Unions

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Ethics - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Indiana - Jobs - Liberals - Mitch Daniels - Public Employees Unions - Republicans - Right To Work - Senate - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Indiana Democrats Fleebagging Again, Abandoning Their Jobs

January 19, 2012 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once again Indiana Democrats are playing the fleebagger game. Because they don’t have enough votes in the Indiana Statehouse, Hoosier Democrats are abandoning their rightful duties and fleeing the Capitol over Indiana’s right-to-work bill currently under consideration in Indianapolis.

Indiana Senate Bill 269 and House Bill 1001 would make it illegal to require workers in Indiana to join a union as a condition of being allowed to have a job. Allowing workers a choice seems like an inherently American idea, doesn’t it?

After all, how could anyone tell you that you must belong to a union or you’re not allowed to have your job? That sort of forced association seems so contrary to the American character. But forcing people to join unions just so that they can have a job is precisely what Indiana Democrats are fighting to protect.
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Indiana Democrats Fleebagging Again, Abandoning Their Jobs”

Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Larry Sand - Liberals - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions

More Pension Truths and Why You Should be Very Angry

January 16, 2012 by

-By Larry Sand

How much is that sweet retired teacher who lives down the street draining from your bank account? As the public employee pension mess worsens in California, little Rhode Island shows a way out.

In last week’s post, I focused on “air time,” a little known scheme in California and 20 other states that allows teachers and other public employees to pad their pensions at taxpayers’ expense. Also, not very well known is just how many of Joe and Jill Taxpayer’s tax dollars are going into the pockets of retired teachers.

In California, teachers contribute 8 percent of their pay to their retirement system. Where do the rest of the contributions come from? The current rates include 8.25 percent from the teacher’s employer and 2 percent from the state. But wait a minute. Who is the teacher’s employer? It’s the school district. In Los Angeles, for example, most school district money comes from the state, some from the federal government and the rest is local revenue. Hence, the employer’s contribution is all really the taxpayer’s burden, as the state, city and feds generate no money on their own. So it would be much more honest to say that 10.25 percent comes from the taxpayer.

Let’s look at the taxpayer’s responsibility another way. Sandy, a teacher I know, worked for 24 years in CA and retired at age 61. The amount of money she contributed into the system at retirement (including interest accrued along the way) was about $150,000. Sandy started collecting a pension of about $40,000 year (plus a yearly 2 percent COLA increase) for life. Whatever interest this money accrues over the next few years, Sandy’s contribution will have evaporated in about four years. So, at age 65 she will start living off other people’s money – whatever the “employer” (i.e. taxpayers) kicked in, whatever the “government” (i.e. taxpayers) kicked in and whatever is left, the taxpayers will have to fork over.
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More Pension Truths and Why You Should be Very Angry”

Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Ethics - Larry Sand - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions

State Sponsored Thievery Continues in Plain Sight

January 7, 2012 by

-By Larry Sand

Teachers and other public employees use “air time” to pick your pocket. The California State Teachers Retirement System tries calming words. David Crane tells the truth and loses yet another job.

Saying that the state teachers’ retirement system is underfunded is the understatement of this or any year and now, CalSTRS is giving us specifics. On December 27th, it said,

“Recent media reports have suggested that to solve the unfunded liability the state will have to increase CalSTRS funding by $3.8 billion a year for 30 years for a total of more than $114 billion. Although this is an accurate statement based on current projections, achieving adequate funding can occur several ways that would be phased in over time. The CalSTRS $56 billion funding shortfall can be managed, but it will require gradual and predictable increases in contributions.”

In fact, saying that the shortfall has to be “managed” is like saying that World War II had to be managed. No, the reality is that there has to be major destruction and rebuilding, no matter how unpopular this will be with the beneficiaries of the theft, their unions and their kick-the-can-down-the-road buddies in Sacramento who are occasionally known as legislators. Tinkering around the edges and “managing” the problem will do little.
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State Sponsored Thievery Continues in Plain Sight”

Budget - Children - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Larry Sand - Liberals - Los Angeles - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions

Visitors from Outer Space and Their Strange Ideas About Education Reform

December 30, 2011 by

-By Larry Sand

There are those among us who think that teachers unions, collective bargaining and peer assistance review are the way to a better education for kids. They look like earthlings, but in fact are extraterrestrials.

