Communists!

January 31, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Michael Richardson of the on-line news group the Examiner wrote recently about some revealing quotes about the modern American Communist Party by a Richard Winger of Ballot Access News.

Speaking about how the Communist Party in the US has for the most part ceased trying to run candidates for office, Winger points out that the CPUSA fully endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008 and has decided it best to focus on Democratic Party politics and union activities.

Communist Party members participate in politics and electoral life mostly by participation in unions, and inside the Democratic Party. The Communist Party’s weekly newspaper supports Democratic presidential nominees…

This says a lot, not about where the CPUSA has gone, but where Democrats and Unions have. If CPUSA members have gravitated toward unions and the Democratic Party, this means that those nominally American groups have drifted far enough to the extreme left for even communists to agree to join their efforts.

This is singularly bad news for America. This should also be kept very close in mind when considering if we should work with Obama and the Democrats or not.

Continue reading “What do Obama and Unions Have in Common? Communists!”

00Publius Contributor - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Liberals - News - President - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Appoints Collectivist to Chair NLRB

January 29, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The National Labor Relations Board (nlrb.gov) is a federal agency created to monitor and administer federal laws that govern the relationship between labor unions and business owners and corporations and to this board, Barack Obama has appointed as its chair a woman that does not seem to believe much in individual freedom but seems more interested in collectivism. To you and me that might be considered a communist ideal, but even if she doesn’t take it that far it is certainly an adversarial idea to individual freedom and the rights of business.

Last week, Obama named to the NLRB Wilma Liebman, a Philadelphian that has served on the legal staff of two labor unions: the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (1980-1989) and the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsmen (1990-1993).

Continue reading “Obama Appoints Collectivist to Chair NLRB”

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.

Continue reading “Union Hires Off-Duty Cops as Street Thugs?”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Economy/Finances - Google - Inernet - Media Bias - News - Scott Cleland - Society/Culture - Taxes - Technology

Why net neutrality regulation would undercut Universal Broadband progress

January 23, 2009 by

-By Scott Cleland

The start of robust broadband deployment in the U.S. was delayed for several years in the late 1990’s because of regulatory uncertainty over whether broadband investment could earn a competitive return.

Today’s release of the proposed economic stimulus package is extremely relevant to the question of investment in Universal Broadband; it says: “For every dollar invested in broadband, the economy sees a ten-fold return on that investment.”

Recent guidance from the Obama transition team spearheading the Universal Broadband effort is also encouraging. At the State of the Net Conference, Blair Levin said: “You don’t want to do anything that makes a competitive market more difficult.”
Continue reading “Why net neutrality regulation would undercut Universal Broadband progress”

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.

Continue reading “L.A. Goes Enviro-MENTAL With Insider Dealings, Waste In Solar Plan”

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.

Continue reading “Ill. School Board Member Creates New, Tax Funded Job Then Takes It Himself”

00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Humor - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Biden Leaves The Senate With A WHOPPER On His Lips

January 17, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The gregarious and gracious Jake Tapper of ABC posted an amusing story of the rambling and rather pointless farewell speech Thursday that Joe “the mouf” Biden left on the Senate floor (you make the joke here). Tapper headlined his piece “Biden Yields the Floor (Literally).” The “literally” was just Tapper’s little jab because apparently Biden used the word nine times during his loquacious 5,659 word address to his Senate colleagues.

From Biden’s speech, Tapper relates one of Joe’s little … shall we say, “stories”? I say “stories” as in those same sort of unbelievable tall tales that your favorite uncle would always blurt out at family gatherings. You know, like the one where that wacky uncle claimed he was there when Tojo surrendered in Japan, or he was they guy that first taught Michael Jackson how to moon-walk, or he was really the guy that invented the Internet? Yeah, that kind of crazy uncle.

ANYhoo (to steal a Tapperism), Joe gave us all the following “story” for posterity:

Continue reading “Biden Leaves The Senate With A WHOPPER On His Lips”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Conservatives - Economy/Finances - Elections - GOP - Media Bias - News - Republicans - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

‘Crunchy Cons’ Rod Dreher Thinks Republicans Will Lead Populist, Anti-Business Revolt?

January 15, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Rod Dreher, author of the “crunchy cons” definition of that certain sort of “Birkenstock wearing, environmental, gun-loving” Republican has weighed in on the economic crisis the US faces and is attempting to further expand his factional theory of the conservative side of the political aisle. This time Dreher is claiming that the next anti-corportate, anti-Wall Street populist revolt will be led by his “crunchy con” faction of the center-right electorate, but I think he misses the mark with this one.

Linking the current economic crisis to past religious revivals that have periodically swept the country, what he calls a “creedal passion period,” Dreher thinks he sees where this will all soon be heading, at least as far as center-right voters are concerned.

Continue reading “‘Crunchy Cons’ Rod Dreher Thinks Republicans Will Lead Populist, Anti-Business Revolt?”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Media Bias - News - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions Decide THEY Should Say Who Gets Taxed

January 14, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In the military it’s called “mission creep.” That is when you start out doing one thing and end up doing something that has nothing at all to do with what your main function is supposed to be. Unions in New Mexico have just shown mission creep, once again, because, for some reason, labor leaders in that state imagine it is their duty to tell government what sort of taxes should be invented for the citizens of Santa Fe.

These so-called labor leaders have decided to urge government to institute a “transfer tax” on houses that they deem “too big” to be allowed to be sold without confiscatory taxes imposed upon them.

Continue reading “Unions Decide THEY Should Say Who Gets Taxed”

00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Business - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - News - Socialism - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Disgruntled ACORN Employees — Loose Nuts Strike back at the Tree

January 12, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last year a scandal rocked ACORN when it was revealed that the brother of the founder of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), Dale Rathke, was caught by the ACORN board embezzling one million dollars in the organization’s operations cash. For eight years founder Wade Rathke hid the theft from public consumption as well as from his fellow ACORN board members and tried to arrange a pal of his to “pay back” the money to cover up his brother’s theft. (see here, here, and here)

Now, several ousted members of the ACORN board are seeking a federal criminal investigation into their ouster and Dale Rathke’s theft. The self-dubbed ACORN 8, led by Marcel Reid and Karen Inman, were removed from the ACORN board last year after they failed to convince others to join their efforts to instigate a federal probe of the embezzlement.

Continue reading “Disgruntled ACORN Employees — Loose Nuts Strike back at the Tree”

00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Jobs - Media Bias - News - Socialism - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions Ready to Pounce on 111th Congress

January 11, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Unions gave many millions of dollars to elect Democrats and Barack Obama last November. Now they want payback. And, at least according to The New York Times, it is to begin with a bang.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D,CA) is planning an early push of two pay “discrimination” bills ASAP.

Last year, President George W. Bush threatened to veto both the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would overturn a 2007 Supreme Court decision making it more difficult to sue over past pay discrimination, and the Paycheck Fairness Act, which closes loopholes allowing employers to get around the 1963 law requiring equal pay for equal work.

As in all things Democratic Party, the Ledbatter Act was based on the lie that this Ledbetter woman was discriminated against. Ledbetter had every opportunity under the law for redress by waited too long to take her former employer to court, exceeding her 180 day complaint period. But, who needs rules, eh?

Continue reading “Unions Ready to Pounce on 111th Congress”

00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Jobs - News - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

New Labor Sec Claims SHE Can ‘Create’ Jobs?

January 11, 2009 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Hill is reporting that Obama’s newly minted Labor Secretary was “pressed” on the job losses recently reported by the federal government. Oddly enough, Rep. Hilda Solis (D, CA) imagines she is somehow imbued with the ability to create jobs.