As the year draws to a close, newspapers, magazines and blogs are filled with best of and worst of lists that deal with everything imaginable. The Hoover Institution’s Koret Task Force got on the bandwagon early and posted Best and Worst in American Education, 2011 in November. All solid stuff. Can a reformer not be happy about the Parent Trigger being raked over the coals, yet surviving, or that many of Michelle Rhee’s reforms are still in place despite leaving her post as D.C. Schools Chancellor after a major push from the American Federation of Teachers? On the worst list, the Task Force includes the Atlanta teacher cheating scandal and the union-orchestrated overturn of Ohio’s recent anti-collective bargaining law.

Then lo and behold, we received a dispatch from Planet Ravitch on December 23rd. (Most people are not aware that shortly after astronomers ruled that Pluto was not a planet in 2006, a new planet would be identified. And it is inhabited!) The people who live on this celestial body (named after Diane Ravitch, a former reformer who turned into a champion of the failing status quo) are afflicted with a dyslexic-like condition: they have the entire education reform picture exactly backwards. The way to true reform is to hold their ideas up to a mirror with the resulting image revealing the best way to proceed.
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Visitors from Outer Space and Their Strange Ideas About Education Reform”

Larry Sand - Public Employees Unions - Teachers Unions - Unions

The ‘Let’s Brainwash American Children Club’ Has a New Member

December 26, 2011 by

-By Larry Sand

Venerable Scholastic has joined progressive educators and teachers unions in an effort to indoctrinate and radicalize American school children.

Scholastic, a student magazine that has been in business for over 90 years, has caught the progressive fever. (H/T Mary Grabar.) This malady affects common sense and good judgment and leads the afflicted to report news from a biased, progressive viewpoint.

In its December issue, Scholastic, which purports to “believe that all sides of the issues of our times should be fairly discussed — with deep respect for facts and logical thinking,” gets all gooey-eyed about the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon, mentioning that OWS concerns itself with “protesters,” “voicing concerns,” “Americans wanting more opportunity to share in company’s prosperity,” and “workers that they feel that they can never get ahead.” To be sure, some of these types are present at OWS events.

But, Scholastic omits a few inconvenient details, like the fact that the OWS camps have been a magnet for Communists, anarchists, street hustlers, and common criminals and have been breeding grounds for murder, rape, vandalism, robbery and anti-Jewish sentiment. The filth left by many of these criminals — I mean protesters — has taxed municipal sanitation systems at great cost to taxpayers. As of December 9th, there were 417 incidents in all. You would think that Scholastic could have managed to mention that all is not sweetness and light in OWSland.
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The ‘Let’s Brainwash American Children Club’ Has a New Member”

California - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Larry Sand - Liberals - Los Angeles - Public Employees Unions - Teachers Unions - Unions

Tenure for Teachers: Enough is Enough

December 18, 2011 by

-By Larry Sand

Every year untold thousands of school kids are harmed by teachers who shouldn’t be allowed in a classroom. Parents must be given an opportunity to send their children elsewhere.

A teacher arrives at work high on drugs…daily.

A teacher regularly flies into rages, terrifying kids and coworkers.

A teacher talks in explicit terms about sex to the students.

A teacher makes constant sexual advances to other teachers.

A teacher doesn’t teach her students anything.

These are a few of the teachers that new Perth Amboy schools superintendent Janine Caffrey has to deal with on a daily basis. She is quick to point out that most teachers are committed and talented, but there are a few….

The evil here is tenure or permanence, which in New Jersey bestows a position for life on teachers after just three years on the job. (It’s even worse in other states – in California, for example, a teacher can get into the untouchables club after only two years.) Tenure for teachers would be nothing more than a bad joke if it didn’t destroy the education experience for tens of thousands of children who are subjected to incompetent/cruel/perverted people on a daily basis.
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Tenure for Teachers: Enough is Enough”

Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Government - Labor Law - Unions - Voter ID - Warner Todd Huston

Racist Union Hypocrites

December 13, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Unions are at the head of the critics on the left that claim that voter ID laws are raaaacist and suppress the minority vote. Yet, as Christian Adams’ Election Law Center blog notes even unions require their voters to show their ID before voting.

A picture is worth a thousand words. According to OpenSecrets.org unions belonging to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) have donated over $26 million to Democratic candidates and causes since 1990. During that same period, the union gave a paltry $272,311 to the Republican Party.

As you’ll note in the photo below the union requires its own members to produce a photo ID in order to vote. The photo shows a union worker voting earlier today on whether to sanction a new four-year contract with Boeing, clearly the union understands the need for a picture ID in order to help guarantee a clean election:

In America, one needs an ID to vote in a union election, buy liquor, drive a car, board an airplane, use a credit card and a slew of other things in our society. Yet, the Democratic party refuses to back the idea of requiring an ID to vote in state and federal elections under any circumstances. A sensible voter ID law that respects the rights of the poor, elderly, and minorities is a great idea. What are Democrats afraid of? You connect the dots.

Yet another example of how leftist and Democrats want to make rules for us to follow… but they don’t feel they need to obey them themselves.
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Racist Union Hypocrites”

Budget - California - Children - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Larry Sand - Liberals - Los Angeles - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions

The Route to Teacher Union Extinction: Is the Other Shoe Dropping?

December 13, 2011 by

-By Larry Sand

In addition to online learning, Democrat’s abandonment of their traditional union allies could put an end to the educational status quo and decimate the teachers unions

In my October 18th post, I wrote about Terry Moe’s book Special Interest: Teachers Unions and America’s Public Schools. I specifically addressed that part of the book in which he builds a scenario for the eventual undoing of the teachers unions. One of the two ways he claims this will happen is via technology, in the form of online learning. The other route to marginalization is the realization by Democrats that education is really a civil rights issue and that they are morally bound to get on board with reform and choice. By adopting this position, they will be abandoning their longtime political allies – the teachers unions.

As with the rapid ascent of online learning, Moe’s second nail in the unions’ coffin is picking up speed. In a recent Huffington Post entry, Joy Resmovits addresses the “new education lobby.”
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The Route to Teacher Union Extinction: Is the Other Shoe Dropping?”

Anti-Americanism - Anti-War - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Ethics - Government - Iowa - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Society/Culture - Teachers Unions - Warner Todd Huston

ISU Lecturer: Patriotism Excludes People At Bottom, Troops Don’t Need Care Packages

December 9, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Thomas Walker, lecturer in the intensive English and orientation program at Iowa State University, is disgusted over all this fawning over “the troops.” And so, to vent his disgust, he took to the letters to the editor pages of The Iowa State Daily. What Walker gave us is yet another screed from an extremist, left-winger being paid our tax dollars to “teach” our children his brand of hate for America.

What stirred Walker to spit his venom was a generally benign little program to assemble care packages for our soldiers overseas put on by ISU’s college Republicans. For five years the college Republicans have raised funds to buy socks, wet wipes, shampoo and other sundries for the troops. This year they raised the second highest amount of all the chapters.

But this feels-good story didn’t warm Thomas Walker’s heart, nosiree. University lecturer Walker was filled with disgust at the display of concern for our soldiers. So, Walker took to his pen — and his Thesaurus — to lambast this horrid display of patriotism perpetrated by these nasty college Republicans.

To get the full flavor of his bile, one must see the whole letter.
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ISU Lecturer: Patriotism Excludes People At Bottom, Troops Don’t Need Care Packages”

Budget - California - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Larry Sand - Liberals - Los Angeles - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions

Indoctrination: A Must Read For Parents, Taxpayers and Everyone Else

December 6, 2011 by

-By Larry Sand

To a large extent, the progressives have taken over American education, are transforming it and are doing it in plain sight

Indoctrination: How ‘Useful Idiots’ Are Using Our Schools to Subvert American Exceptionalism is an invaluable book written by Kyle Olson, founder and CEO of the Education Action Group, an organization that is on the frontline of education reform and a champion of school choice.

In this brief and very readable book, Olson describes the ways that the progressives in our society have taken over K-12 education. They have been running most of our elite colleges and schools of education for years now and this step is in keeping with their plan to transform America.

As a public school teacher whose career spanned four decades, I have seen the long march first hand. Perverting the traditional purpose of American education (which has been to make better and more educated citizens), progressives have been inspired by the theories of Paolo Freire, a Brazilian socialist who saw everything through a Marxist class warfare lens.
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Indoctrination: A Must Read For Parents, Taxpayers and Everyone Else”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Liberals - NLRB - Regulation - Republicans - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Help Halt the NLRB’s Assault On America’s Union-Free Workplace

December 5, 2011 by

Originally posted at Labor Union Report…

Last week’s NLRB vote to give unions the ability to ambush union-free workers and the companies that employ them, as well as to deny due process on bargaining unit issues, is only the latest in a long line of attacks on America’s union-free workforce by the union extremists controlling Barack Obama’s National Labor Relations Board.