Lawmakers quizzed Solis as to how she could best reverse the jobs decline for a number of sectors in the economy, from healthcare workers to those afflicted with disabilities. One solution the California congresswoman recommended was focusing on creating new “green-collar” jobs. That could include retrofitting government buildings to meet energy-efficiency standards and installing solar panels, among other tasks that would develop America’s alternative energy production.

So, when, exactly, did it become the job of the Sec. of Labor to “create” jobs? What magical powder was she given to sprinkle upon the earth for these jobs to rise forth like a spring daffodil?

Continue reading “New Labor Sec Claims SHE Can ‘Create’ Jobs?”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Jobs - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Union Leader Becomes Speaker of Conn. House

January 10, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

It was just announced this week that representative Chris Donovan (D, Meriden, CT) is the next Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives. What makes this a strike against good government is that Donovan is a former member of the Service Employees International Union. (Donovan info and further bio)

So, we have a former union leader (and former as only having left union leadership a short time ago) now stepping into the role of Speaker of the House where his former colleagues in the unions will be lobbying him for favorable legislation and other goodies.

Continue reading “Union Leader Becomes Speaker of Conn. House”

00Publius Contributor - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

SEIU Prez DID Meet With Corrupt Ill. Governor

January 9, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

When States Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald announced the investigation of the pay-to-play scandal centered around Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich there came to light a meeting between Blago and a top officer of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). There was no indication of what the meeting was about and at fist no one knew who the SEIU representative was.

Later it came out that Blago met with Tom Balanoff, president of the Ill. chapter of the SEIU. This was blown off as of little importance ever since. However, now it has been learned that the president of the SEIU, Andy Stern himself, also met with Blago during the period of time that Blago was trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat.

Continue reading “SEIU Prez DID Meet With Corrupt Ill. Governor”

00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

ACORN Abusing the Elderly

January 8, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

As a result of more ACORN voter fraud, the AP is reporting another ACORN employee charged with fraud this time in Missouri.

Charges of Voter-Registration Fraud

A woman has been charged in federal court with submitting false information on Missouri voter-registration cards, including turning in cards from nursing home residents without their knowledge. Deidra Humphrey of East St. Louis, Ill., faces two felony counts of voter-registration fraud. U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway’s office said Humphrey, 44, worked for ACORN and the Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition from June to August of last year.

Remember, ACORN (Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now) is the extremist Marxist organization spawned by the work of Saul Alinsky and home to Barack Obama as well as union organizations everywhere.

This sort of fraud and anti-Americanism is what Obama weaned himself on.

Continue reading “ACORN Abusing the Elderly”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Jobs - News - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

UAW Floating ‘Phantom Employees’ and Avoiding Property Taxes At Luxury Golf Course?

January 5, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Some new tough questions are being asked about Black Lake Golf Club, the luxury golf course owned by the United Auto Workers union in Cheboygan County, Michigan. Along with the multi-million dollar golf resort, the UAW also funds what it calls an “education center” with the funding connected to the resort.

As the UAW cried that it needed a bailout from Congress, its ownership of this luxury resort was revealed to the chagrin of union employees everywhere. Millions of dollars of union member’s dues money have been pumped into this project over the years, but now there are questions being raised as to just where large portions of this funding is disappearing to.

Research by Laborpains.org and Zarko Research and Consulting is raising several vexing questions of the UAW’s resort golf project. Large amounts of money seems to be unaccounted for and it even seems to show that pension benefits are being paid to “shadow employees” that do not seem to exist.

Continue reading “UAW Floating ‘Phantom Employees’ and Avoiding Property Taxes At Luxury Golf Course?”

00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Jobs - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Democrats Having Trouble With Democrats Over ‘Card Check’?

January 4, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Big Labor is finding that it might have a bit less of a lock than it thought on its pet legislation, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Apparently, several southern Democrats — those that live in right to work states — as well as some moderates are signaling Senate Majority leader Harry Reid that they are not as interested in entertaining passage of the act as they were when they knew that the GOP was strong enough to filibuster it and when they had a president that stood ready to veto it.