Notwithstanding the recent agreement between Boeing and the Machinists’ union to end the prosecution* of Boeing opening its second 787 in South Carolina, listing out of all of the attacks on job creators and America’s union-free workforce would necessitate more than an entire post. However, here are just a few:

  • Micro-unions: In a recent ruling, the NLRB has given unions the green light to begin unionizing portions companies by what are called “micro-unions.” Now, union can unionize small segments of a company by classification (or department).
  • Reducing employees’ rights to rid themselves of unwanted unions: In a reversal of a previous NLRB decision, the Obama-NLRB has made it much more difficult for employees to decertify unions where highly flawed card-check method of unionization had been utilized. The NLRB’s reversal was only outdone by the NLRB’s destroying of ballots from elections that were already held, but were awaiting the outcome of the NRLB’s decision.
  • Requiring union-free employees to post union posters. Though delayed, the NLRB is requiring all union-free, private-sector employers to post NLRB posters explaining workers’ rights to unionize.
  • Legitimizing union ‘sweetheart deals.’ Last year, the NLRB approved unions’ ability to negotiation pre-recognition agreements in exchange for ‘card check,’ thus undermining employees’ rights through “sweetheart deals.”

It’s time to put pressure on Washington to halt the NLRB’s assault and here’s how you can help.

Our friends at the Free Enterprise Alliance‘s Halt the Assault campaign have put together an online petition to send a message to Washington to Rein in the Rogue NLRB.

You can even embed a Rein in the Rogue NLRB widget on your blog or website.

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Help Halt the NLRB’s Assault On America’s Union-Free Workplace”

Business - Capitalism - Free Trade - Jobs - New York City - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Greedy Union to Destroy Black Restaurant Owner’s Business

December 1, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

An actress, model, and African American business entrepreneur credited with reviving a once-blighted neighborhood and bringing back theater goers to the New York Theater District is about to lose her business to a greedy union that wants to hike the rent for her famous restaurant 350 percent.

Back in 1986, Barbara Smith, sometimes called “the black Martha Stewart,” opened a restaurant in the Theater District called B. Smith’s. Her eatery soon became the toast of theater goers and stars alike. It also became a favorite in the African American community.

B. Smith’s was visited by such famous people as Denzel Washington, August Wilson, Danny Glover, Sidney Poitier, Luther Vandross, Aretha Franklin, Angela Bassett Liza Minnelli and more.

Unfortunately, the building in which Smith opened her famous restaurant is run by the Local One of the stagehands union and quite despite what she has done for New York Theater the union has decided to raise the rent so high on Smith that she will be priced out of her long-time business.
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Greedy Union to Destroy Black Restaurant Owner’s Business”

Barack Obama - Business - Capitalism - Jobs - NLRB - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

NLRB Chairman Releases Election Proposal Ahead Of Wednesday Vote‏

November 29, 2011 by

Board Chairman releases details of election proposal for Wednesday vote

National Labor Relations Board Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce today released details of his proposal to amend certain election procedures in order to reduce unnecessary litigation in disputed cases. The amendments are drawn from a comprehensive overhaul of the election process proposed this summer through the federal rulemaking process.

The Chairman’s resolution will be considered and put to a vote at a public meeting of the Board set for Wednesday afternoon at 2:30. The text of the Chairman’s resolution is here, and an explanation of the amendments can be found here. The meeting will be streamed live from the Board’s website at www.nlrb.gov.

If the resolution is approved by a majority of the Board, a final rule will be drafted and circulated among the members for a subsequent vote. No final rule can issue without such approval.

Chairman Pearce issued the following statement in connection with the resolution:
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NLRB Chairman Releases Election Proposal Ahead Of Wednesday Vote‏”

Anti-Americanism - Business - Crime - Detroit - Jobs - Michigan - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

More Union Workers Caught Blowing Weed on Break Time

November 29, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Not long ago a series of Detroit sting-styled TV News reports found autoworkers getting high and drunk during their lunch breaks. Now WJBK has found the same problem with the union workers at an aerospace factory.

Tower Defense and Aerospace Factory Workers Party at Lunch: MyFoxDETROIT.com

The company claims it has “been investigating” the employees. But the fact is, if these workers were not protected by unions they’d have been properly fired the second management realized that they were doing illegal drugs on company property during their break time.

It shouldn’t take a TV expose for a company to be able to fire criminals! But that’s what happens with unions. They protect criminals.
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More Union Workers Caught Blowing Weed on Break Time”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - California - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Larry Sand - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions

California’s Looming Fiscal Disaster: Sunlight and an Informed Public are the Best Disinfectants

November 29, 2011 by

-By Larry Sand

With the state and various cities on the brink of insolvency, it’s imperative that the electorate become more informed and demand that school districts and teachers unions do their negotiating in public.

This past Sunday’s Los Angeles Times above-the-fold headline screamed “Voters back tax hikes for schools.” It was déja-vu all over again. As I wrote in September,

“… a poll which is biased and does not take into account the knowledge of the people being polled is misleading and dangerous. The public is led to believe that the responders are perceptive and knowledgeable, when in reality so many are not.”

(And I could have added that a poll that misleads or misinforms its respondents is the most dangerous of all; I’ll address that shortly.)

The Times article reported that a USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences/Los Angeles Times Frequency Questionnaire released last week showed that 61 percent of those surveyed said they would pay higher taxes to boost school funding.

As I read those words, I wondered,
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California’s Looming Fiscal Disaster: Sunlight and an Informed Public are the Best Disinfectants”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Liberals - NLRB - President - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

How Radical is Obama? This Radical…

November 28, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Barack Obama is very successful at one thing: the bait and switch. He stands before America presenting a picture of a hard-working moderate and claims that he wants to work with the Republicans to get things done. In reality he won’t even meet with them. He talks about compromise, but never offers any. He mouths kind words abut the business sector but uses his powers to make new regulations to destroy its profitability. In short, he’s a radical even though he doesn’t play one on TV. His modus operandi is to assume most voters are too stupid, lazy, or disinterested to compare his hope-n-change rhetoric with his actions.

Obama’s penchant for bypassing Congress and making radical changes to regulations in order to push his far left agenda is a case in point. Obama’s push to radicalize the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and turn it from a non-partisan watchdog agency into a tool for Big Labor is a perfect example of how the President uses regulations to achieve what he and the far left cannot do with legislation. It is also an example of how he is trying to radically change America under the radar of most voter’s notice.
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How Radical is Obama? This Radical…”

Anti-Americanism - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Lobbyists - Nanny State - Public Employees Unions - Socialism - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Big Labor Pays Big Bucks For Occupy D.C.

November 23, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

A nurses union spent big cash to “Occupy Washington DC.”

On November 3rd, 2011, the National Nurses United Union, allied with the AFL-CIO, payed for the expenses of more than 1000+ members to march with Occupy DC and ask the President to raise taxes. Both public and private hospitals must have gone short staffed as the nurses hailed from all over the country and were very clear who brought them there.

My favorite part was the militant, anti-American nurse that said her union refuses to deal fairly with employers and prefers to use their big money to get the federal government to “force” employers to do what unions want them to do.

We don’t believe in trying to work with management in a hospital to make change cuz they won’t do it, they won’t do what’s right. So, we lobby for legislative change to force them to do it.

What could be a more un-American attitude than this? Our founders didn’t intend government to an interventionist force that would lord over the business sector and “force it” to do things that unions what employers to do.

Unions are authoritarian, anti-democratic, big government monsters that really do need to be cut down to size.
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Big Labor Pays Big Bucks For Occupy D.C.”

Anti-Americanism - Banks - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Jobs - Liberals - Music - Socialism - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Grammy Nominee’s Occupy Wall Street Theme Song Features Bloodlust, Violent Imagery

November 16, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

While denizens of Hollywood are running around praising the Occupy-Whatevers as an articulate, non-violent example of “democracy in action” and adopting the Occupy rhetoric, a new anthem of sorts has been unveiled to inspire these “non-violent” folks to greater activism.
But, for a “non-violent” movement, their new theme song (running nearly nine minutes long) is full of bloodlust and childish name-calling belying that claim to thoughtful democracy.

The song, “We Stand as One,” created by Grammy nominee Joseph Arthur, seems to fall short of the mythical claim that the Occupy movement is a non-violent, thoughtful “movement.” Filled with deep lyrics such as calling Occupy enemies “pigs,” warnings that their homes will burn and that the blood of Occupy enemies will be the Occupiers’ “paint,” this song sounds more like a call to violence than an appeal to the better angels of our nature.