Instead, union leaders now say they are being told card check won’t happen soon. It seems the Obama team plans to devote its opening months to important issues, like the economy, and has no intention of jumping straight into the mother of all labor brawls. It also seems Majority Leader Harry Reid, even with his new numbers, might not have what it takes to overcome a filibuster. It’s a case study in how quickly a political landscape can change, and how frequently the conventional wisdom is wrong.

Of course this little incident illustrates the insincerity of much of what goes on in the Democratic Party. These guys were happy to appear to vote on this measure when they knew that it wouldn’t pass. This way, they could go to their union thug supporters and pretend they were all for their anti-democratic idea in card check all along. But, when it comes to crunch time and they are finally in a position to vote for the law that they claimed they supported, suddenly they reveal that they were simply lying to their supporters. They really don’t support the bill because it is a jobs killer and it takes away people’s democratic rights.

Continue reading “Democrats Having Trouble With Democrats Over ‘Card Check’?”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - News - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

When did the Financial mess start?

January 3, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Bush tried to regulate and supervise Fannie and Freddie… but the Democrats scoffed at it all and blocked Bush from trying to fix the financial mess. So, whose fault is the economic mess?

Here is what Representative Barney Frank said in 2003 about Fannie and Freddie:

“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not in a crisis.”

“The more people, in my judgment, exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the treasury, which I do not see — I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially and will withstand some of the disaster scenarios. And even if there were a problem the federal government doesn’t bail them out. But the more pressure there is there, then the less I think we see in terms of affordable housing.”

Here is a video that YouTube initially pulled because it proved that the Democrats are at fault.

00Publius Contributor - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Jobs - Media Bias - News - Socialism - Society/Culture - The Law - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Missouri Moves to Make Secret Ballot Required by Law

January 3, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) will take away the secret ballot for potential union members and force them to openly declare their preferences for or against a union, causing that worker to be easily open to intimidation by union thugs. This is a law currently in the table in Congress, one that Barack Obama has pledged to push through regardless of how it eliminates one of the oldest democratic rights there is.

But, now Missouri is trying to head off the possible federal enactment of “card check” (the provision that eliminates the secret ballot) by legislating that a secret ballot is protected by state law.

Continue reading “Missouri Moves to Make Secret Ballot Required by Law”

00Publius Contributor - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Humor - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - News - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Tough Guy John ‘François’ Kerry Wants ‘Hot Pursuit’ of Pirates

December 31, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

It’s like handing a sheriff’s badge to Don Knotts. Like entering Gary Coleman in a Mr. Universe contest. Like expecting Michael Moore not to lie. In today’s laugher, the Associated Press is presenting John ‘François’ Kerry as a tough guy out to bring the law to the new Barbary pirates.

Seriously. Stop laughing.

The AP sternly informs us that, “As a young Navy swift boat commander in Vietnam, Senator John F. Kerry was no stranger to the perils of hot pursuit in combat.”

I am SURE them thar pi-rates is a shakin’ in their boots. The tough guy is after ’em!

But, just like John ‘François’ Kerry always does, there is “nuance” in his seeming braggadocio. (my bold)

Continue reading “Tough Guy John ‘François’ Kerry Wants ‘Hot Pursuit’ of Pirates”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Jobs - News - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

UAW Union Bosses Abusing Positions for Pay

December 28, 2008 by 3 Comments

– By Warner Todd Huston

TV News 4 in Detroit did an excellent expose on a few union bosses that routinely rip off the unions and the auto makers they work for with fake time cards and paid for but unworked overtime pay.

One of the bosses, Ron Seroka, a union job security officer, takes off half a day nearly everyday to go home to lounge around the house while he is on the clock. Seroka punches in at the plant at 6AM every single day and is home by 11:30 AM for some nice leisure time at home. Yet he gets a steady 10 hours pay every single day despite the fact that he is rarely at work.

Seroka’s union boss is even worse. Union chairman Jim Modzelewski buys beer on a daily basis while on the clock and clocks himself in for overtime pay hours before he even wakes up to go into the plant. TV 4 found that after he punches in, he typically leaves for a beer run mere hours later. Again, all this is on a daily basis. He is also paid overtime pay on a daily basis as he sits home drinking his daily beer. With over 2,500 hours of overtime, Modzelewski made a six-figure salary last year. TV 4 also discovered that Modzelewski even played in a bowling tournament while on the clock — as at overtime pay, too!

Continue reading “UAW Union Bosses Abusing Positions for Pay”

00Publius Contributor - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Jobs - News - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Pennsylvania’s Corrosive Strike Culture

December 27, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Wall Street Journal recently had an interesting article on the extremely high percentage of teacher’s strikes in the State of Pennsylvania. The Journal noted that Penn. teachers account for an astonishing 42% of all teacher walk outs in the nation.

This, apparently, despite the fact that Pennsylvania’s teachers are some of the highest paid in the nation.

The strikes take place despite the state’s ranking in the top 20% nationwide for teacher salaries in 2006-2007 — the most recent data available — with an average of $54,970. Those paychecks go even further when adjusted for the state’s cost of living compared to top-spending school districts in places like California.

The Journal notes that 37 states have passed various laws that limit or eliminate teacher walk outs but union bigwigs in Penn. have succeeded in burying all attempts to implement such laws in the Keystone state.

Continue reading “Pennsylvania’s Corrosive Strike Culture”

00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Jobs - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s First Gift to Unions

December 26, 2008 by

– By Warner Todd Huston

Barack Obama’s pick for Secretary of Labor is his first gift to labor unions. Hilda Solis is quite a union extremist and has already promised to push the misleadingly named employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) once she takes over her new role in the Obama administration.

A recent Wall Street Journal report reveals that Solis, a California Congressman, has been in the back pocket of unions since she first ran for Congress.

Barack Obama’s pick for Secretary of Labor — Hilda Solis — brings impeccable big labor credentials. The California Congresswoman first rode to power with labor backing against a fellow Democrat, has voted with the AFL-CIO 97% of the time, and got three-quarters of her campaign contributions from unions.

But the WS Journal rightfully worries that Solis will also try to gut the Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS). In recent years the OLMS has tightened financial disclosure rules on the unions, an effort that is responsible in just one case for catching hundreds of thousands of dollars being illicitly spent by Tyrone Freeman, the head of the California office of the Service Employee International Union.

Continue reading “Obama’s First Gift to Unions”

00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Jobs - News - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Appointment That Has Rules for Herself, Then Rules for Everyone Else

December 22, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

We have to start this posting with some questions to each of you dear readers out there. Do you like your vote to be secret? Free of coercion? Known only to you? Well, so does Obama’s new appointment for Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis (D-El Monte, CA). She agrees with you and every other democracy-loving citizen that when it comes to her ballot, she wants it to be a secret one. She’s 100% for her own votes remaining secret from prying eyes.

Unfortunately, she also wants to take away that same democratic right from every working American faced with unionization. Solis, you see, has told everyone that will listen that once she becomes Secretary of Labor she will push for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and the EFCA will do just that; take away the secret ballot from potential union members. In this she is in tune with Barack Obama because he wants the EFCA passed to pay back the millions that unions pumped into his campaign.

But, in January of last year, Solis, then a Congressman from California, signed a letter criticizing the Congressional Hispanic Caucus for not having a secret vote during their proceedings. Bret Jacobson has the scoop in the L.A.Times:

Continue reading “Obama Appointment That Has Rules for Herself, Then Rules for Everyone Else”

00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

UAW Runs Whining to Obama

December 22, 2008 by

– By Warner Todd Huston

In a day when their industry is cratering, in large part because of their own actions, the United Auto Workers (UAW) is whining to president to be Barack Obama that “unfair labor rules” need to be retracted once he takes office.