Arthur has worked with such rock notables as Michael Stipe of REM and Peter Gabriel, and his 1999 EP “Vacancy” was nominated for a Grammy.
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Grammy Nominee’s Occupy Wall Street Theme Song Features Bloodlust, Violent Imagery”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Colorado - Communism - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Denver - Ethics - George Soros - GOP - Government - Liberals - Socialism - Taxes - War On Drugs - Warner Todd Huston

Denver Protest Shows Incoherence of ‘Occupy’

November 15, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Over this past weekend several hundred conservative bloggers, writers, political operatives, and Tea Patiers got together in Denver, Colorado to attend a conference aimed toward helping these activists be more effective n their efforts. But conservative activism wasn’t the only theme on the schedule when the event was crashed by denizens of Occupy Denver who came to protest. What they came to protest was a tad unclear, but isn’t that just of a piece with the whole Occupy “movement”?

The event, Blogcon 2011, was organized by Freedom Works and featured seminars on Website SEO, use of Youtube and Facebook, information on which candidates Freedom Works is supporting in the upcoming GOP primaries, panels of bloggers telling their story, and the like.

What it wasn’t was attended by Washington’s policy makers or catering to the rich and famous! The folks at these events are most assuredly not members of the so-called one percent. They are work-a-day folks that just happen to be interested in conservative ideas. Essentially the participants at Blogcon 2011 were similar to the Occunuts that invaded their event in that they are all citizen activists.

But that didn’t stop the Occupiers from attacking Blogcon 2011 hopeful of disrupting the event. Two separate times Occupiers came to Blogcon to yell their empty slogans, chant their prosaic chants, ply their “mic check” silliness, call names, threaten violence, and in general act like children.
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Denver Protest Shows Incoherence of ‘Occupy’”

Anti-Americanism - California - Children - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Ethics - Larry Sand - Liberals - Los Angeles - Public Employees Unions - Teachers Unions - Unions

Fake Teacher Evaluation Racket is Busted in Los Angeles

November 14, 2011 by

-By Larry Sand

Parents sue the LA school board and teachers union, forcing them to obey a law that they have ignored for 40 years.

There is nothing new about unions bullying weak-kneed school districts, but this may be the mother of all abuses– for forty years, school districts and unions have collaborated to break the law in California. According to the Stull Act (Section 44660 of the state’s education code), part of a teacher’s evaluation is required to include a student achievement component, but this has not happened anywhere in the state. Last week, after consulting with EdVoice, a reform advocacy group in Sacramento, parents of some students in Los Angeles Unified School District sued the school district and teachers union for what amounts to a dereliction of duty. While the lawsuit is aimed at LA, it will have state-wide ramifications.

Originally enacted in 1971, the Stull Act, named after State Senator John Stull, was amended in 1999 to include,

“The governing board of each school district shall evaluate and assess certificated employee performance as it reasonably relates to:

The progress of pupils toward the standards established pursuant to subdivision (a) and, if applicable, the state adopted academic content standards as measured by state adopted criterion referenced assessments….”

In other words, a part of a teacher’s evaluation is supposed to be contingent on how well his students do on state mandated tests. This is hardly a radical notion, as half the states in the rest of the country now evaluate teachers in part by student performance on these tests.
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Fake Teacher Evaluation Racket is Busted in Los Angeles”

Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Liberals - New York - New York City - Police - Public Employees Unions - Regulation - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

NYPD Police Union: Another Example of Why Public Employee Unions Need to be Outlawed

November 11, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last week 16 dirty New York cops went on trial for all sorts of criminal behavior. From dealing drugs, to assault and grand larceny, and “unrelated corruption,” these cops are proving to be some very crooked characters. But fellow officers don’t care about that. They have ginned themselves up to act like the punks and scumbags they are supposed to be putting behind bars all due to their police union and its agitation over the trials.

Even The New York Times seemed shocked by the venomous treatment these union thugs cops were delivering to the District Attorneys handling the case. Certainly these crooked cops are innocent until the prosecution proves its case, but these union toughs don’t care to let the law take its course. They want to storm the gates like the barbarians they are.

These so-called police officers even began to accost the media as the defendants left the courtroom. Says the Times, “The assembled police officers blocked cameras from filming their colleagues, in one instance grabbing lenses and shoving television camera operators backward.”
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NYPD Police Union: Another Example of Why Public Employee Unions Need to be Outlawed”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Government - Liberals - Ohio - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Republicans - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Defeat of OH Issue 2 Means $1,468 More Per Taxpayer By 2015

November 8, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Matt Mayer of the Buckeye Institute has done the math on what a defeat of Issue 2 will cost Ohio’s taxpayers. Turns out it will cost taxpayers $1,468 more a year by 2015.