The UAW is asking Obama to revisit the conditions that the recent Bailout is dependent upon whereby the union is forced to revisit its practices to look for cutbacks and concessions. In essence, the UAW is trying to convince Obama that the union should not be held accountable for its actions of dragging the US auto makers down the tubes.

“We are disappointed that,” President Bush, “has added unfair conditions singling out workers,” Gettelfinger said. “We will work with the Obama administration and the new Congress to ensure that these unfair conditions are removed, as we join in the coming months with all stakeholders to create a viable future for the U.S. auto industry.”

No, Mr. Gettelfinger, Bush is saying nothing at all about “the workers.” He is pointing at YOU, Mr. Gettlefinger, you and your union thugs. It is YOUR fault that the auto industry is falling apart, not “the workers.”

Continue reading “UAW Runs Whining to Obama”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Google - Inernet - Media Bias - News - Scott Cleland - Society/Culture - Technology

Net Neutrality’s Chill on a Free Market Internet — Google’s OpenEdge Caching in Context

December 22, 2008 by

-By Scott Cleland

Calls for preemptive sweeping regulation can have a way of backfiring, impeding common sense, and discouraging sound market outcomes. Take Net neutrality.

Today’s Wall Street Journal front page story “Google wants its own fast track on the web” reports on:

Google’s secret “OpenEdge” request to ISPs to colocate Google servers on ISP premises in order to speed up Google’s network and reduce Google’s traffic burden on the Internet; and also How the special request appears to signal waning support by Google of net neutrality legislation/regulation.
Continue reading “Net Neutrality’s Chill on a Free Market Internet — Google’s OpenEdge Caching in Context”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Energy - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Technology - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions to Organize for Jobs That Don’t Yet Exist?

December 18, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A recent AP piece lauded the fact that the envirosocialist movement and American labor unions are at long last beginning to walk hand in hand. At the “climate talks” in Poland, several American union groups sent representatives to announce common cause on going green.

The AP report noted that the Sierra Club, a longtime environmentalist group, announced support for the inaptly named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) that features the undemocratic card check provision.

Continue reading “Unions to Organize for Jobs That Don’t Yet Exist?”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Jobs - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

SEIU Again Accused of Fixing Vote

December 17, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A pattern has emerged concerning the expansion of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and that is one of rushed contracts that supposedly “give too much away” to the employers. Of course, I won’t comment of the supposed “giving too much away” aspect, but one thing that I will comment on is the propensity of the SEIU to get their contracts by hook or by crook.

This plan is of a piece with SEIU President Andy Stern’s quest to make the SEIU the biggest union in the nation. His has been a plan to simply glom onto as many new contracts and new members as possible no matter what else is going on. His avarice to gain new members and for adding locals by gobbling up lesser unions is so strong that he hasn’t paid much attention to the specifics of the contracts being signed. This sort of slipshod, barreling forward despite the specifics of the actual contracts has angered many of his membership.

Continue reading “SEIU Again Accused of Fixing Vote”

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Unions Threatened Riots if No Bailout

December 16, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last week, Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers union, threatened to foster riots if the $900 billion bailout didn’t get through Congress. “If we have Republicans who oppose us, we are going to take to the streets, we are going to occupy places. We are not going to allow any more of our members’ lives to be destroyed,” he warned in a conference call to journalists over the weekend.

A new coalition of union welfare seekers has been formed that goes by the name Campaign for America’s Future (CAF).

CAF, made up of more than two dozen labor unions, 127 lesser-known economists and assorted activists, hosted a press conference call to announce the proposed $900 billion Main Street proposal, which the group hopes will be ready for President-elect Barack Obama’s signature when he takes office on Jan. 20.

Yes, it’s all supposed to be legitimate and grown up of these folks lining up in front of Congress with their hands out for our tax dollars to be stuffed into their pockets to come together in a democratic styled coalition. But, as soon as a reporter seems to question these union thugs at all, the yelling begins.

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