Mayer made a simple calculation by taking the $8 billion tax hike that a defeat of Issue 2 will usher in by 2015 and dividing that by the 5,448, 500 state tax returns filed in Ohio. He also took the initial $1.4 billion tax hike that will result if the unions win on Tuesday and found that each taxpayer will be stuck with an immediate $257 more in taxes next year.

The annual savings we calculated from SB5 once all contracts are negotiated would be nearly $1.4 billion per year (for details, see www.buckeyeinstitute.org/getthefacts).

In 2007, Ohio had 5,448,500 [tax] returns filed, so that would equate to a “tax” of $257 per return… That is [merely] the savings from SB5 enactment.

An additional wrinkle is that Big Labor/Democrats have essentially gone all in on higher taxes; meaning, if SB5 is repealed, that removes one option to reducing local government costs, which leaves two options–program/staff cuts and/or raising taxes… For example, Ohio’s 613 school districts currently project a collective deficit by 2015 of [approximately $8 billion]…

[Thus, without] SB5, taxes will have to go up … [at least] $8 billion just for [Ohio’s] 613 school districts by 2015, which is $1,468 per return.

So, Ohio, you have a choice. Vote Issue 2 down and stick yourself with needlessly higher taxes and give unions the ability to stick it to you further, or give your legislature — not union bosses — the power to control your state’s budget like they should.
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Defeat of OH Issue 2 Means $1,468 More Per Taxpayer By 2015″

Illinois - Larry Sand - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Teachers Unions - Unions

Unions Continue to Swindle the Public

November 8, 2011 by

-By Larry Sand

Unions are still treacherous, but with a generous helping of legislative malfeasance, their tactics are more subtle.

“On the Waterfront” portrayed union power at its rawest. In the 1950s, the unions typically got their way with nothing less than brute force. But today the tactics are different. In “Pretty Boy Floyd,” Woody Guthrie sang, “Some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen.” The unions are well entrenched in the “fountain pen” camp and recently, Illinois has been in their crosshairs.

In September, the Chicago Tribune broke a story about Dennis Gannon, a former sanitation worker who became a president of the Chicago Federation of Labor. He went back to work for the city for one day, then took a leave of absence and was legally allowed to collect a $158,000 pension, about five times the average sanitation worker.
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Unions Continue to Swindle the Public”

Anti-Americanism - Anti-Semitism - Budget - Business - California - Capitalism - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - Government - Liberals - Los Angeles - Public Employees Unions - Socialism - Taxes - Tea Party - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Occupy LA Video: ‘Get Rid of America and Everything it Stands For’

November 6, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Occupy Whatever movement — if it can be called a movement — is at its heart a hate-America movement. With each new video we see this more and more and this cretin at Occupy Los Angeles is just one more example.

An avowed communist, like so many of these people are, he feels that America is the chief evil of the world and needs to be destroyed.

This man wants America destroyed. He is not an outlier at these Occupy events. He is quite typical. And always remember, the U.S. Democrat Party is supporting these people. People that hate America are an important constituency as far as Democrats are concerned.

Transcript

… From the beginning the votes that they give us are for a very specific purpose, they give us these elections to put the stamp of legitimacy on the crimes and horrors that America commits around the world and the millions of people who’s lives it crushes, degrades, and murders.

You know that’s what this is and no good can come of this, nothing positive. You know I’m a communist, you know, look.

Nothing positive can come about unless you get rid of America and everything it stands for…

The Old Media establishment will not tell America of these people that make up such a large part of the Occupy events. But, oh, if there was just one guy at a Tea Party event supporting some hate-America movement the whole world would have seen it.

The Old Media has allowed these hatemongers at the Occupy events go unreported. They’ve avoided the rapes, allowed the thefts, the thousands of arrests, the property destruction, fires, broken windows, and general unruliness of the Occupiers have gone unreported.

It’s up to you, folks. Tell as many people as you possibly can what these Occupiers really are.
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Occupy LA Video: ‘Get Rid of America and Everything it Stands For’”

Anti-Americanism - Anti-Semitism - Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Freedom Works - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - President - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Reject the Occupy Wall Street Haters!

November 4, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

As each day passes we see more of the violence, theft, property destruction and anti-Semitism of these Occupy-Whatevers. We are learning that these Occupy events are run by ACORN, big labor and various anti-American groups such as communists, socialists, and what have you.

Worse there are instances of rape going on at these events and the Occupiers refuse to help the victims find justice by involving the police.

So, why are Democrats and the Old Media still falling all over themselves in love with these haters at the Occupy events?

Well, one group tired of the hate is Freedom Works.
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Reject the Occupy Wall Street Haters!”

Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Liberals - Ohio - Pensions - Public Employees Unions - Scott Walker - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Ohio, Vote YES on Issue 2

November 2, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A few days ago the Cincinnati Enquirer came out in support of Issue 2, which will enact Senate Bill 5 — a reformation of how the Buckeye State deals with government unions.

For decades, Ohio has been on an unsustainable path of rapidly increasing public-sector benefits. SB 5 would give the people we choose to manage our money, our safety and our schools greater flexibility in benefits and work rules for public employees, bringing them closer in line with what comparable workers receive in the private sector. That could relieve the pressure to raise taxes and thus help, not hurt, middle-class Ohioans.

This is an important bill not just for Ohio, but for the whole country. What Ohio is trying to do (and what Governor Walker of Wisconsin has already done) is to take away the power of un-elected union bosses from determining how the state’s budget will be spent. Ohio is trying to take back the reins of making policy, allocating tax money, and making rules for employment from the union thugs that now have control over it all.

This new rule that states such as Ohio and Wisconsin are struggling to pass is not a war against the middle class, nor even necessarily a war against the idea of unions themselves. It is a move toward fiscal responsibility and the democratic process.

These new reforms must pass now or our states will necessarily go bankrupt for all the unfunded liabilities and unfair goodies handed out to government union members.

Pass issue 2, Ohio.
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Ohio, Vote YES on Issue 2″

Anti-Americanism - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Free Trade - Government - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - Nancy Pelosi - NLRB - Pensions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Pelosi: Boeing Plant Should Unionize or be Shut Down

November 1, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

The now thankfully former Speaker of the House Nancy “San Fran Nan” Pelosi said in a recent interview that a Boeing plant in South Carolina should either unionize or be shut down by the iron fist of government. So much for America being the land of the free, eh?

Pelosi appeared on CNBC with hostette Maria Bartiromo. Bartiromo asked about the famed Boeing plant being harassed by Obama’s union-sold National Labor Relations Board.

“Do you think it’s right that Boeing has to close down that plant in South Carolina because it’s non union?” Bartiromo asked. “Yes” insisted the former Speaker.

A flat out “yes.” No equivocation.

Lachlan Markay notes that the workers at the Boeing plant in question overwhelmingly voted not to join a union.
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Pelosi: Boeing Plant Should Unionize or be Shut Down”

Budget - California - Children - Education - Larry Sand - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions

CTA Dons Victim Guise and Joins OWS Crowd

October 31, 2011 by

-By Larry Sand

It’s almost Halloween and the California Teachers Association, a rich and powerful outfit, is in costume as one of the “99%ers” – protesters who claim to be have-nots

A couple of weeks ago United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten made sympathetic statements about the Occupy Wall Street movement. Now the California Teachers Association has jumped in with a full endorsement and suggestions on its website as to how teachers and others can get involved in OWS activities.

Stunning in its mendacity, CTA issued a press release (H/T Mike Antonucci) which announced its “support of the nationwide ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement for tax fairness and against corporate greed.” It goes on to say, “…a stable tax structure begins with everyone paying their fair share.”
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CTA Dons Victim Guise and Joins OWS Crowd”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Jobs - Liberals - New York - New York City - Socialism - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Occupy Wall Street Kitchen Staff Tired of ‘Freeloaders’?

October 29, 2011 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Apparently some of the folks slaving away to cook politically correct meals for the participants of Occupy Wall Street are sick and tired of working themselves to the bone for homeless people, criminals, and other freeloaders who are eating their food. This is called being mugged by reality.

It is also pretty darn funny.

The New York Post reported that volunteer kitchen staff at Occupy Wall Street are angry about working 18-hour days to feed the protesters but are being taken advantage of by the local homeless people and criminals. And they are going on a work slow down to protest at their protest.

For three days beginning tomorrow, the cooks will serve only brown rice and other spartan grub instead of the usual menu of organic chicken and vegetables, spaghetti bolognese, and roasted beet and sheep’s-milk-cheese salad.

The menu as reported by the Post sounds… um… tasty, sort of. I’d rather have a pizza from Godfathers.
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Occupy Wall Street Kitchen Staff Tired of ‘Freeloaders’?”